The ancestry of the Goff family in the United States dates back to the days after the deposition of Richard Cromwell from the throne of England, and the restoration of the Stuarts. William Goff, who was one of the judges that condemned Charles the First to death, was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His eventful history in New England is familiar to all students of history, and the narration of the experience of the judges in what has since been known as the " Regicides' cave" is a matter almost as well known as the " nursery tales" of childhood. Guernsey Gofi", the father of Edmund L., was born November 13, 1766, in Haddam, Connecticut. In 1804 he removed to the town of Rush, Monroe county. New York, making the journey the entire distance with a team. He was accompanied by his wife and seven children. What is now Rush was then called Hartford, the latter having been formed in 1789 and Rush organized in 1818.

Guernsey Goff was known throughout western New York as the "blind cooper."He was stricken with blindness while living in Connecticut, about the year 1793, and afterwards learned the cooper's trade. He made all kinds of cooper-work, besides pocket-knives, jewsharps, and other trinkets. Specimens of his work are preserved in Grand Blanc, Genesee county, Michigan, and in Orleans county (near Albion), New York. By strict economy and indomitable perseverance Mr. Goff accumulated considerable property. He was a member of the Baptist church for more than fifty years, and the text chosen by the minister for his funeral sermon was most appropriate: "He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost." Acts xi. 24. His death occurred August 6, 1835, and he was buried near the village of East Rush, His wife, Asenath Brainerd Goff, was born September 20, 1772, in Middletown, Connecticut. She was also a member of the Baptist church, and a most worthy and exemplary Christian woman. She died July 15, 1825, in the town of Rush, Monroe county, New York. Comfort Goff, father of Guernsey Goff, was born in the State of Rhode Island in 1736. He was a soldier during the French and Indian war of 1753-64, and also served in the Revolution. Three of his sons, Charles, Squire, and Comfort, were also soldiers during the Revolutionary war. All these persons removed to Rush, Monroe county, New York, where Comfort Goff, Sr., died in 1814, at the age of seventy-eight.

Charles Goff, father of Comfort Goff, Sr., was a native of Wales, and came to Rhode Island about 1700. His father. Judge William Goff, was born in England in 1607, and died at New Haven, Connecticut, about 1678. He was of Puritan stock, and was a judge during the reign of Cromwell. His part in the condemnation of King Charles I. has been mentioned.

Edmund L. Goff, the subject of our sketch, was born in Rush, Monroe county. New York, January 6, 1817, In 1838 he came to Michigan, and located near Flint, Genesee county, where he engaged in the fur business. In June, 1839, he returned to New York, and after selling his land in Rush, removed to Michigan for a permanent residence in October following. During the winter of 1839-40 he taught school in the town of Grand Blanc, Genesee county, and in February, 1840, purchased land of Philander Pendleton, iu Shelby, Macomb county, to which he removed. He taught school several terms in that locality, and on the 31st of March, 1844, was married to Miss Lucy Bellows, a native of Avon township, Oakland County, where she was born May 8, 1823, being the second daughter and fourth child of Ezra and Anna Bellows. Hers was among the earlier births in Oakland County. The marriage of Mr. Goff and Miss Bellows was solemnized by Rev. A. H. Curtis. Mrs. Goff's father, Ezra Bellows, was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont, March 22, 1786, and about 1817 removed to Covington, Genesee county, New York, where he resided until 1822, when he emigrated to Michigan, coming to Buffalo by team, thence to Detroit on a schooner, and landing at the latter place on the first day of June. Pushing on to Oakland County, he stopped a few months in Pontiac township, near Galloway lake, and from there removed to Washington, Macomb county, where he remained until March, 1823, when he made a location on the northeast quarter of section 12, in what is now Avon township, Oakland County. In March, 1830, he again changed his place of abode, and settled on section 1, in the town of Shelby, Macomb county, where lie passed the remainder of his days. He died March 18, 1862. His wife, Anna Gibbs Bellows, was born near Three Rivers, Lower Canada, August 1, 1792, and, in 1803, went to live with her brother in the State of Vermont, where she was married. She is now living near Rockford, Kent county, Michigan, and has ireached the advanced age of eighty-five years. After his marriage Mr. Goff sold his farm in Macomb county to Jedediah Millerd, of Stony Creek, Oakland County, and in April, 1852, removed to Avon township, where he now resides. The farm he is living upon he purchased of Seneca Newberry, of Rochester, December 13, 1852, and is the southeast quarter of section 12. Mr. Goff, since coming to this place, has been farming and dealing in money. (See township history for notice of old distillery.) Mr. and Mrs. Goff are the parents of seven children, as follows: Celia Ann, born in Shelby, Macomb county, January 9, 1845. Gustavus, born in Shelby, Macomb county, November 17, 1846 ; was a member of Company H, Tenth Michigan Infantry, and died in the army July 5, 1862. Gilbert, born in Shelby, January 31, 1849. Charlotte V., born in Shelby, October 16, 1851. Ellen E., born in Avon, March 20, 1855. Eva a., born in Avon, January 7, 1859. Lewis B., born in Avon, July 10, 1861.