William Goodridge of Watertown

He came to the colonies at Watertown in 1636.

His ancestry is presented just as received - there was no real hard documentation with it - and only a straight lineabe back on each branch

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~kristin/fambly/Goodridge/WilliamGoodri...

Biography

William Goodridge, whose English origin has been reviewed on preceding pages, came from Bury St. Edmunds, County Suffolk, England, where he was probably born May 18, 1605. He was settled in Watertown, Mass., with his wife Margaret and their infant daughter Mary in 1636. In Bury St. Edmunds, as well as can now be ascertained, he was known under the name of Gutridge. In Watertown his name was generally spelled Gutteridge, and in the generations of his descendants immediately following, in Newbury, it became Goodridge, a form that, with few exceptions, has since been followed.

At once, upon his arrival in this country, he became a leading man in the infant community and a considerable owner of property. At the time of his death he owned forty-three acres of land with buildings and personal property. He was admitted to be a freeman May 18, 1642. This right of freeman embraced the obligation of church membership, the privilege of franchise and a share in divisions of unoccupied land and other property thus far held in common.

He was a man of much dignity, winning presence and gentlemanly bearing, and distinguished by kindliness in private life; a real leader, whose strong character and optimistic outlook were an uplift in those days of struggle, sacrifice and depression. This leadership was always in sympathy and support among those whose travail had been most severe. Gathering up and interpreting what has been said, it seems reasonably certain that his attitude toward life was a strong sense of leadership, dominated by a desire of helpfulness, neighborly sympathy and feeling of brotherhood. In short, he had all the attributes of a cultivated gentleman with noteworthy lineage and a look outward and upward rather than inward.

In an historical address by the Reverend Frank C. Clark, on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Lyndeborough, N.H., there is reference to the Reverend Sewall Goodridge and the statement is made that his ancestor, William Goodridge of Watertown, was admitted to the bar in that place in 1642. As a matter of fact there was no bar in Watertown thus early and the first lawyer was authorized to practice his profession there in 1717, or seventy-five years later. The statement was probably an inference from the known fact that William Goodridge had been a student of English law and had made considerable progress in preparation for a professional career before leaving Bury St. Edmunds. This training gave him an unusual opportunity of usefulness in the colony and doubtless much of the conformity to legal procedure with which Watertown is credited was due to him. Certain it is, that he was often appealed to in the transference of property and the untangling of complicated questions, which only a legal training could accomplish.

He died, in Watertown, March 21, 1647, and was buried in the cemetery near the homestall where he had spent the whole of his colonial life; but the exact location of his grave was long ago hopelessly forgotten. On April 3, 1647, Margaret Goodridge, widow, returned an inventory of the estate of her deceased husband, to the court in Boston, and it was attested by Governor John Winthrop, in the presence of Samuel Thatcher and Thomas Hastings, witnesses. A transcript of this inventory is in the Probate Records of Suffolk County, Mass.

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birthplace is also given as Wolverstone, Suffolk, England

His ancestral lines backwards has been given to me and I have not been able to find out if they are accurate or not. as follows:

1 - Richard GoodrickeBirth 1560 in Ribston, Yorkshire, , England Death 21 Sep 1601 in Ribston, Yorkshire, , England m. Muriel Eure Evan Muriel Eure Evans1557-1674

• ….. William Eure Birth 27 Feb 1530 in Mitton, Yorkshire, , England Death 12 Feb 1593 in Ingleby, Yorkshire, England m. Margaret Dymoke
• ………. Ralph Eure Knight1508-1543 Birth 24 Sep 1508 in Mitton, Yorkshire, , England Death 06 Mar 1543 m. Margery Bowes
• ……………William B Eure of Witton EureBirth 1483 in Witton in, Durham, , England Death 15 Mar 1547 in Eresby, Lincolnshire, , England
• ……………Elizabeth B Eure of Witton WilloughbyBirth 1503 in Eresby, Lincolnshire, , England Death 1548
• ………. Margery Bowes Birth 1506 in Streatlam, Durham, , England, Death in Durham, Surrey, , England
• …………… Ralph Bowes Birth 1494 in Streatlam,,Durham,England Death 1516 in Durham, England
• ……………Elizabeth Clifford Birth 1490 in Cumberland, England Death 1591 in Durham,,Surrey,England
• …..Margaret Dymoke Birth 15 Sep 1591 in Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, , England Death 15 Sep 1591 in Ingleby, Yorkshire, , England
• ………. Edward Dymoke Birth 1508 in Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, , England Death 16 Sep 1566 in Lincolnshire, England m. Anne Tailboys
• …………… Robert Dymoke Birth 1461 in Lincolnshire, England Death 13 Apr 1544 in Lincolnshire, England
• ……………Anne Sparrow Birth 1470 in London, Middlesex, , England Death 1510 in Lincolnshire, England
• ……….Anne Tailboys Birth 1516 in Kyme, Lincolnshire, , England Death 08 Jun 1566 in Lincolnshire, England

2 - Richard Goodricke Birth 1510 in Rippax, Yorkshire, , England Death 8 Jan 1581 in Ribston, Yorkshire, , England Clare NORTON b: 1528 in Conyers, Yorkshire, , England Death: 6 Apr 1596 in , Lancashire, , England

• ….. RICHARD Norton Birth 1502 in York, Yorkshire, , England Death 9 Apr 1588 in Sheriff Yorkshire, Yorkshire, , England married Susan Neville
• ………. John Norton Conyers1475-1557 married Ann Ratcliff
• ……….….. ….. John Norton Conyers1458-1520 married Margaret Ward
• ……….….. …..….. John Norton1427-1489 married Jane Pigot
• ……….….. …..….. ….. Richard NortonBirth 1388 in Sawley, Yorkshire, , England Death 22 Sep 1438 in Norton, Yorkshire, , England marriedElizabeth Tempest
• ……….….. …..….. …..Elizabeth TempestBirth 1387 in Bracewell, Yorkshire, England Death 20 Sep 1438 in Norton, Yorkshire, , England
• ……….….. …..….. Jane PigotBirth 1431 in Norton Conyers, Yorkshire, , England Death 6 Aug 1488 in York, Yorkshire, , England
• ……….….. …..….. ….. Randolph Pigot1399-1466Birth 1399 in Yorkshire, England Death 1466 in Yorkshire, England married MArgaret Plumpton
• ……….….. …..….. ….. Margaret PlumptonBirth 1408 in Plumpton, Yorkshire, , England Death 1502 in York, Yorkshire, , England
• ...........................Margaret WardBirth 1459 in Yorkshire, England Death 3 Sep 1520 in Wath, Yorkshire, , England
• ........................... ….. Roger WardeBirth 1433 in Yorkshire, England Death 1472 in York, Yorkshire, , England married ELEANOR CONSTABLE
• ........................... ….. ….. Roger WardeBirth 8 Jun 1408 in Ripon, Yorkshire, , England Death 10 Aug 1453 narried Joan Markenfield
• ........................... ….. …..Joan MarkenfieldBirth 1410 in Ripon, Yorkshire, , England Death 14 Mar 1473 in England
• ........................... ….. ELEANOR CONSTABLEBirth 1437 in Yorkshire, England Death 1462 in York, Yorkshire, , England
• ........................... ….. ….. Robert ConstableBirth 1385 in Flamborough, Yorkshire, , England Death 1441 in Beverley, Yorkshire, England married Agnes Gascoigne
• ........................... ….. …..Agnes GascoigneBirth 1389 in Harewood, Yorkshire, , England Death 1466 in Harewood, Yorkshire, , England
• ………. Ann RatcliffeBirth 1478 in York, Yorkshire, , England Death 12 Jan 1492 in York, Yorkshire, , England
• ……….…..William RadcliffeBirth 1455 in Wigan, Lancashire, , England Death 1478 married Agnes Tempest
• ……….….. ….. Miles RadcliffeBirth 1420 in Rilsdon Burnsall West Riding, Yorkshire, , England Death 1452 in Rilsdon Burnsall West Riding, Yorkshire, , England married Isabel DeRilston
• ……….….. ….. Isabel DeRilstonBirth 1435 in Yorkshire, England
• ……….….. ….. ….. John De RilstonBirth 1405 in Ryleston, , Yorkshire, England
• ……….…..Agnes TempestBirth 1450 in West Riding, Yorkshire, , England Death 1548
• ……….….. ….. John TempestBirth 1400 in West Riding, Yorkshire, , England Death 1464 in West Riding, Yorkshire, , England married Alice Sherburne
• ……….…. ….. .Alice SherburneBirth 1400 in Nitton Craven, Yorkshire, , England Death 1507 in West Riding, Yorkshire, , England
• ….. SUSAN Neville1501-1571 Birth 28 Apr 1501 in Snape Hall, Yorkshire, , England Death 14 Jun 1571 in Snape, Yorkshire, , England
• ………. Richard NevilleBirth 1468 in Latimer, Buckinghamshire, , England Death Dec 1530 in Snape, Yorkshire, , England maried Anne Stafford
• ……….………. Henry Neville Birth 1437 in Latimer, Buckinghamshire, , England Death 26 Jul 1469 married
• Joan Bourchier
• ……….……………….. George stLatymer Neville Birth 1414 in Raby Castle, Durham, , England Death 30 Dec 1469 in Well, Yorkshire, , England married Elizabeth DeBeauchamp
• ………………………...Elizabeth DeBeauchamp Birth 16 Sep 1417 in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, , England Death Oct 1480 in Saint Marys, Warwickshire, , England
• ………. ………. ………. ……….Richard BeauchampBirth 28 Jan 1382 in Salwarpe, Worcester, Maryland, USA Death 30 Apr 1439 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France
• ……………….……….………..Elizabeth BerkleyBirth 1385 in Wales Death 1422
• ……………….. Joan BourchierBirth 1442 in Halstead, Essex, , England Death 7 Oct 1470 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England
• ……………….………..John Bourchier Birth 1415 in Little Eaton, Essex, , England Death 16 May 1474 in Chertsey, Surrey, , England msrried Margery Berners
• ……………………….………...William BourchierBirth 1374 in Little Eaton,,Essex,England Death 1420-05-28 in Troyes,Aube,,France
• ………………………………....Anne PlantagenetBirth Apr 1383 Death 1438-10-16 Priory, Llanthony, Gloucestershire, England
• ………………………...Margery BernersBirth 1418 in West Horsley, Surrey, , England Death 18 Dec 1475 in Little Eaton, Essex, , England
• ……… Anne Stafford Birth 1471 in Grafton, Worcestershire, , England Death 1500 in Well, Yorkshire, , England
• ……….……….Humphrey StaffordBirth 1427 in Grafton, Worcestershire, , England Death 8 Jul 1486 in London, Middlesex, , England married Catherine Fray
• ………….….……… Humphrey Stafford1400-1467
• ……………………. Eleanor AylesburyBirth 1407 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England Death 1482 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
• …………………………Thomas AylesburyBirth 1372 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England Death 6 Sep 1418 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England m Catherine Pabenham
• ……………………………..John AylesburyBirth 1348 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England Death 1410 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England
• …………………………….. Isabel Le StrangeBirth 1350 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England Death Nov 1369 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England
• …………………………Catherine PabenhamBirth 1372 in Northamptonshire, England Death 17 Jul 1436 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, , England
• ……….………. Catherine Fray Birth 1437 in Grafton, Worcestershire, , England Death 12 May 1482 in Grafton, Worcestershire, , England
• ………….….………Sir John FrayBirth 1395 in Chelmsford, Essex, , England Death 3 Jul 1461 in London, Middlesex, , England married Agnes Danvers
• ………….….…………..John Fray Birth 1365 in Chelmsford, Essex, , England Death 1409 in Essex, England
• ………….….…………..Harriet Montgomery Birth 1385 in England
• ………….….………Agnes Danvers Birth 1420 in Oxfordshire, England Death 1478 in Adderbury, Oxfordshire, England
• ………….….………….. John Danvers1390-1448 Birth 1390 in Cothorp, Oxfordshire, , England Death 1448
• ………….….………….. Joane Bruley1406-1450 Birth 1406 in Cothrop, Oxfordshire, , England Death 1450 in Ipswell, Oxfordshire, , England

3 - Henry Goodrick Birth 1487 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, , England Death 12 Oct 1556 in London, Middlesex, , England

4 - William Goodryke Birth 1458 in Kirby,,Lincolnshire,England Death 1518 in St Nicholas,East Kirkby, Lincolnshire,England

5 - John Goodryke Birth 1430 Death 1493 Agnes Hutton Birth 1434 Death 1528 in Wisbech,,Cambridgeshire,England

6 - Robert Goodrich Birth 1390

GOODRICH, like most other family names, has been subject to a variety of changes and modifications, all of them, however, retaining in part at least their original Teutonic and Saxon signification. We know that names were originally derived from residence, occupation, personal appearance, or as expressive of some mental, moral, or other distinguishing personal characteristic, as Rossman, Hillman, etc., Tailor, Smith, etc.. Brown, Black, etc., Gay, Wise, etc.; and by the use of a prefix or sufiix, original names were modified and extended to various persons of the same patronymic, as Goldsmith, Blacksmith, etc. Like diversity has also occurred in attempts to conform them to a different language.

It is certain that Goodrich was originally Godric, from which came Godricus, Godryke, Goodryke, Guthrich, Guthridge, Gothridge, Godridge, Goodridge, etc. In the correspondence between Col. Brich, commander of the parliamentary forces in the siege of Goodrich Castle, and Sir Henry Lingen, who defended it, the latter called it Guthridge Castle, while Birch called it Goodrich Castle. Some of these diversities were doubtless occasioned by attempts to Latinize or Anglicize the original Teutonic name, or grew out of provincial pronunciation; but in whatever form it is found, the radical word is always preserved. The Saxon word god is clearly the primary root of the name, and has the same meaning as the Gothic word guth and the Danish gud, the u having the sound of oo.

In Anglo-Saxon, the words god and good are writtenexactly the same; and as the word good was used not only to signify Deity, but rule or ruler, it probably had the latter meaning when applied to persons; and though the names were spelled Godric, Goodrich, Guthrich, Goodridge or otherwise, if the primary word god, good, or guth were retained the meaning was the same. Whether the suffix ric, rick, or rich really meant rich, or had the same meaning as when added to Bishop, as Bishopric, signifying dominion or rule over a district is not entirely certain pg. 5-6

William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass.

It will be noticed that while the earlier generations kept the form of spelling given above, some of the later generations have changed the spelling into the usual form—Goodrich. The relationship between William of Watertown and the Wethersfield branch is unknown.

FIRST GENERATION. (3896)

William Goodridge, probably from Bury St. Edmunds, County Suffolk, England; went to Watertown, Mass., where he was admitted freeman in 1642; his homestead of five acres was probably in or near the north boundary of Mt. Auburn Cemetery; inventory of his estate dated April 3, 1647.

His widow Margaret married John Hull of Newbury, Mass., where she went with her Goodridge children

Mr. Hull died Oct.1, 1670; she died Feb. 3, 1683.

Children of William and Margaret Goodridge:

• 3897. Mary b. m., Dec. 20, 1653, Edward Woodman, Jr., b. in 1628, d. in 1694; son of Edward and Joanna.
• 3898. Jeremiah b. March 6, 1638; m. Mary Adams.
• 3899. Josephf b. Sept. 29, 1639; m Martha Moores.
• 3900. Benjamin b. Apr. 11, 1642; m. 1st, Mary Jordan; 2d, Deborah Jordan; 3d, Sarah Croad. pg. 356

The Goodrich family in America. A genealogy of the descendants of John and William Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn., Richard Goodrich of Guilford, Conn., and William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass., together with a short historical account of the family in England, the origin of the name, a description of Goodrich castle etc (1889). Goodrich-Family-Memorial Association; Lafayette Wallace Case, ed; Chicago, Fergus printing company

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Francis S. Drake in his history of Watertown, published as a chapter in Samuel Adams Drake's History of Middlesex County. Massaclussetts. and Henry R. Stiles in his History of A}icic)\f Wethers field. Connecticut . Bond's statement in full is: "that John and William Goodrich (?) brothers, came to this country together from Bury St. Edmunds, or that vicinity, Co. Suffolk, England ; that WiUiam. the younger, settled in Watertown, where he died; that John, the eldest of the two, was the John Guttering who was adm[ittedj freeman of Mass., May, 1642; that soon after this he went to Wethersfield, where his name appears in the Conn. Coll. Records the next year, taking with him his two sons, John and Willam (liaving left another son, William, in England, to be educated, afterwards minister of Hegassitt, d. about 1677, s. p., bequeathing his estate to his nephews in Conn.) ; that he died on his return voyage to England, m 1644, leaving in Wethersfield, those two sons John and William, from whom the Goodrich families in Connecticut are descended."

Later discoveries, however, have determined that William of Watertown and John of Wethersfield were not brothers, but that the real brothers were John and William of Wethersfield, of whom William of Watertown may possibly have been an uncle. pg 62

1. William Goodridge, whose English origin has been reviewed on preceeding pages, came from Bury St. Edmunds, County Suffolk, England, where he was probably born May 18, 1605. He was settled in Watertown, Mass., with his wife Margaret and their infant daughter Mary in 1636.

In Bury St. Edmunds, as well as can now be ascertained, he was known under the name of Gutridge. In Watertown his name was generally spelled Gutteridge, and in the generations of his descendants immediately following, in Newbury, it became Goodridge, a form that, with few exceptions, has since been followed.

At once, upon his arrival in this country, he became a leading man in the infant community and a considerable owner of property. At the time of his death he owned forty-three acres of land with buildings and personal property.

He was admitted to be a freeman May 18, 1642. This right of freeman embraced the obligation of church membership, the privilege of franchise and a share in divisions of unoccupied land and other property thus far held in common.

He was a man of much dignity, winning presence and gentlemanly bearing, and distinguished by kindliness in private life: a real leader, whose strong character and optimistic outlook were an uplift in those days of struggle, sacrifice and depression. This leadership was always in sympathy and support among those who.se travail had been most severe. Gathering up and interpreting what has been said, it seems reasonably certain that his attitude toward life was a strong sense of leadership, dominated by a desire of helpfulness, neighborly sympathy and feeling of brotherhood. In short, he had all the attributes of a cultivated gentleman with noteworthy lineage and a look outward and upward rather than inward.

In an historical address by the Reverend Frank G. Clark, on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Lyndeborough, N. H.. there is reference to the Reverend Sewall Goodridge and the statement is made that his ancestor, William Goodridge of W'atertoun, was admitted to the bar in that place in 1642. As a matter of fact there was no bar in Watertown thus early and the first lawyer was authorized to practice his profession there in 1717, or seventy-five years later. The statement was probably an inference from the known fact that William Goodridge had been a student of English law and had made considerable progress in preparation for a professional career before leaving Bury St. Edmunds. This training gave him an unusual opportunity of usefulness in the colony and doubtless much of the conformity to legal procedure with which Watertown is credited was due to him. Certain it is, that lie was often appealed to in the transference of property and the untangling of complicated questions, which onlv a legal training could accomplish.

He died, in Watertowm, March 21, 1647, and was buried in the cemetery near the homestall where he had spent the whole of his colonial life; but the exact location of his grave was long ago hopelessly forgotten.

On April 3, 1647, Margaret Goodridge, widow, returned an inventory of the estate of her deceased husband, to the court in Boston, and it was attested by Governor John Winthrop, in the presence of Samuel Thatcher and Thomas Hastings, witnesses. A transcrip)t of this inventory is in the Probate Records of Suffolk Couniy (Mass.). vol. 11, folio 32.

"A true & pfect Inventory of tlie goods of william Goodrich late of watertowne made & taken hv Samuel Thatcher & Thomas Hastings Apr. 3, 1647

"Imprimis one dwelling houfe & fyve Acres & a halfe of plainting land & ten Acres of land in the Hew of the townfhip 13 Acres of remote meddow & 25 Acres of Divident prifed at 10 00 00

Itm one bible one pfalme booke 00 09 00

Itm one Cowe prifed at 05 10 00

Itm two flockbeds two flockboulfters, 2 fether pillowes, 2 blanketts & one rugg prifed at 05 04 00

Itm linnen one paire of fheets 1/ 4s more 3 fheets 10s a paire of pillow beeres & a table cloth, one napkin, one ell of linnen cloth 16s 9d . . . 02 10 09

Itm 3 yron potts 2 paire of pothookes 01 10 00

Itm 2 braffe kettles 2 braffe fkellets, 1 scumer, & one warming pan 02 10 00

Itm 5 peeces of pewter & a covered pot . 00 12 00

Itm one Cupbord 1 cheft, 2 boxes, 1 tablechaire, 1 joined ftoole, 1 plaine chaire, 1 cowie, 18s Itm one brush 1s 00 19 00

Itm 1 frying pan, 1 rofte yron, I tramell, 1 pr of tongs & a' fire pan, .' 00 09 00

Itm 3 wedges of yron, 2 beetle rings, 1 hames, 1 tackle hooke, 1 yron peftell, 2 yron pale bayles, 1 sickle. 3 yron hinges, 1 pitchforke 00 17 00

Itm due to him from Henry Ambrofe of Hampton 01 12 00

Thomas Hastings. Samuel Thatcher.

The Debts of William Goodrich. 1 sh d

Itm owing to mr Willowbie 6 00 00

Itm ovveing to goodwife hedfbie 0 06 00

Itm owing to Major Ciboud ....... 0 07 06

Thomas Hastings. Samuel Thatcher.

"Margaret the wife of the faid William Goodrich did affirme vppon Oath that this is a true Inyentory of her faid late hufbands eftate according to her beft knowledge, referving liberty to adde if more come to her knowledge, taken. 15 (2) 1647. Before "John Winthrop Governor"

He married, in England, about 1632, Margaret— whose maiden name is not known, and she, with four children, survived him.....

Children of William and Margaret Goodridge:

• 2. i. Mary, b., in Bury St. Edmunds, SufTolkshire, England.
• Jan. 8. 1633.
• 3. ii- Jeremiah, b., in W'atertown, Mass., Mch. 6, 1638.
• 4. iii. Joseph, b., in Watertown. Sept. 29, 1639.
• 5. iv. Bex/amin, b., in Watertown, Apr. 11, 1642

pg. 71-74 The Goodridge genealogy : a history of the descendants of William Goodridge who came to America from Bury St. Edmunds, England, in 1636 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts with some inquiry into the history of the family in England and the origin of the same Edwin Alonzo Goodridge, & Lyman Horace Weeks; 1918, New York : Lenz & Riecker

• Updated from FamilySearch Family Tree by SmartCopy: Jul 8 2015, 16:18:08 UTC