by Nancy Thomas
In my April 2024 GGFA newsletter article entitled “The Goff/McGoff Connection”, I noted that, based on a Y-67 test, a participant with Scottish ancestry (YDNA Participant 1) and another participant named Robert McGoff (with ancestry from County Mayo, Ireland) likely share a common ancestor from around 1750.
I concluded my article with a theory that one descendant of that common ancestor (who likely lived in the northeast part of Ireland) might have immigrated to Scotland, where he changed his name from McGoff to Goff, whereas another descendant moved west to County Mayo.
Shortly after that article was finalized, a Scottish researcher obtained an 1871 Glasgow, Scotland census report from the General Register House in Edinburgh for me. That Glasgow census report clearly identified YDNA Participant 1’s ancestor Thomas Goff and his family. However, Thomas’ last name was listed as McGoff rather than Goff and his place of birth in 1841 was shown as Ireland, confirming at least part of my theory. (Surprisingly, most Scottish genealogy records cannot be found on sites like Ancestry. Rather, they may be obtained in Scotland or purchased on a website called ScotlandsPeople.)
On a final note, although I noted it as part of Northern Ireland in my report, County Monahan simply borders Northern Ireland and is one of the three Ulster counties in the Republic of Ireland.
Editor’s Note: GGFA Members can find the original newsletter article on page 8 of the April 24, 2024 newsletter at this link.