I think I heard that also. But there was a family with the surname Gooney from England who came to America. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rita Denton To: VASHENAN-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 11:11 AM Subject: Re: [VASHENAN] (no subject) Wasn't Gooney Run named after Lord Fairfax's favorite hunting dog? I think someone wrote once to say the dog drowned in the creek, and he named it after the dog in his memory. At 09:29 AM 8/19/03 -0400, you wrote: >I have an article written by Rebecca Poe in the newspaper in 1985 on Gooney >Manor. From the late 1700's when its first settlers established mills on >Gooney Run through 1927 when a handle factory closed, its industrial and commercial >output was unequalled in Warren County. It was the center of Lord Fairfax's >14,000 acre tract and took its name from the largest of seven creeks >originating in the Blue Ridge and flowing north and west into the valley. Most of the >creeks flow into Gooney Run which empties into the South Fork of the Shenandoah >River at Karo on Route 340. My uncle Hilery Jennings worked at the barrel >factory there and my grandparents Charles and Ollie Jennings attended the first >church there. The house they raised their family in which was left to my >grandfather by Samuel Hillary Rudacille is still there and in great shape. My >grandfather delivered the mail from Front Royal to the first post office and met >and married my grandmother there. It was about 1770 that a large amount of >permanent settlers arrived there, but residents were not able to own their land >until after 1812 when Lord Fairfax's heir sold the entire tract to James and >John Marshall. There were a tannery, a stave factory, a hardwood factory, >distilleries, a cooper shop and the handle factory. Before that Gooney Run was >the power for at least eight mills ( one carding mill, several sawmills, and >some grist mills). I hope this much of the article answers some of your >questions. > > >==== VASHENAN Mailing List ==== >Shenandoah Co VAGenWeb >http://www.rootsweb.com/~vashenan/vashenan.html > ==== VASHENAN Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe, send a msg. to VASHENAN-L-request@rootsweb.com or VASHENAN-D-request@rootsweb.com with the word unsubscribe.