A Guide to the Robert Lee Evans Research Files on the Gochenour and Evans Families, 1930-1983
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 33200
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2002 By the Library of Virginia.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Susan Hamburger and Alex Lorch
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Donor retains copyright on Robert Lee Evans' History of the Descendants of Jacob Gochenour and literary rights to manuscripts transferred to The Library of Virginia.
Preferred Citation
Robert Lee Evans Research Files on the Gochenour and Evans Families, 1930-1983. Accession 33200, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mary Jane Evans Post, 14 July 1988.
Biographical/Historical Information
Robert Lee Evans (1906-1982) was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in mechanical engineering and later from George Washington University Law School. He was a member of the Washington, D.C., Bar and the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1919 he was employed as an Examiner in the U.S. Patent Office and later became director of the Physics Group. He retired in 1972 and died on May 11, 1982. Although interested in the history of his family from the 1930s, it was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that he proceeded to gather the bulk of the information contained within this collection, organize it, and publish it in the work, History of the Descendants of Jacob Gochenour (Boyce, Va.: Carr Publishing Company, 1977).
Scope and Content Information
Although only one family history was published, compilations were also completed for the Henry Gochenour family and the Jeremiah Evans family, with indices to names contained in the histories. An unpublished manuscript on the Jeremiah Evans family is also included in the material. These family histories contain information sheets on family members. A specific number was designated for each individual according to his generation and place in the family (explained in folder 1 and placed in the container listing in parenthesis), and Evans would send out form letters requesting information or the verification of listed information. These would be returned with correspondence, notes, corrections, newspaper clippings, or other items of interest and were filed numerically in loose-leaf notebooks. Many contacts were made through the annual Gochenour reunion held in Woodstock, Virginia. Other collection material includes Shenandoah County marriage bonds, with an index, 1772-1850, and the 1850 census for Shenandoah County , compiled by Cleta Smith, who assisted Evans in his research.
Following the correspondence are Evans' research notes and card indices. Research notes, obtained from many public and private sources, relate principally to the counties of Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, and Augusta, and contain Bible records, land records, marriage records, maps, and exchanges of information from various individuals. Folders marked "visits" are diary-like entries made during his travels to family members. Of particular interest are the notes on the Gochenour family collected by Philip S. Rhodes, a surveyor in Shenandoah County in the 1920s and 1930s, and notes on the Henry Gochenour family by Elaine Artlip, both with indices to the individuals mentioned. Also of note are Evans' annotated bibliographies that include a variety of sources pertinent to his investigations. There are also card indices to the baptisms and marriages listed in John W. Wayland, A History of Shenandoah County , Virginia, pp. 736-764, giving the names of parents and child, and age and date of baptism; to Shenandoah County names in Lantz Family Record by Jacob W. Lantz (1931); and an index to land grants from various sources contained within the material. The card indices in boxes 8 through 16 contain a partial index of the names found in Robert Lee Evans' History of the Descendants of Jacob Gochenour (Boyce, Va.: Carr Publishing Company, 1977). Boxes 17 through 19 house index cards for names located in the Jacob Gochenour notebooks. In boxes 20 through 22 are index cards pertaining to the names in the Henry Gochenour notebooks. Also in box 22 are cards related to the Jeremiah Evans notebooks and the land grants notebooks and loose papers. Box 23 also houses land grants note cards. Wayland's note cards in reference to marriages and baptisms listed in History of Shenandoah County , Virginia, are kept in box 24 and contain information on the parents, the child and the age and date of baptism. Boxes 25 through 33 contain alphabetized index cards for the Shenandoah County Marriage Bond Index, 1772-1850 and the Shenandoah County 1850 United States Census.
Organization
This collection is organized into the following series and sub-series: I: Gochenour and Evans family histories (Sub-series A: Jacob Gochenour family history, Sub-series B: Henry Gochenour family history, Sub- series C: Jeremiah Evans family history, Sub-series D: Miscellaneous); II: Correspondence; III: Research notes and card indices.
Contents List
- Box-folder: Box 1 - Box 2, Folder
27
Subseries A: Jacob Gochenour Family History
- Box 1 Folder
1
Notebook I (Introduction - 139)
- Box 1 Folder
2
Notebook I (139A - 176)
- Box 1 Folder
3
Notebook II (1311 - 149A2)
- Box 1 Folder
4
Notebook II (149A3 - 1765)
- Box 1 Folder
5
Notebook III (13,621 - 14,9A69)
- Box 1 Folder
6
Notebook III (14,9A71 - 17,562)
- Box 1 Folder
7
Notebook IV (136,211 - 138,461)
- Box 1 Folder
8
Notebook IV (138,463 - 149A,534)
- Box 1 Folder
9
Notebook IV (149A,535 - 156,273)
- Box 1 Folder
10
Notebook V (156,281 - 173,235)
- Box 1 Folder
11
Notebook VI (1,321,171 - 1,366,635)
- Box 1 Folder
12
Notebook VII (1,366,711 - 1,368,133)
- Box 1 Folder
13
Notebook VII (1,369,111 - 1,3C7,742)
- Box 1 Folder
14
Notebook VII (1,39C7,751 - 1,49A2,166)
- Box 1 Folder
15
Notebook VIII (1,515,311 - 1,521,332)
- Box 1 Folder
16
Notebook VIII (1,521,333 - 1,562,633)
- Box 2 Folder
17
Notebook IX (1,562,821 - 1,562,546)
- Box 2 Folder
18
Notebook IX (1,562,551 - 1,565,752)
- Box 2 Folder
19
Notebook IX (1,565,753 - 1,732,344)
- Box 2 Folder
20
Notebook X (13,621,1a11 - 13,663,542)
- Box 2 Folder
21
Notebook X (13,663,543 - 13,668,721)
- Box 2 Folder
22
Notebook XI (13,669,111 - 14,132,221)
- Box 2 Folder
23
Notebook XI (14,132,412 - 15,454,442)
- Box 2 Folder
24
Notebook XII (15,623,221 - 15,646,243)
- Box 2 Folder
25
Notebook XII (15,646,621 - 17,323,432)
- Box 2 Folder
26
Notebook XIII (136,212,111 - 1,411,321,131)
- Box 2 Folder
27
Family Charts
- Box 1 Folder
1
- Box-folder: Box 2, Folder
28-33
Subseries B: Henry Gochenour Family History
- Box 2 Folder
28
Notebook I (Introduction - 23,625)
- Box 2 Folder
29
Notebook I (23,625 - 29A4,111)
- Box 2 Folder
30
Notebook II (2,311,111 - 2,9A41,111)
- Box 2 Folder
31
Notebook III (23,111,311 - 23,116,19C5)
- Box 2 Folder
32
Notebook IV (23,116,211 - 231,129B,421)
- Box 2 Folder
33
Notebook V (231,143,411 - 2,311,613,421)
- Box 2 Folder
28
- Box-folder: Box 3, Folder
34-38
Subseries C: Jeremiah Evans Family History
- Box 3 Folder
34
Notebook I (Introduction - 15,214)
- Box 3 Folder
35
Notebook I (15,215 - 153,524)
- Box 3 Folder
36
Notebook I (153,811 - 15,612,29A2)
- Box 3 Folder 37
- Box 3 Folder
38
Family Chart
- Box 3 Folder
34
- Box-folder: Box 3, Folder
39-42
Subseries D: Miscellaneous
- Box 3 Folder 39
- Box 3 Folder 40
- Box 3 Folder 41
- Box 3 Folder 42
- Box 4 Folder
43
General: 1951, 1954-1957, 1959-1963, 1965-1973
- Box 4 Folder
44
General: 1974-1980
- Box 4 Folder
45
Adams, Barbara Enders: 1966
- Box 4 Folder
46
Bennington, Cecil O.: 1959, 1966-1969, 1971-1973, 1975-1976, n.d.
- Box 4 Folder
47
Beydler family: 1868, 1906, 1963-1964, 1966, 1973
- Box 4 Folder
48
Bly, Daniel W.: 1975
- Box 4 Folder
49
Clem, Nellie: 1965
- Box 4 Folder
50
Couchenour, Darrell: 1970-1972, 1979
- Box 4 Folder
51
Couchenour, Ralph S.: 1960, 1962, 1978, 1980-1981
- Box 4 Folder
52
Evans, Robert Lee: 1930, 1936-1938, 1941-1944, 1955-1958, 1960, 1962-1963, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972-1974, 1983, n.d.
- Box 4 Folder
53
Gouchenour, David: 1963, 1967, 1969-1970, 1972-1973
- Box 4 Folder
54
Gouchenour, Henry (concerning): 1969-1970, 1974-1975
- Box 4 Folder
55
Gouchenour, Howard: 1967, 1969
- Box 4 Folder 56
- Box 4 Folder
57
Gripe, Raymond J.: 1973
- Box 4 Folder 58
- Box 4 Folder
59
Hockman, Noah A.: 1972-1973
- Box 4 Folder
60
Howbert, Edgar C.: 1967, 1968, 1977
- Box 4 Folder
61
Huffman, Diane: 1968-1970, 1973
- Box 4 Folder
62
Ihrke, Leora: 1968-1969
- Box 4 Folder
63
Indiana Gouchenours: 1945, 1972, 1976
- Box 4 Folder
64
Lines, Jack and Louis D. Kork: 1963, 1972
- Box 4 Folder
65
Maryland Gouchenours: 1958-1959, 1963-1964
- Box 4 Folder
66
Mennonite Library and Archives: 1973
- Box 4 Folder
67
Pennsylvania Gouchenours: 1972
- Box 4 Folder
68
Peters family: 1973
- Box 4 Folder
69
Rader, Jacob K.: 1969
- Box 4 Folder 70
- Box 4 Folder 71
- Box 4 Folder
72
Ryman, John: 1965
- Box 4 Folder
73
Seward, Dwight C.: 1967
- Box 4 Folder
74
Smith, Cleta: 1962, 1965-1971, 1976
- Box 4 Folder
75
Wilkin family: 1968
- Box 5 Folder
76
Barr family
- Box 5 Folder
77
Bible records
- Box 5 Folder
78
Books (annotated bibliographies): Abbott - Harrison
- Box 5 Folder
79
Books (annotated bibliographies): Harrisonburg, Virginia - Pen
- Box 5 Folder
80
Books (annotated bibliographies): Per - W
- Box 5 Folder
81
Branner, Casper
- Box 5 Folder
82
Cemeteries
- Box 5 Folder 83
- Box 5 Folder
84
Coffman lineages
- Box 5 Folder 85
- Box 5 Folder 86
- Box 5 Folder 87
- Box 5 Folder
88
Evans family
- Box 5 Folder
89
Evans family
- Box 5 Folder
90
Evans family
- Box 5 Folder
91
Evans family (includes E. E. Macy notes)
- Box 5 Folder
92
Evans family: books consulted
- Box 5 Folder
93
Evans family: books consulted
- Box 5 Folder 94
- Box 5 Folder 95
- Box 6 Folder
96
Evans family: notes from periodicals
- Box 6 Folder
97
Evans family: marriages and notes from printed sources
- Box 6 Folder
98
Evans family: other Evans families
- Box 6 Folder
99
Evans family: notes taken in Richmond, Virginia
- Box 6 Folder
100
Evans family: visits with family members
- Box 6 Folder
101
Fisher, Foltz and Funkhauser families
- Box 6 Folder
102
Form letters sent: A - F
- Box 6 Folder
103
Form letters sent: G
- Box 6 Folder
104
Form letters sent: H - P
- Box 6 Folder
105
Form letters sent: R - W
- Box 6 Folder
106
Form letters sent (no response): A - F
- Box 6 Folder
107
Form letters sent (no response): G - K
- Box 6 Folder
108
Form letters sent (no response): L - Z
- Box 6 Folder
109
Gochenour data sheets
- Box 6 Folder
110
Gochenour family: Philip S. Rhodes' notes
- Box 6 Folder
111
Gochenour marriages
- Box 6 Folder 112
- Box 6 Folder
113
Gochenour, David: Bible records
- Box 6 Folder
114
Gochenour, Henry: Elaine Artlip's notes
- Box 6 Folder
115
Gochenour, Henry: Elaine Artlip's notes (no indices)
- Box 6 Folder
116
Handwerk family: reunion booklet
- Box 6 Folder
117
Hite family: Elaine Artlip's notes (2 copies)
- Box 6 Folder
118
Hottel family: notes
- Box 6 Folder
119
Indiana Gouchenours
- Box 6 Folder
120
Jenkins family
- Box 6 Folder
121
Jordan family
- Box 6 Folder
122
Land grants
- Box 7 Folder
123
Land suit: Fairfax and Hite families
- Box 7 Folder
124
Land transfers: Abraham Gochenour
- Box 7 Folder
125
Land transfers: Henry Gochenour
- Box 7 Folder
126
Land transfers: Jacob Gochenour and Wilkin family
- Box 7 Folder
127
Land transfers: Joseph Gochenour
- Box 7 Folder
128
Land transfers: Levi and Christian Gochenour
- Box 7 Folder
129
Land transfers: Toms Brook
- Box 7 Folder
130
Land transfers: William Gochenour
- Box 7 Folder
131
Library of Congress
- Box 7 Folder
132
Library of Congress
- Box 7 Folder
133
Maps
- Box 7 Folder
134
Marriages
- Box 7 Folder
135
Miley family
- Box 7 Folder
136
National Archives
- Box 7 Folder
137
National Archives
- Box 7 Folder 138
- Box 7 Folder
139
Papers that have been copied
- Box 7 Folder
140
Priest family
- Box 7 Folder 141
- Box 7 Folder
142
Rhodes family
- Box 7 Folder
143
Richmond, Virginia (notes taken while in)
- Box 7 Folder
144
Rockingham, Virginia: 10th Regiment, Virginia Volunteers
- Box 7 Folder 145
- Box 7 Folder
146
Skiles family
- Box 7 Folder
147
Surveying
- Box 7 Folder
148
Varner family
- Box 7 Folder
149
Visits (with family members): 1938-1978
- Box 7 Folder
150
Miscellaneous
- Box 7 Folder
151
Miscellaneous Gochenour family information
- Box 8
Card index - Barbara Ann Gochenour to Frank Eschelman Good
- Box 9
Card index - Freda Irene Good to Carl Frederick Hockman
- Box 10
Card index - Carolyn Hockman to Marie Virginia Jenkins
- Box 11
Card index - Martha Bell Jenkins to Charles Jennings Long, Jr.
- Box 12
Card index - Charles Jennings Long, Jr. to Thomas Neher
- Box 13
Card index - Trelah Lorraine Neher to Florence Roberts
- Box 14
Card index - Gasaway Roberts to Ollie Louise Shuler
- Box 15
Card index - Ollie Louise Shuler to Evelyn Frances Thorpe
- Box 16
Card index - Evelyn Frances Thorpe to Stephen Michael Zobrist
- Box 17
Jacob Gochenour card index (notebooks) - Clara Abbey to Ivan T. Gochenour
- Box 18
Jacob Gochenour card index (notebooks) - J. Oliver Gochenour to Linda Dean Olsen
- Box 19
Jacob Gochenour card index (notebooks) - Catherine O'Neal to Ellen Zschaus
- Box 20
Henry Gochenour card index (notebooks) - Bessie Ackerman to Frank J. Gochenour
- Box 21
Henry Gochenour card index (notebooks) - Frank Gochenour to Carolyn Stillian
- Box 22
a. Henry Gochenour card index (notebooks) - Everett Stillian to Nancy Zungola
b. Jeremiah Evans card index (notebooks)
c. Land grants card index (notebooks and loose papers) - Box 23
Land grants card index
- Box 24
- Box 25
- Box 26
- Box 27
- Box 28
- Box 29
- Box 30
- Box 31
- Box 32
- Box 33