The Gores originated in Scotland, migrated to Germany, later migrated to Great Britain where they lived for more than a hundred years, and finally migrated to America. The single source for this story comes from a great granddaughter of Henry Gore and Ann Catherine Keller. On page 11 of Looking Backward by Mrs. Katie Goar Maze, 1943 is an article entitled "The Genealogy of Katie Goar" which says:

There is an old castle along the Rhine in Germany, built in the thirteenth century, called St. Goar. The Goars migrated from Scotland to Germany, and from Germany to Great Britain. There, they anglicised the name to Gore. After having lived in England for more than one hundred years, they migrated to America.

If the foregoing statement is true regarding the origin of the family name, then the name Goar is neither French nor German but is instead Scottish. However, there is no evidence that any family by the name of Goar with any of its variant spellings ever moved around Europe as this story or the one preceding it claims that they did. The following is quoted from The Name and Family of Gore, published as a joint effort by descendants of John Gore of Roxbury:

Among the earliest records of the family in England are those of William ad le Gorwege of Cambridge in the year 1273; those of Allan atte Gora of Essex in 1292; those of Thomas de la Gore of Suffolk in 1292; those of Simon atte Gore of Somersetshire in 1327; those of Richard Gorwaye of Somersetshire in 1327; and those of Thomas Pegrim Gore and Mary Gore also of Somersetshire in 1367.

All of the placenames quoted above are either counties or towns in England. Until someone can produce evidence that these early Gores came to England from somewhere else, their English origin will have to stand as is. It has been difficult enough for me and other researchers to document ourselves back 340 years to the immigrant John Gore. However, no serious genealogist can be expected to take a blind leap from there in the nebulous past in a vain attempt to link our John to an imaginary family in Scotland or Germany.

By the close of the 16th century, the spelling of the name in England had been formulated to that of Gore, although there were a few isolated exceptions. All of those bearing this name who came to New England, Maryland, and the Carolinas used the spelling of Gore. It seems that those coming to Virginia used the name Gore as well as the variant spellings of Gower, Goar, Goare and Goore, probably due to lack of formal education not only by family members but by those occupying positions at the church parishes and courthouses. By the close of the 19th century practically all descendants of John the immigrant were using the spelling of Gore - the primary exception being that of the descendants of James Goar and Sarah Farley (see story #16).

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