Sarah Elizabeth Goodgame

A new development:

There was a fellow descendant of Sarah's on the program, Ancestry Road Show. Researchers on that show said that she was not the daughter of John Wesley Crockett, Instead her father was either John's brother or uncle, If that is so, she was Davy,s first or second cousin,

Original impression below:

There is an oral history among the Texas Phillips family that we were related to the famous frontiersman, Davy Crockett. There are a number of postings on the internet that suggest that Sarah Crockett Goodgame was Davy Crockett's sister. On the other hand, I have seen other listings of his siblings that do not include her. All of these lists have been pieced together from a variety of sources by genealogists. None are conclusive. Davy Crockett's autobiography states that he was the fifth of nine children. Specific names were not included.

This an excerpt from an article in the The Clanton Advertiser, May 30, 2009 on the dedication of the historic Chilton County Cemetery:

"The cemetery, located near the site of the original Mullins family homestead just off Chilton County Road 8, contains many historic grave sites but is perhaps best known for the grave of Sarah Crockett Goodgame, thought by many to be a sister or cousin of legendary American folk hero Davey Crockett."

The following list of the John Crockett and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett family was found on two sources:

Joe Payne.org and findagrave.com (re: Rebecca Hawkins)

 Children:

  87+ Sarah CROCKETT                b.        1780  d. Sep 30 1858

  88+ James William CROCKETT        b.        1782  d. Sep 30 1858

  89+ Aaron CROCKETT                b. Mar  7 1782  

  90+ Nathan(?) CROCKETT            b.        1783  

  91+ Patterson CROCKETT            b.        1784  

  92+ David Davy CROCKETT           b. Aug 17 1786  d. Mar  6 1836

  93+ Elizabeth CROCKETT            b. Aug 17 1786  

  94+ Rebecca CROCKETT              b.        1796  

  95+ Wilson CROCKETT               b.        1800  

      John Crockett                 b.         1805

The above dates for Sarah Crockett match other information I found about Sarah Crockett Goodgame. This modestly supports the notion that Sarah could have been Davy's sister. Based on this evidence, I am including the John and Rebecca Crockett and family in our family tree.

I found another posting on the Geneology Forum website in November 2006 that summarizied the different theories of Sarah Crockett's lineage, one of which is that Sarah was Davy;s sister.

The posting is shown verbatim as follows:

"From time to time, the query is posed asking: Who was Sarah Elizabeth Crockett who married John Chapman Goodgame? What happens if the facts are put in order and we try to reconstruct the circumstances? The basic dates were provided almost two years ago by Liz Freeman, Camille Corte, Jeffrey Goodgame, and several others. Try some searches on this Forum.

John Chapman Goodgame, born Oct 1777, Augusta, Richmond Co, GA and died 4 Aug 1846, Talladega Co, AL, married ca 1798, in Coosa Co, GA, Sarah Elizabeth Crockett, b 1780, VA, d 30 Sept 1858, Chilton Co, AL. Children included Floyd Crockett Goodgame, b 6 Sept 1807, Coweta Co, GA and Robert Crockett Goodgame, b 6 Sept 1808.

Her parents may have been Robert and Sarah Crockett of Pittsylvania Co, VA and Richmond Co, GA. This is not proved but is based upon naming and geographical clues. The reader may decide.

Two other theories have been noted: (1) Sarah was a sister of the legendary "Davy" Crockett; (2) Goodspeed's History of Southern Arkansas, published 1890, Dallas Co. Ark., p. 719 which states that Sarah was second cousin to "Davy".

The latter of the two theories (second cousins) would require that "Grandfather David" (Davy Crockett's grandfather, John Crockett's father) had a brother, name unknown, whose had a son, name unknown, who became Sarah's father. In fact very little is known about "Grandfather David", and absolutely nothing about siblings if any. This hypothesis needs more to support it.

As for the former theory, here is some negative evidence. Apparently the inscription for Sarah reads in part:

Born in Virginia, A. D. 1780 Moved to Georgia in early life removed to Alabama in 1819.

At this point, it is interesting to look at Floyd Crockett whom some suggest to have been her older brother. He named sons Floyd and Robert. The LW&T of Floyd Crockett was made 31 Aug 1852 in Richmond Co, GA to which county Robert and Sarah ("Salley") Crockett moved from Pittsylvania Co, VA. Floyd was born in VA ca 1777 and "moved to Georgia in early life", just as Sarah's tombstone says she did."

On the gravestone of Sarah Crockett Goodgame is: "w/ John Goodgame, moved to Ala. in 1819."

From Otis Fuller:

Sarah is listed as the sister of Davy Crockett (Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Vol #4, by Thos. MacAdory Owen), and as a cousin, in Godspeed's History of Arkansas. -Some of the Goodgame's moved to Arkansas early on. My Goodgame/Mizzell cousins in AL are kind of split on this as well, but she's got to be one or the other! John Crockett left no will, so this is a tough call... Sarah died in 1858, and is buried in Clanton, Chilton Co., AL ,just S.E. of Coosa-Elmore Counties. Her gravestone has been vandalized and stolen a couple of times, and one of my Goodgame cousins is in charge of a tombstone replacement project, last I heard. (I understand this happens a lot with graves of close descendants of famous, historical people.)

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 6 2020, 6:52:00 UTC