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- William is the son of Mary Mullett & Samuel Gookins.
William Gookins married 6 Nov 1787 in Litchfield, Conn. to Rhoda Munger.
My Grandfather, Samuel Gookins, married Mary Mullet. Their children were Samuel, William, (my father,) Mary & John M. I presume they then lived in Massachusetts, where the children were born; but at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, the family was in Bennington county, Vermont. A family incident is related as having then occurred, showing the devotion of the patriots of that day, & is only one of the thousands, similar ones, in the unwritten history of that period. When the news of the battle of Lexington sounded through the mountain valleys of Vermont, my grandfather called a family council & said "Some one must go to war." They were in a new & rough country. It was determined that the oldest boy, but then 16, could better be spared than the father, so Sam was fixed up with a knapsack & the old family piece & started on foot alone to find the army. He enlisted during the war & served nearly eight, years & was home only once during the time. He died in Switzerland county, Indiana, in 1842, being 85 years old, an honest man, a patriot & Christian. My grandfather & grandmother lived to old age, devoted & exemplary Christians.
The children of my parents were Nancy, Charlotte, Olive, William, Elisha Flag, Seymour, Milo, Rhoda,
Daniel & Samuel Barnes, & one, I think died at its birth.
In the fall of 1808, my father & William & Elisha shouldered their knapsacks, as pedestrian travel was then more common than any other mode, & went to Jefferson county, New York. This was considered an undertaking equal to going to Europe now & more time was spent in making the necessary preparations.
Ref: Ye Gookins Family, Mrs. Mary M Gookins Martin, Attica, Indiana 1909. - - -
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1765 - 1815 (49 years)