James Gould, Sr. is the progenitor of a large number of Bahamian families.

Life in Rhode Island

James was born in May 1728 in Newport, Rhode Island, to James Gould (1696 - 1768) and Mary Rathbun (1700 - 1779). He had at least two siblings -- a brother named Samuel, found in Bahamian family records, and a sister named Mary.

His parents were Quakers with strong colonial American roots. His grandfather Walter Clarke was the first native-born Governor of Rhode Island. One of James' third-great-aunts was famed Rhode Island leader and minister Anne Hutchinson. His second-great-grandfather John Coggeshall, Sr. was the first President of the Rhode Island General Assembly. His third-great-grandfather Rev. Francis Edward Marbury was a famed English clergyman and playwright, while another third-great-grandfather, Lewis Latham, was Falconer for King Charles I.

Life in the Bahamas

By the mid-1700s, James had arrived in the Bahamas. On Christmas Day 1753, he married Susannah Pinder in Nassau, New Providence. She was 15 years old, which would not have been unheard of for a Bahamian marriage during that time period.

Their children were:

• Jane Gould -- b. c. 1756 at Harbour Island, Eleuthera, The Bahamas; m. Capt. Samuel Higgs 1775; d. July 14, 1830
• Catherine Gould -- b. September 30, 1759; m. Thomas Thompson April 7, 1774 in Nassau; d. c. October 14, 1799
• Mary Gould -- b. September 30, 1759; m. Paul Lighbourn June 24, 1778 in Nassau; d. July 1800 in Nassau
• Walter Gould -- b. February 12, 1761
• Susannah Gould -- b. 1767
• William Gould -- b. c. 1770

Resources

• Bahamas DNA Project: Tree for James Gould and Susannah Pinder < http://home.comcast.net/~libpjr1/bahmtdna.htm >