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Addendum
The sons and descendants of Leonard Goudhaire had the last name morph to Gutherr. I have found a somewhat similar name in Flanders, Belgium "Comhaire". One website claimed he directed the work of Walloon stonemasons when building the palace.
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I did a google and was surprised to find a 19th century (?) instance of the name, here-
http://www.bergischer-kalender.de/baende.aspx?id=G
Though I can't learn anything from the context, having no German.
I was working on the assumption that it was a German attempt at a non-German surname. I was going to suggest the French Goutiere, which could be occupational and connected to the building trade, or Dutch Goedheer/Goetheer, which might be a description or a nickname. Gutherr would be a translation of Goedheer.
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Non Germanic NameIn looking at the Mormon databases the children of Leonard began having their name spelled Gutherr. A Gutherr was originally used in the context of being the Lord of the manor and probably a nobleman. Leonard was not a noble although he did own the Manor Steinbreche and a small water castle.
The person you cite dying in 1821 was the a 4th generation descendant of Leonard and the name in the Mormon database is cited as Gutherr. Evidently, in the Bergisch-Gladbach records people knew the original spelling. In French one can find a reference to Gouthaire in relation to Lothaire (Lothar, a descendant of Charlemagne and King of Italy). Perhaps, the name derives from the name of the old king. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_I
http://books.google.com/books?id=-xwtAAAAMAAJ&dq=gouthaire&ots=kDjz3c7w-S&jtp=195
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Lothaire is Germanic, a compound of the words for "people" and "army". Could Goedhaire be Germanic, a compound of "good" and "army", which is the origin of the Spanish name Gutierre, whence the surname Gutierrez.
So a possible Germanic male given name filtered through the French, or Walloon. But I've yet to find a modern French surname that could be the source of this name.
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Thank you.
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