Charles W. Gooch was born on August 11, 1829, in Kennebunk, Maine, to Daniel Gooch and Priscilla Huff. His father was a blacksmith who owned $250 of real estate by 1850. He grew up in Kennebunk, and by 1850, he was also working as a blacksmith. He married Julia Emery in the 1850s, and they had at least six children: Cordelia, born around 1857; Augusta, born around 1859; Edward, born around 1865; Frederick, born around 1867; Emma, born around 1873; and Charles, born around1879. By 1860, Gooch was working as a ship carpenter in Kennebunk, and he owned $1,000 of real estate and $100 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on September 30, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 27^th Maine Infantry later that day. Their daughter Cordelia died while he was away in the army. The regiment was stationed in northern Virginia, and the men mustered out on July 17, 1863.

 

Gooch returned to Kennebunk after leaving the army and resumed his work as a ship carpenter. His wife Julia died on September 10, 1882, and he married a woman named Olive around 1883. He applied for a federal pension in December 1891 and eventually secured one. They moved to Portland, Maine, in the early 1900s. Olive died on January 10, 1911, and he passed away of “ch[ronic] bronchitis and ch[ronic] gastric catarrh” in Portland on July 9, 1914.

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