The Gores originated in Germany, migrated to the British Isles where they lived for more than a hundred years, and then came to America at the time of the religious wars in Great Britain about the year 1689. The earliest source for this story is found in a letter dated 21 March 1925 from Dr. Charles S. Goar of Indianapolis, Indiana to his cousin Mrs. Flossie Goar Cooper of Pineville, Louisiana. The letter states in part:

The Farleys and the Gores came to America at the time of the religious wars in Great Britain, which was about the year 1689......  Strange as it may be, I have a record, a pamphlet in German language, showing the picture of an old castle along the Rhine by the name of St. Goar. I am informed that this castle was built in the 13th century. My understanding has been that the Goars originated in Germany, emigrated to Great Britain and there Englishized the name to Gore, having lived in Great Britain for more than one hundred years, emigrating to America, as stated above.

A second source which makes a similar claim regarding the origin of the Gores is listed on page 3 of The Genealogy of the Gore Family written ca 1964 by George T. Swain which reads:

To find an early history of the Gore clan, we researched high and low. Legend has it that the first Gores came from Germany and emigrated to the British Isles. We were unable to find any recorded history to verify this belief, but we are inclined to believe this legend is true due to the fact that the very name "Gore" has a Germanic connotation.

In checking the history of England I found that there were no religious wars around the year of 1689. What I did find was a revolution in 1688 in which James II, the second son of Charles I, was expelled as the king of England and in his place in 1689 was installed the joint rule of Mary II (eldest daughter of James II) and William III (son of William, Prince of Orange and Mary, daughter of Charles I).This joint rulership lasted until 1694 at which time Mary II died and William III continued until 1702 (1958 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 7, page 313). The Farleys and the Gores were in America long before 1689. The first Gore to come to America was Thomas Gore in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia (The Jamestown Voyages Under the First Charter, 1606-1609 by Philip L. Barbour). The first Gore to permanently remain in America was John Gore of Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1635 (Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England). There were several Gores who came to Virginia long before 1689 (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants by Nell Marion Nugent). The first Farley to arrive in America was Thomas Farley with his wife Lady Jane Sefton in 1623 on the ship Ann. Their oldest daughter was born at sea while enroute Jamestown and was named Ann after the ship which transported them. Thomas and Lady Jane were the 2nd great grandparents of Matthew Farley whose daughter Sarah married James, son of Henry Gore and Ann Catherine Keller (Twelve Generations of Farleys by Jesse Kelso Farley, Jr. of Evanston, Illinois; Genealogical History of the Hopkins, Farley, Cook, Keaton and Brown Families by Alonzo A. Hopkins of Bluefield, West Virginia, 1964).

That there is a castle named St. Goar on the Rhine River in Germany is certainly no basis for establishing that the Gores originated there. This castle which was built in the 13th century was named for a celibate French Catholic priest who lived centuries earlier. The following is taken from page 864 of a Catholic publication entitled, Little Pictorial, Lives of the Saints:

July 6, St. Goar, Priest

St. Goar was born of an illustrious family at Aquitaine. From his youth he was noted for his earnest piety, and, having been raised to sacred orders, he converted many sinners by the fervor of his preaching and the force of his example. Wishing to serve God entirely unknown to the world, he went over into Germany, and, settling in the neighborhood of Trier, he shut himself up in his cell, and arrived at such an eminent degree of sanctity as to be esteemed the oracle and miracle of the whole country. Sigebert, King of Austrasia, learning of the sanctity of Goar, wished to have him made Bishop of Metz, and for that purpose summoned him to court. The Saint, fearing the responsibilities of the office, prayed that he might be excused. He was seized with a fever, and died in 575.

So here is a French priest who was unmarried and left no descendants. Some seven centuries later a castle is built on the Rhine River in Germany and is named in his honor. One of my California cousins has visited this castle and the village which lies on the opposite side of the river and she found no evidence of any Goar/Gore families living there recently or ever having lived there in the past. There is as much evidence to suggest that Goar is a French name as well as a German name. However, there are at least six documented sources that clearly show that the name Gore is of English origin:

Gore, the name of a noble family in the British aristocracy has a curious etymology, for the word Gara in Old English means a triangular piece of land, and thus at some unrecorded period the founder of this noble line must have lived in a small way by some three-sided plot, which formed his simple support (The Story of Surnames by L. G. Pine, page 54).

Gore listed as a 14th century British surname originally in Kent and used as "ate Gore" meaning a triangular piece of land ...... A Gore is defined as an odd triangular piece of land (A History of Surnames of the British Isles by C. L'Estrange Gwen, pages 178, 232).

Gore (Old English gar "a triangular piece of land"); etc.... John "atte Gore" is assessed in North Stoke in 1296, Stephen "Gorman" in 1327, and William and John "Gorman" in 1332, (dweller by the triangular piece of land) "Gore, Gorman" (The Origin of English Surnames, pages 50, 200).

A passage betwixt two houses, or a narrow defile between two hillsides, was a "gore", akin, we may safely say, to "gorge." Our "Gores," as descendants of the old "de la Gore," are thus explained. "De la Gore," which once existed, is now, I believe, obsolete. Ref: "Hundred Rolls." Placita de Quo Warranto (English Surnames by C. W. Bardsley, page 130).

Gore (English), one who lived near, or on, the triangular piece of land; one who tilled such a piece; one who came from Gore (triangular land), in Kent (Dictionary of American Family Names by Elsdon C. Smith, page 80).

Men who could be addressed by the particularly well-known farm or piece of land on or near which they lived would be known by such names. Size or shape of the plot of land would be observed. On a triangular piece of land the farmer would be a "Gore" or "Gorham" in England or a "Keil" or "Zwick" in Germany (American Surnames by Elsdon C. Smith, page 211).

(copyright 1993-1997 The Gore Family Newsletter / James L. Gore)

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