I've got some Gooch/Googe pages bookmarked (one of my great-grandmothers was a Googe); could your America Gooch be America Gooch Tisdale, daughter of Charles Humphrey Tisdale and America A. Harper of Louisa Co?

Her (and Charles') gravestone is here: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/1902256/person/6140526968/photo/b946b82e-a461-40dd-993e-0062437bc0bc?src=search

A couple Gooches married Tisdales, but I'm not sure they were in that America's direct line.

Oh, here's the page I was looking for: http://www.trevilians.com/others/tisdale.htm

Not that that helps with RUTH, but I recall you're like me and like tangents.