The Candy Family in the United States

The Candy and Gochnaur families had much in common even before the 1881 marriage of John Andrew Candy and Catherine Alma Gochnaur. Both families were from Stephenson County, Illinois: the Candys hailed from Dakota Township, the Gochnaurs from Rock Grove Township. Both families were originally from Pennsylvania. John’s parents, Levi Candy and Catherine Emerich, were from Centre County, Pennsylvania and “immigrated” to Illinois in 1864. Catherine Alma’s father Andrew Gochnaur was from Lancaster County and his mother Mary Ann Brenizer was from Cumberland County. They met and married in Wayne County, Ohio. Both families were farmers, the descendents of 3+ generations of American farmers. There is reason to believe that the Gochnaurs may have come to this country as early as the late 1600s. (For more information, go to one of the Gocvhnaur links listed on the Stories and Information page.)

Catherine and John had 3 children: John Franklin, Nellie Mae, and Walter Charles. J. Franklin Candy was college educated (Beloit College ’11) and became a Congregational minister. He and his wife Mary Hubbard (Beloit ’10) adopted two sons, Dallas and George. Mary was also a Congregational minister. Nellie married a local farmer, Hayes Mitchell. Together they had three children: Melvin, Alice and Kathryn. Walter followed in his brother’s footsteps to Beloit College graduating in the class of 1916. Like his brother he married a Beloiter, Canadian immigrant Bertha Johnson (Class of 1916). Their courtship was delayed by World War I. Walter served with the U.S. Army in France. While he was overseas his mother died at the age of 59. Walter and Bertha had one child, Ardis. An only child, Ardis had a keen interest in her extended family. She listened eagerly to family stories and maintained communication with her relatives throughout her life. Items of furniture that had traveled from Pennsylvania to Illinois were precious items in her home. She was proud to be both a 1st generation American and a 5th+ generation American.

We have just begun the process of finding and documenting the Candy-Gochnaur heritage. The following links should give you a taste. We eagerly seek information, copies of documents, and corrections to the information we already have.