Weathervane Wednesday - Of Interest To Zacheus Gould Descendants

Several months ago Karen Johnson sent me the link to a story she wrote for the Towne Family Association Newletter for July - September 2018.  On pages 79 -81 she wrote a short article called "Gold Country - Zacheus & Phebe Gould Country, that is".  One of the photos in this article featured a wonderful weathervane, and she gave me permission to repost these photos and excerpts from her article about her June 2017 TFA trip to England and her visit to the farm where this weathervane is located.

"Our excursion today took us to GOLD country. That means we traveled through land where Zacheus and Phebe Gould once lived.  The name Gould is sometimes pronounced Gold.  In the records it has been found with many different spellings - Gold, Goolde, Golde, Goold, Goeld, and even Gowle as well as Gould. Gould has been the spelling most commonly used today. This family's treasure was not in gold, but in the land they had acquired and had inherited...

... By 6 June 1626, Zacheus and Phebe Gould had surrendered their land, garden, orchard and buildings in Two Waters... They were moving to Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire County... Years later, Zacheus Gould's grandson, John Gould, said that "his grandfather Zacheus lived at a place called Hunts Green near Potter Row, belonging to Great Missenden.

In Great Missenden they actually did live on a farm named Hunts Green.  It was located on the boundary of the small parish of The Lee and the little town, but with a large parish, of Wendover, all to the north.  Zacheus also had lands in Wendover Foreign.  The baptisms for the next two children were at St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Great Missenden: Priscill on 7 Sep 1628 and John on 29 June 1635...

Our coach traveled through Bovingdon and passed by Venus Hill where Zacheus Gould had inherited land and had lived when he was young.  Here we could see horses grazing on the pasture land.  There is a sign at the bottom of the hill that says Venus Hill.  We passed through Two Waters and visited Hemel Hempstead where Zacheus and Phebe lived with their first three children.

Then we headed to Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire County to see where Zacheus and Phebe had lived.  They had built a home that Charles Farrow beieves is probably the one called Hunts Green Farm today.  The home has had some new brickwork done and has been expanded. However, the old beams holding up the structure date back to when the Gould family lived there.  We went by Potter Row on our way to and from Hunts Green.

Hunts Green Farm

We felt very fortunate to be able to stop at Hunts Green Farm where we were given a tour by the current owners.  They now have several barns and some additional housing and lots of farm equipment.  Today they grow corn, and there is a delightful weather vane adorning the roof of one structure with a tractor on top letting you know definitely that it is a farm.

To drive through these communities and to be able to see the many places where our Gould ancestors once lived was truly special.  To actually see a farm, walk on the land, and see a home built in the early 1600s where our family once lived was extraordinary....

....Reminder:  The Towne family is related to Zacheus and Phebe Gould through their daughter Phoebe Gould who married Thomas Perkins. Their daughter Phebe Perkins married Joseph Towne in 1663 in Topsfield, Massachusetts."

Are you a GOULD descendant, too?

Zaccheus Gould, son of Richard Gould and Elizabeth Young was born in 1589 in Bovingdon, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, and died after 30 March 1668 in Topsfield, Massachusetts. He married Phebe Deacon, daughter of Thomas Deacon and Martha Field and had six children, three born in Bovingdon and three in Great Missenden.  I descend from Priscilla Gould (about 1625 - 1663) , mentioned above in the article by Karen Johnson, who married John Wildes (about 1619 - 1705).

Thank you very much, Karen Johnson, for the photos and story!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday - Of Interest To Zacheus Gould Descendants", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 31, 2019, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/07/weathervane-wednesday-of-interest-to.html: accessed [access date]).