Johann Theodor Goetten, son of Henric Goetten & Gertrude Hillebrandt, was baptized on 21 February 1717 in Saint Hubert Catholic Church in Heddinghausen, 10 kilometers southeast of Marsberg which at that time was part of Prussia. Today, Heddinghausen is part of metropolitan Marsberg in the current German State of North Rhein-Westphalia.
He married in Heddinghausen to Anna Katharina Asshauer, daughter of Philipp Asshauer & Elisabetha Willnik, on 20 October 1750. Anna Katharina had been baptized there on 15 November 1717. At least six of their seven children were baptized in Heddinghausen: (1) Anna Klara, baptized on 29 September 1751; (2) Maria Theresia, baptized on 15 May 1753; (3) Johann Christian, baptized on 18 August 1754; (4) Anna Maria, baptized on 12 September 1760; (5) Friedrich Philipp, baptized on 24 November 1762; and (6) Johann Adam, baptized on 31 January 1765. [The record for one son, Kaspar (b. 1756), was not found in Heddinghausen.]
Johann Theodor and his family immigrated to Russia, arriving in the Volga German colony of Semenovka in 1768 where final son Valentin (b. 1768) was born. Johann Theodor's descendants are recorded there on the 1798 Census in Households No. Se02, Se09, Se40, Se46, Se54, Se55, and Se59.
Over time, descendants have adopted alternative spellings including Goette, Götte, Gette.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999).
- Parish records of Heddinghousen (LDS Film No. 1053257).
- Schaab, Christopher. Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kolonisten im Saratowschen und Samarazschen Gouvernement 1764-1915 (Aberdeen, South Dakota: Freie Presse Printing Co.): 40.