Person Page 849

John Goodrich, father of New England immigrants John and William Goodrich, d. testate betw. Apr. 14 1632 (the date of his will) and Apr. 21, 1632, latter the date he was buried at St. Marys Parish in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, England ["Mr Jn Gooderich clothier."]

According to Stevens-Miller, the absence of a recorded baptism for John is equated to "he was probably born in his mother's parish and if so, the law compelled his baptism there." The inference being that Stevens-Miller did not uncover where John's mother was born, thus John's baptism place was also unknown. As stated in his father's memorial, this is not a correct understanding of then Anglican Church law regarding baptism. The reason for the absence of a baptism record is not finding where John's parents resided when he was born, if such records even exist at the time of John's birth.

On Aug. 7, 1615 at St. James Chh. in Bury St. Edmunds, John Goodrich m. Margery How, or Howes, who d. betw. Apr. 14 and May 16, 1632. The record of where Margery d. and interred is not provided.

In the will of John "Goderich," clothier of Bury St. Edmunds, dated Apr. 14, 1632, proved May 10, 1632, the most important portions follow, as abstracted from Stevens-Miller, which includes portions and key words not included by Case in 1889:

• To Margerie his wife, the house & tenement where he then lived in Bury, and his land in Horningsherth, in Suffolk, for her life, and on her death to descend to his four sons, William Gooderiche the elder, William Gooderiche the younger, John Gooderich, and Jeremie Gooderich, to be equally divided between them, or the survivors of them.
• To his son John Gooderich, his house or tenement and lands in Hessett, in Suffolk, his wife to have the profits till son John was twenty-one. If John died without lawful issue before the age of 21, then the property was to descend to William Gooderich the elder, Wm. Gooderich the younger, and Jeremy Gooderich, and to be equally divided between them, or the survivors of them.
• To his three sons William Gooderich the elder, William Gooderich the younger, and Jeremy Gooderich, one hundred pounds apiece at age 21. His wife to have the managing of their portions during their minority, and the increase and benefit arising from their portions for their education and maintenance, and for binding of any of them as apprentices, provided his wife paid all the legacies contained in his father's will, which had not yet been paid.
• Legacies of £5 each to Margarie and William, children of his brother Henry Gooderich, and to the three youngest children of his sister Susan, by her first husband Lock, 40 shillings each at age 24.
• He gave to "my poore spinners of Drinekston" 20 shillings to be distributed amongst them.
• All the rest of his goods, chattels, wares, stock, plate, household stuff, and movables to wife Margerie, whom he made sole executrix.
• Thomas Chaplyne, mercer; Clement Chaplyne, grocer, brother of said Thomas; Jeremy Stafford, mercer; and cousin Robert Gooderich, all of Bury St. Edmunds, were appointed supervisors of the will.
• If his wife died before the Will was fully performed and she had not nominated & put in trust anyone for the performance of his will, then the supervisors were to act in her place to manage and employ all portions due his children, to employ the same to and for the use and benefit of the children until they reached the age of 21, then to be accountable to the children for the same.
• Witnessed by Richard Cooper, Robert Brightall and Phillip Crow.
• On May 16, 1632, Thomas Chaplyn and Clement Chaplyn, two of the "executors" named in the will, appeared at probate, the Executrix named having died before executing the will, and on the same date Jeremy Stafford and Robert Gooderich renounced their charge under the will. [Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury, Colman, Bk. 52, fol. 127.)

A consistent thread between the two wills is that William Goodrich of Hessett willed all of his real estate at Hessett to his son John, who willed his property at Hessett to his son John. By normal old English protocol, in 1631 John Goodrich, clothier of Bury St. Edmund, was the oldest living son of his father William, and in 1632 John, son of John Goodrich of Bury St. Edmunds, clothier, was his father's eldest son.

How many children John Goodrich and wife Margerie had is unsettled, but three of their sons are pertinent to this presentation. Although the memorialist agrees with Stevens-Miller that John's son John was the eldest son, the memorialist does not endorse the conclusion that John was possibly the child of his father's wife before Margerie How, there being no trace or hint of a first wife. Prior to the existence of modern contraceptives, a couple's first child was typically born within eleven months of the wedding night. This would suggest that John and Margerie Goodrich's first child would have been born by the Spring to early Summer of 1616.

In addition, a person's age in that era was not stated in chronological years, but according to the Latin term Aetatis, meaning the person was one year older than their actual chronological age. John and Margerie's son Rev. William Goodrich matriculated at Cambridge on Apr. 15, 1634, "aged" 17, the word "aged" one of the anglicized forms of Aetatis. This indicates William was only 16 years old when he entered Cambridge, born in or after Apr. 1617 and not less than 20 months after John & wife Margerie married. This clearly gives room for a first child to have been born prior to the summer of 1616, which the memorialist believes was eldest son John.

• i. John Goodrich, Jr., eldest son and the Wethersfield, Conn. settler, b. at Bury St. Edmunds circa 1616 and d. testate before Apr. 6, 1680. He m. 1) circa 1645 an Elizabeth, whose parentage is unknown and by whom he had seven children at Wethersfield. She d. on July 5, 1670. He m. 2) on or soon after Apr. 4, 1674, the widow Mary Stoddard, dau. of Nathaniel Foote & Elizabeth Deming, the widow of John Stoddard of Wethersfield. There were no children by this second marriage. Following John Goodrich's death, the widow Mary (Foote)(Stoddard) Goodrich m. Lieut. Thomas Tracy of Norwich, Conn., and d. before Nov. 1685, prob. at Norwich.

• ii. Rev. William Goodrich, the elder of the two sons named William, b. circa 1617. On April 15, 1634 he matriculated as a sizar at Cambridge University (the meaning of the term sizar will be explained in Rev. Williams's memorial page.) He d. testate at Hessett and was buried there June 17, 1678. He m. an unknown Rebecca who was buried at Hessett on Nov. 18, 1698. They had no children. Rev. William Goodrich's will is very important in understanding the family of his two brothers at Wethersfield, Conn.

• iii. Ens. William Goodrich, the younger of the two sons named William and the Wethersfield, Conn. settler, bapt. Feb. 13, 1621/2 at St. Marys church at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. He d. intestate before Nov. 14, 1676 at Wethersfield, Conn., the date his estate inventory was presented for probate. He m. Oct. 4, 1648 at Hartford, Conn., Sarah Marvin, dau. of Matthew & Elizabeth Marvin, bapt. Dec 27, 1631 at St. Marys Church in Great Bently, Essex, England & d. before Jan. 16, 1702/3 prob. at Stratford, Conn. She m. 2) as his 2nd wife, Capt. William Curtis, s. of John Curtis & Elizabeth Hutchins, bapt. June 21, 1618 at Nazeing in Essex, England and d. at Stratford, Conn. on Dec. 21, 1702.

A final note. That John Goodrich and wife Margerie had two sons named William was a function of the old English custom of how manorial land was leased, generally on 99 year terms as "copyhold" land. That is, the land was held under lease by copy from the manor that owned the land. At the outset of the lease, the holder had to declare to the manorial court who was to inherit the lease upon his or her death. Thus, it was not unusual for a father to give multiple sons the same first name. The intent was to assure that one of the similar named sons would be alive to inherit the lease when the father died. One will remember that in the will of John Goodrich's father William, the elder Goodrich's land included "copyhold," or leased, property.

A good example of multiple sons with the same first name is the Wright family into which the descendants of brothers John and William Goodrich would marry. The ancient patriarch of the Wethersfield, Conn. Wright family was Lord John Wright of Kelvedon Hall in Essex, England. He had four sons, named and assumed to have been born in the following order: John Wright called the elder John, Robert Wright, John Wright called the middle John, and John Wright called the younger John. Three sons named John, all living at the same time and distinguished as such in their father's will.

In New England after land was obtained from the Native Americans, title was held in fee simple and later sold in full fee simple. Thus, it was no longer necessary in America to have two or more living sons with the same given name due to the difference in how land was owned in America versus England.

Died in childhood.

The basis of the brothers John and Ens. William Goodrich, who immigrated from England and settled at Wethersfield, Conn. by the mid-1640s, was first published in 1889 by Lafayette Wallace Case in "The Goodrich Family in Amercia." In 1953 Vol. II of "The Ancestry of Col. John Harrington Stevens, and his wife Frances Helen Miller," or Stevens-Miller for short, was published by Winifred Lovering Holman on behalf of her deceased mother, Mary Lovering Holman. This work contains further evidence and records concerning the Goodrich family of Bury St. Edmunds not included by Case in 1889. These two works are incorporated in the following presentation.

William Goodrich of Hessett in Suffolk, England is the documented beginning of what is known about the Wethersfield, Conn. Goodrich family. William had a wife Margaret. Stevens-Miller cites a marriage of a William Goodrich and Margaret Richardson at Felsham in 1568 from the Suffolk Marriage Index at Ipswich, and suggests this was probably the marriage of William Goodrich of Hessett. "It must be from a transcript as the earliest extant register of Felsham begins in 1656." There is no proof that this was the marriage of the Wethersfield Goodrich's grandparents. Although Felsham is the parish town just south of Hessett, the memorialist choses not to endorse the Steven-Miller conclusion.

One basis of the Stevens-Miller work needs to be corrected. This was the assumed reason why baptism records for some of the descendant family in England could not be located. Stevens-Miller more than once repeats the theme that "he was probably born in his mother's parish and if so, the law compelled his baptism there." At the time Anglican Church law required a family to attend and support the parish church where they lived, and the children to be baptized where the parents resided. Where the mother was born had nothing to do with where a child was to be baptized.

William Goodrich's wife Margaret was buried at Hessett on Mar. 22, 1630/1. Seven months later William Goodrich d. testate and was buried at Hessett on Oct. 24, 1631. [1631, "Sepulti, Guglielmus Gotheridge vicesimo quarto Octobris."] He left the following abstracted will dated Apr. 4, 1631, proved Feb. 2, 1631/2 at the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury:

• To son John Gooderich, all his houses, lands, and tenements at Hessett (spelled Hegessett in the will), both freehold and copyhold, and he to pay or render to William's other children, namely:
• to William's son William Gooderich, £16 [£4 within one year, the balance within seven years];
• to William's dau. Elizabeth Clarke, wife of Philip Clarke, £8 [£4 within two years, the balance within five years];
• to William's dau. Susan Beamond, wife of John Beamond, £8 [£4 within three years, the balance within six years].
• if son John did not pay his three siblings their legacies, then William's other children not fully paid "maie enter into all the said howses and hereditaments and the same to occupie Untill he or they shalbe fully satisfied."
• Son John Gooderich to be executor of the will.
• Witnessed by John Whyte, John Bateley and John Tapley.