The Gookin Line of West Cork 

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The Gookins of county Cork were originally from Kent, England.  See The Gookins of County Kent, England.  Sir Vincent Gookin arrived in Cork before 1616 and acquired land in the Castle Mahon area with coastal land stretching from Timoleague to Clonakilty from Phane Beecher, one of the original undertakers of the Munster Plantation.  In 1616 he was living at Courtmacsherry and his brother Daniel who had joined him in Cork was living across the bay at Coolmain.  Daniel left Ireland in 1621 with his family and 50 followers to establish the settlement of Newport News in Virginia.  Following the overrunning of the settlement and the killing of many of his settlers in 1622 he returned and settled at Carrigaline Castle about 7 miles SE of Cork city at the head of the Oonboy River. 

Sir Vincent died in 1637 leaving his estate to his son Vincent.  The rebellion of 1641 didn't affect their lands along the coast south of Bandon and West of Kinsale as much as areas further north.  The siblings Vincent Jr. (and wife), Robert (wife, one child) and Mary (Spinster) all put in claims for assessed damages of 500£, 300£ and 100£ respectively which indicates that each had been settled on his/her own landholding prior to 1641. ref.  In the political dialogue following the rebellion when repercussions were discussed for the atrocities committed by the Irish rebels, Vincent Gookin Jr. argued against transporting the Irish into Connaught and instead for exporting the Irish women from the country to be the wives of the peasantry in England with an equivalent number of English women being brought to Ireland to marry the Irish men thus bringing about an Anglicization of the Irish people.   In 1656 he was made an Alderman of Cork city  and was appointed to be one of the Commissioners, along with William Petty and Miles Symner, for the re-distribution of land in Ireland following Cromwell's occupation. 

The Commissioner's distribution of land confirmed the Gookin ownership of their estate SW of Bandon. 

As leaders of their respective neighbouring communities, the Gookin family of Bandon would have known the Penn's of Kinsale very well.  William Penn writes of meeting with Gookins in these excerpts from his My Irish Journal:

"Feb. 1, 1669/70  From Cork we went to Kinsale.  I was at the Fort, was visited by Gookin and others."  William Penn's father, Admiral Penn, had been the Governor of the Fort of Kinsale from 1660 to 1669 and William was Victualler of the Fleet at Kinsale for the latter part of that time.  The use of Gookin without a given name probably indicates that this was probably the eldest brother Vincent Gookin.

While the Penn's had originally been granted the estate around Macroom Castle northwest of Bandon by Cromwell, following the Restoration Charles II returned that land to it's rightful Royalist supporter and granted Admiral Penn an even larger estate at Shanagarry in south-east Cork. 

At that time, William Penn's acceptance of the Quaker religion was greatly opposed by his father as well as most of the Protestant ruling class of England and Ireland.  While Vincent and Thomas Gookin remained firmly within the established religion it seems that their brother Charles was swayed to William Penn's views. 

After William Penn went on to found his settlement in America, he called on Charles Gookin to be the Deputy-Governor of his colony from 1709 to 1717.  ref. 

See also The Gookins of Cork Family Tree