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- Milo Gookins, born in 1800, moved to Vermillion County in 1826, the year Sam apprenticed himself for four fruitful years to pioneer Terre Haute newspaper publisher John Willson Osborn. Gookins wed Osborn’s daughter Mary Caroline on Jan. 23, 1834.
Ref: Historical Perspective: The versatility of Judge Samuel Barnes Gookins, By Mike McCormick, 2008 Sep 13.
Indiana Marriage2 on 1 Jan 1852, Vigo, Indiana, Milo Gookins married Sarah Civer.
1870 Aug 5 Census, Mill Creek Twp. Fountain Co., Indiana
Gooklins, Milo S, Age 69/ 1800 Vermout, Farmer
Mary [Worth], Age 59/1810 Ohio, Keeping house
Frank B, 23/1846 Indiana, farmer
Edward M Gookins, 16/ 1853, Indiana, at home, school.
- The New England Genealogical Register traces the genealogy of the GOOKINS FAMILY from the days of King John, & the American branch of it from the original emigrants who was contemporary with Captain . Daniel Gookins (as the name was then written) came to Newport News, Virginia, in the year 1620. He brought with him 50 men & established a colonial settlement at that point. Captain SMITH seems to have thought that this settler had a will of his own. During the Indian troubles, which resulted in the captain's capture, & his release through the intervention of Pocahontas, & order was issued requiring the settlers to abandon their settlements & retire to Jamestown. Captain Smith says that "GOOKIN, at Newport News, having 50 men of his own, refused that order & made good his standing against the savages." Newport News had been almost forgotten until its fame as a military point was revived during the late war. In the days of the commonwealth under Cromwell the Puritans of New England sent their missionaries to the chivalry of Virginia & a son of the original emigrant, bearing his name, became a convert to the Puritan faith. On the restoration of Charles II the general assembly of Virginia passed a law expelling all Nonconformists from the province. The Puritan convert left & went to Boston, of which he became a permanent resident & there remained during his life, in the course of which he rendered important public services, as speaker of the general court or assembly, commander of the army, & as assistant of Elliott in his labors for the civilization & christianizing of the Indians. He was the father of the New England branch of the family. Among his descendants was William Gookins, father of the subject of this sketch.
Ref: HISTORY OF VIGO & PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley, by H.W. Beckwith - 1880, Terre Haute - pp. 159-164.
OBITUARY OF MILO GOOKINS1
Milo Gookins, merchant & miller, Veedersburg, was a native of Vermont. He first emigrated from his native state to Vigo county, Indiana. His early education was but little, but being of a literary turn of mind he indulged his natural fondness so far as he was able, & in early life entered the profession of teaching, which he followed for several years. He began the business of selling goods in Clinton, Indiana, where he remained for a considerable time, when he went to Perrysville, Indiana, engaging in the same business; then moved to Mansfield, Parke county, where he remained 10 years in the business of merchandise.
He was also engaged for a time in the business of milling. He moved to Fountain county, Mill Creek township, & shortly after, in 1863, entered the service of the government as agent from this county, in which employment he continued till 1866.
Mr. Gookins was first married to Matilda Murphy, then to Mary Barnes, native of Ohio, by whom he had 11 children. Late in life he united with the Methodist church. He was a diligent worker both in the church & in the Sunday school. No one took a more hearty interest in the cause of temperance than he. He lived the life of a christian, strictly moral & temperate in all things. He died in 1870, aged 70 years. His wife died 5 years later, aged 65 years. Mr. Gookins was a staunch republican, & a great admirer of Lincoln.
History of Fountain County, Indiana, H.W. Beckwith, 1881
OBITUARY OF MILO GOOKINS2
Mr. Gookins was born in Rupert, Bennington county, Vermont, July 16, 1800. His father, mother & a large family of small children, four younger than himself, removed to Rodman, Jefferson county, New York, in 1812. The father died 2 years after, leaving the mother & children dependent alone upon God & their own efforts to make their way in the world. With a thirst for knowledge which found its chief source of supply in the common school ¤t books, with scanty time to devote to either, he made a rapid progress, & early became a teacher. In 1823 an eddy in the tide of westward emigration drew him into the current, & he, his mother, & a younger brother, a lad of 14, landed from their canoes at Terre Haute. They were, it is believed, the second family that came to the Wabash valley, by what then was known as the northern route, the lakes, the Maumee & the Wabash rivers. Previous to that time, the Indians still having possession of Northern Indiana, the line of travel had been through the white settlement along the Ohio.
Mr. Gookins pursued his vocation of a teacher until 1826, when he turned his attention to merchandising, which he followed, at Clinton & Perrysville, until 1850. In 1833-4 he represented Vermilion county in the State legislature. From 1850 to his death he was engaged in farming & milling in Parke & Fountain counties. Soon after the accession of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency he was appointed Indian agent, & was located at farming & milling near Fort Scott, Kansas, a position for which his unswerving integrity & familiar acquaintance with the Indian character gave him rare fitness.
Mr. Goons was a man remarkable for his modesty, his integrity & his firm adherence to Christian principles. He was educated a Congregationalist, but having married first into the family of Mr. John Murphy, of Edgar county, Illinois, & after his first wife's death, into that of the late James Barnes, of Vigo county, both staunch & prominent men in the Methodist denomination, he went to that communion, where he remained until his death. He was a frequent contributor to the local press & was a clear & forcible writer & an earnest & able advocate of all moral & social reforms.
Another of Indiana's pioneers is gone. Born in 1800, in the march of our marvelous progress he had kept step with the century, little thinking when pushing his canoe up the Maimee & down the Wabash, by the Indian wigwams of the period, of the ocean telegraph or the Pacific railroad. He may have expected to see lands worth $20 per acre ,but had little thought of lands that would command $1.25 per acre, bearing marble palaces, farming & milling valued at $3000 per foot. Yet, he & such as he, sowed the seed of the harvest we are gathering. If we imitate their energy & copy their virtues we, in our turn, shall be the pioneers of a still more glorious future.
Milo Gookins died August 18th, 1870, at his home, Steam Corner, Fountain county, Indiana.
Ref: The Attica Redge, published Sept. 1,1870 & include in Ye Gookins Family, Mrs. Mary M Gookins Martin, Attica, Indiana 1909. - - -
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1800 - 1871 (71 years)