Parents said to be, but definitely not:
Father:  Salathiel "Thiel" GOFF (1710-1774), s/o William GOFFE (1688-1764), of Wexford, England
Mother:  Hannah TURTON (1744-1718), d/o William TURTON (1698- ), of London, England
Secondary sources show our subject to be a son of these parents, but not only is there no evidence supporting this connection, it is demonstrably wrong (Goff 2003 — see Sources).

Some secondary sources give John two wives, one being a prior wife, Elizabeth WELSH, but there is no evidence to support this assertion.  In the 1799 will of her father, Thomas WELSH (1722- ), this Elizabeth WELSH is called, "Elizabeth PRATHER," not to mention that Elizabeth was born in 1761, making it totally impossible for her to have been an earlier spouse of our subject.

Parents said to be, but cannot possibly be:
Father:  John [Martin] CARRICO
Mother:  Monica HAGAN
Many files at WorldConnect give the John CARRICO who married Monica HAGAN as the parents of our subject's wife.  But John CARRICO was born ca. 1739, and he married Monica HAGAN in 1759, so they cannot possibly be the parents of our subject's wife.

But was our subject's wife the widow of John CARRICO?  John & Monica (HAGAN) CARRICO had one son, James CARRICO (b. ca. 1760), bringing us back to probable origin of the assertion that James Carrico GOFF, was Monica's son from her prior marriage.  However, DNA testing has throughly debunked that possibility (see below).  So, did Monica have two sons named James, one with her first husband and one with her second husband?  It might make sense for our subject to name a son James Hagan GOFF or even John Carrico GOFF (children are sometimes named in honor of a deceased prior spouse), but it makes little sense for their first son to be named James Carrico GOFF, unless Monica's maiden name was CARRICO.

The bottom line is that Monica's parents are unknown.

A descendant of our subject's eldest known child, James Carrico GOFF, has been DNA tested, and he matches descendants of John Turton GOFF's brothers, rejecting the assertion that he was Monica's son from a prior marriage.  In other words, he is James Carrico GOFF, not James CARRICO-GOFF, which also leads to the deduction that all the subsequent children were also Monica's and not those of a prior wife.

The most useful dates here, for estimating the birthyears of John and Monica, are the birthyears of Monica's first and last child.  The average female marries at the age of 19 and has a maximum span of fecundity of 23 years (i.e., first child at age 20 and last child by age 43).  These constraints place Monica's age at very close to 1742 (possible a couple of years later, but not earlier) and their marriage ca. 1761.  It's rare for a man to marry and older woman, and most men at first marriage are four years older than their bride, giving John an estimated birthyear of ca. 1738.  He was doubtfully more than a year or two younger, but he could have been considerably older; however, even with a birth year of 1738, he would have been age 65 at death, a long life in that era, so it's unlikely that he was born much earlier.

1a.  LDS.  Family Search: Internet Genealogy Service: IGI - International Genealogical Index (online at FamilySearch.org).

Monica CARRICO Birth: 1764, Bryantown Hundred, Charles and Queen Anne's Co[s], Maryland Death: 27 Dec 1815, Monongalia, Virginia Father: John CARRICO; Mother: Monica HAGAN Source: patron submission

The Monica (CARRICO) GOFF who died 27 Dec 1815 in Monongalia County cannot have been born as late as 1764 and cannot have been the daughter of John & Moncia (HAGAN) CARRICO.

1b.  LDS.  Family Search: Internet Genealogy Service: Pedigree Resource File (index to CDs, online at FamilySearch.org).

John Turton GOFF Birth: abt 1738, England; Death 1803 Father: unknown GOFF Spouse: Monica CARRICO Father: Unknown Source: patron submission

2.  WorldConnect / Ancestry World Trees (online at RootsWeb.com/Ancestry.com):  many files submitted here, most erroneously giving parents to our subject and his wife.

3.  Archives of the CARRICO-L mailing list (online at RootsWeb.com).

4a.  Email from Phil Goff, who cites his book:

4b.  Phillip G. Goff & Roy L. Lockhart.  2003.  The Four Goff Brothers of Western Virginia.  Masthof Press, Morantown, PA.