Cokonougher origins - Where Did We Come From?

       Our ancestors in 1654, Jacob, Hans, and Heinrich Gochenour (sic Cokonougher) were the original Cokonougher hardheads. They accepted a new religion at a time in history when the practice of any religion other than the official state religion was considered treason.  When they were challenged and persecuted, they stuck to their beliefs. Jacob lost everything he had, including his wife and children, rather than change his mind. He was lucky that he didn't lose his life too.  The genetic link between these people of the past and my family today is strong, for I have observed the same amount of stubbornness and steadfastness in my Cokonougher relatives of today. When we think we are right, then we are right, and no one, I repeat, no one is going to convince us any differently.  Being a Cokonougher myself, I might admit to having shown these traits once or twice myself, but only if I feel like it, and only if no one tries to force me to do so. ☺

       "The Gochenour family is of Swiss ancestry. On the shores of beautiful Lake Zurich is a small village named Gruningen and here was the ancestral home of the Gochenours.
       It is recorded in the "Ausbund", which is the original hymn book of the Mennonites, published in 1751, that one Jacob Gochnauer of Gruningen suffered persecution in 1654 because he adopted the faith of his choice, that is he held to the tenets of the Mennonite Church. He was imprisoned in a castle dungeon and his family was turned out into the fields. Mr. David T. Gochenour of Grinnell, Iowa, has one of these books written in the German language with "Jacob Gochenour" hand written on the fly leaf. It belonged to our first Virginia Gochenour ancestor, Jacob Gochenour.
       We next find evidence of the Gochenours living in the German Palatinate. This is an area along the Rhine River and in the Seventeenth century was divided into many small principalities. The rulers of these provinces at various times allowed persecuted religious sects to live in their dominions subject to various discriminations.
        In "The Mennonite Quarterly Review", Vol. 14, (1940), page 15, is published a list of Mennonites permitted to live at Churpfalz Landen in 1685, and among the list is the name of "Heinrich Gochnaur" saying he had eight children. These Mennonites we permitted to live in this province on paying a fine to the ruler. The lists were made to show who had paid the fine.
       Another list published in the Quarterly shows that the following Gochenours were living in this vicinity: Jacob Gochnauer and Hans Gochnauer. Later lists for 1738 and 1740 omit the names of Jacob and Hans Gochnauer. Possibly this Jacob Gochenour was one of the two emigrant Jacob Gochenours who came to America, landing at Philadelphia, Penn., one on the ship "Samuel" from Rotterdam, Holland arriving August 11, 1732, and the other in the ship "Harle" also from Rotterdam arriving Sept. 1, 1736.
        Large numbers of the inhabitants of the Palatinate came to America in this period. Often the rulers of the several German states revoked their consent or license to the religious dissenters, mostly Mennonites, and began to persecute them. Also a series of wars devastated the area causing the unhappy people to leave the country and come to America."

        This information was extracted from Appendix I of HISTORY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF JACOB GOCHENOUR, Robert Lee Evans [3512 North Third Street; Arlington, VA 22201], 1977, Carr Publishing Company, Inc., Boyce, VA 22620.

John Cochenour Attacked by Wolves

This Cochenour (sic "Cokonougher") had to be a distant relative of mine, from the very distant time of over two centuries ago.  He lived in Ross County, Ohio and came to Ohio about the same time as my other Cokonougher relatives.  I don't know anything more about this man than what is written in the article that I have shown below.