Farmer, municipal official.
Born in Hersham, Surrey, England on 22 August 1859, his father David, a carpenter, died when he was six. Prior to his emigration to Canada in 1883, he was a grocer and news agent. He arrived with his family at Brampton, Ontario where they lived for four years. Lured by the promise of free land and wealth in the West, the family came to the Spring Valley district of Manitoba in 1887 where he applied for a homestead near Alexander. He farmed there until the mid 1920s.
He served for several years as a councillor in the Rural Municipality of Daly, in which capacity he attended the 1905 founding meeting in Brandon of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities.
He was married twice. His first wife was Charlotte Ann Skilling (1860-1891), who he married on 16 June 1879. After her death, he married her sister, Ada Lydia Skilling (1871-1935). Altogether, James fathered seventeen children: Ellen Elizabeth Goring (b 1879), Ethel Amelia Goring (b 1881), David Henry Thomas Goring (b 1882), Arthur Goring (b 1883), James Goring Jr. (b 1887), Ada Jane Goring (b 1890), Charlotte Ann Goring (b 1891), Jessie Matilda Goring (b 1893), Annie M. Goring (b 1895), Aubrey Herbert Goring (b 1898), Albert Edward Goring (b 1900), William John Goring (b 1903), Maudie E. Goring (b 1905), Margaret Dorothy Goring (b 1907), George A. Goring (b 1909), Victoria Goring (b 1911), and Robert Goring (b 1914).
Goring hired men to help with his farming since most of his sons left home for “greener pastures” farther west as soon as they were old enough. Apparently, the sons could not get along with their father, as he expected a good days work from everyone. During the 1920s, he was unable to pay the mortgage on his buildings and land, and was forced to sell them. James and Ada operated a boarding house at Rivers for a short time before moving to Brandon for a few years.
His wife died of stomach cancer in 1935, at Hamiota. Three years later, James was living at Bradwardine. He died there on 13 April 1941 and was buried in the Hamiota Cemetery beside Ada.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Bradwardine and District: A Century and More, 1880-2003, Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.D36 BRA, 2003.
We thank Barbara, great-granddaughter of James Goring, for corrections and additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 March 2012
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