Eliza and Lourana Gooch
The heart wrenching question of "What happened to Betty and the children she had with William Gooch ?" haunted me. So, I continued to search for Betty and her children in the available records. When I came across the 1856 will of Dr. Andrew C. Atkinson of Hanover County (source: Hanover County Virginia Will Book CC with Inventories Accounts, etc. 1852 - 1865 page 225), I had hope that they had survived and were still a family . In his will, Atkinson mentioned "...slaves emancipated by me" with the names of "Luereyney Gooch, James N. Gooch, and James Gooch". Although these names were not mentioned in Betty's court case, the fact that slaves with the surname of Gooch were living in Hanover County was a luring, magnetic clue. A transcription of Atkinson's will, written 21 years after Betty originally filed suit in 1835, follows. I, Andrew C. Atkinson of the County of Hanover and State of Virginia being of sound mind and disposing memory do ...