Early History

The earliest mention of the name Gogerly appears in the USA in the South Carolina Gazette dated 23 May 1761 and in England in the Methodist Society Archives in London.

Source of information - ESCN Database reports, Mt Pleasant, South Carolina, The South Carolina Historical Society. USA and the Methodist Missionary Society Archives in London, England.

Name - GOGERLY John (address unknown) Shipmaster ....... Marine intelligence

John Gogerly's name also appears as a witness to the will of Daniel Burkmyer of Charlestown, South Carolina, dated 30 April 1774.

According to the mission, a family of Gogerly's went from Germany to become tobacco farmers in South Carolina USA. The article in the South Carolina Gazette suggests Gogerly was a Shipmaster/Captain. However a letter written by Agnes Gogerly to her cousin Laura Green suggests that it was more than likely the family were tobacco farmers in South Carolina.

The family were Loyalists and a "Gogerly" fought (for the British) and died in the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and had all his property confiscated as a consequence.

His widow and her two sons Daniel and Jacob Gogerly were given, in recognition of their loyalty to the crown, free passage to England. They were conveyed by Lord/General Cornwallis and on arrival in England received an indemnity, for the loss of all their property, an annuity from the British Government. It is most likely that they arrived in England sometime in 1783.

It is not known whether or not John Gogerly was the Gogerly who fought and died in the American War of Independence or was the father of Daniel and Jacob. The article in the South Carolina Gazette is however dated only 14 years and the will only one year prior to the commencement of the war and it is quite probable that he was.

A great grand daughter of the Gogerly who died in the war, Agnes Gogerly in a letter to her cousin Laura Green mentions that her great great grandfather came to England with George the first in 1714. George the first was born March 28 1660 and was raised in the royal court of Hanover a German province. He arrived in Greenwich, England on September 29, 1714 (the same year as mentioned by Agnes in her letter to Laura). He arrived with a full retinue of GERMAN FRIENDS, advisors and servants. His ignorance of the English language and customs actually became the cornerstone of his style of rule: leave England to it's own devices and live in Hanover as much as possible, refer - Britannia: Monarchs of Britain. So it does appear that the Gogerly's did in fact come from Hanover, Germany.

"Dear Laura,

I fear the enclosed wont help you much in your quest for the relation of our family to royalty, but I know no more.

Love to you all and hope that you may get some of old Jacob Gogerly's cash. Excuse this scrawl and believe me to be, your fond cousin, Agnes E Gogerly"

"My great great grandfather came to England with George I in 1714. I fear the family ( i.e.: the Gogerly family) helped him spy on his queen, Sophia of Celle whom he groundlessly suspected and confined at Alsace for nearly 40 years, not letting even her children see her. They had two children, George II and Sophia, who became mother of Frederick the Great.

As the Gogerly family did not succeed as well as they expected they went to America and became slave owners (very kind ones) in Carolina and when the war with America broke out my great grandfather fighting for the British was shot as well as his son in law, lieutenant Flukes - Mrs Gogerly (my great grandmother) and her 18 year old daughter Mrs Flukes were both pensioned by government as widows of officers - they both came to England bringing my grandfather (i.e. Daniel Gogerly) who at 4 years old broke his leg when going to see the British ships enter Charleston harbour ( would have been around 1775). Mrs Flukes married again (I forget her name) but kept the secret as she would have lost her pension had it been known, so one of the Gogerly family at least was not quite honest, she was always called Polly Flukes. Grandpapa Gogerly lived to be a very handsome old man with silver curls hanging down to his coat collar and still had a very slight limp when he first started walking"

The above letter is unfortunately undated. However Agnes died in 1912 so the letter would have been dated sometime prior to 1912.

This confirms that the Gogerly family did go to Carolina but not directly from Germany. They first settled in England and then went on to South Carolina. It also appears that Daniel and Jacob had a sister, Polly, and they all went to England with their widowed mother, Polly herself being widowed.

The reference made by the Mission to the family being tobacco farmers could be correct as farms at that time would have been run by slave labour hence Agnes's mention of the family being "Slave owners".

There have been suggestions that the name was spelt differently, possibly "Gorlich" "Goglien" "Gogerich" or "Gogele" (Gogerly is not a true German name) and subsequently anglicised to what it is today. There is however nothing to substantiate this.

Daniel married Elizabeth (maiden name not known) on 26 November 1789 and lived in Little Angel Court London. They had four Children. Their second child and eldest son, the Rev: Daniel John Gogerly (my great, great, great grandfather), was born on the 25 August 1792 in London.

Jacob married Mary Young in 1790 in England and lived in Green Arbour Court London. They had seven children. Their two youngest sons, Charles James Gogerly - born 29 April 1799 and William Henry Gogerly - born 1800 in London were the first Gogerly's to Australia. They were convicts.

All the Gogerly's in Australia are descendants of the Rev Daniel John Gogerly and his Cousin Charles James Gogerly.

All the Gogerly's in England and Australia are related in some way as they are all descendants of the "Gogerly" who fought and died in the American War of Independence and his two sons Daniel and Jacob.

There is one claim that Charles James Gogerly was an Irish convict who came to Australia on an English Ship

I have found nothing to substantiate the Welsh and Irish claims. All my research points to the family originating from Hanover, then on to England from there to South Carolina USA, back to London England (NOT Ireland) where Charles James and his brother William and First Cousin Daniel John Gogerly were all born. Charles and William were convicted of robbery in London (NOT Ireland) and sentenced for the term of their natural lives to the Penal Colony in NSW Australia.

It is known that many convicts made up stories re their origin, employment etc to hide their convict past and maybe this is what happened with the Gogerly's.

As for the Huguenot connection - many Huguenots fled to Germany during the 17th century. The following (provided by Kerry Henke, great great granddaughter of Charles James and Charlotte Gogerly) is from a website reformiert-online.net " In Bad Karishafen today, there is the Huguenot museum and German Huguenot Association has its headquarters there. In Franken, it was Margrave Christian Ernest who brought about the new settlememt of Huguenots and thus an economical upturn - Erlangen is basically a Huguenot establishment (of 1686), As a consequence of the admission in individual territories, French-Reformed congregations arose in many other towns as well, e.g. in Hamburg, Celle, Hanover, Hamein, Leipzig and Stuttgart"

In a book published by Andrew C Thompson - "Britain, Hanover and the Protestant Interest 1688-1756" page 50 - Huguenot Influence - shows that there were Huguenots active in the courts and government at the time - Agnes Gogerly's letter to her cousin Laura states her great great grandfather came to England with George the first in 1714. George the first was raised in the Royal Court of Hanover. However she makes no mention of a Huguenot connection. The possible Huguenot connection was passed down by Charlotte Gogerly (nee Fowler) wife of Charles James Gogerly.

Although it is possible that the Gogerly's were Huguenots who went to Hanover it is not possible to confirm this.

I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the coat of arms. I got this from a Heraldry shop. The motto inscribed is "Robur In Unitas" which means "Strength In Unity"

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