Henry Goff was born in the town of Howard, Jan. 8, 

 1816. His father, "William Goflf, was a native of Bennington, 

 Yt., born in 1781 ; went to Otsego County while a young man, 

 and married Harriet Hamilton, of the town of Butternuts, 

 and began farming. 



Of this union were born in that county. Job ; Mrs. Zimri 

 Burnham (deceased) ; Mrs. Nathan Goflf (deceased) ; Jehial 

 D. (deceased); Potter D. H., a practicing physician of Wis- 

 consin. 



The family settled in the town of Howard, this county, 

 about 1810, when Mr. Goff first purchased some two hundred 

 acres of land on Goff's Creek, making additions thereto sub- 

 sequently of several hundred acres. On his land was a saw- 

 mill, and on which he built a grist-mill, the first built in that 

 section of the county, and erected a wool-carding and cloth - 

 dressing mill; and in 1833 he built the brick house now stand- 

 ing in that part of the town, making the brick by hand. He 

 lived where he first settled until he had erected the third grist- 

 mill on different sites on the same farm. He also built a 

 distillery which he carried on for some twelve years, and was 

 engaged in stone-cutting. 



At one time when there was a scarcity of provisions, Mr. 

 Goff brought flour from Penn Yan, paying twenty dollars per 

 barrel, and distributed it among the needy ; and during the 

 famine, in 1816, it is said that Mrs. Goff spent a large part of 

 one winter sifting bran, taking the finer part and mixing with 

 fiour to supply the destitute ; and at a time when there was no 

 physician near she was the ever ready physician and midwife 

 for the settlers; such was her generosity and kindness, that 

 her name will long be honored for her many womanly virtues. 

 He was an enterprising, thrifty business man ; his sympathy 

 for those around him was only limited by his ability to help 

 them, and to such families as the Goffs was the establishment 

 of schools, settlement of towns, and manufacturing interests 

 of the early days most due. 



Mr. Goff was esteemed very highly by the citizens of the 

 town ; was supervisor for many years, and a member of the 

 Democratic party. Although a man of little book knowledge, 

 he possessed much native ability and sound common sense, and 

 during the latter part of his life gave much of his time to 

 reading, and especially to the study of the Scriptures, in which 

 he was well versed, and believed in the final justification of 

 the whole human race. 



Their children born in the town of Howard are Cameron, 

 Henry, Washington (died young), Warren W., Hosea B., and 

 Mrs. Alkali Bennett. 



The father died in the town of Howard, at the age of 

 seventy-eight ; the mother died at the age of fifty-six, in the 

 year 1843. 



Mr. Henry Goff spent his minority on the farm and in the 

 mill, receiving a fair common-school education. At the age 

 of twenty-two he married Minerva, daughter of Eeuben and 

 Electa (Loomis) Smith, of the town of Bath. Her parents 

 soon after their own marriage settled in Howard, when 

 there were only three families in the town, and afterwards re- 

 moved to Bath, where they lived until they died. She was 

 born Feb. 6, 1818. His first business for himself was in the 

 carding and cloth-dressing mill, which his father turned over 

 to him about the time of his marriage. To this he added the 

 manufacture of chairs, wagon hubs, etc., in which he was 

 successful, and got a good start in business. 



In 1851 he engaged in the lilmber business with Joseph I. 

 Burnham, rafting down the Canisteo. For three years as a 

 farmer, and five as a merchant, he resided in Avoca. In 1862 

 he opened a general merchandising store in Corning, which he 

 carried on for seven years, and since has given his attention 

 wholly to the dry-goods trade in that place, and is among the 

 successful and enterprising merchants of Southern New York. 



Mr. Goff has always been a staunch member of the Demo- 

 cratic party, and has been called upon by the citizens of his 

 town to fill many places of trust and responsibility. Was 

 supervisor of the town of Avoca, and for six years a justice of 

 the peace of that town ; has been supervisor of Corning for two 

 years ; eight years justice of the peace and one year president 

 of the village of Corning. 



During the excitement consequent upon the draft for Corn- 

 ing of one hundred and forty-five men during the late Ke- 

 bellion, Mr. Goff took an active part in raising money to 

 hire men and prevent the draft ; fc.,nd for four days continuously 

 was chairman of the meeting of the citizens of Corning at that 

 time, and was a liberal contributor in supporting that suc- 

 cessful project. 



His attention has been more particularly given to business, 

 preferring that to political honor or the emoluments of ofiice. 

 Their children are J. Dimick, who died at the age of twenty- 

 three ; and Mahlon D., who is now a resident of Corning. 



