Goodman (My Paternal Side)
I am a descendant of Christopher (Christian) Goodman of Rowan County, North Carolina. Christopher Goodman was born about 1755 in Pennsylvania and died sometime around 1829-1830. Christopher married Elizabeth Stirewalt, my 5th great grandparents, on Dec 3rd, 1776 and from that union they had 7 children: John B (1779 - 1842), Elizabeth (1785 - ?), Catherine (1787 - ?), George (1789 - ?) , Rosina (1791 - 1843), Tobias (1792 - aft 1865) and Christopher (Christian) (1795 - 1854).
Before I go further, describing my connection to this family, I should tell you how I was able to break down the Goodman wall I had.
When my father was alive he had researched the Goodmans back to my 4th great grandfather John Goodman Sr. He knew from census records that the family was from North Carolina and and that they migrated through Tennessee and Kentucky because of the places where some of the children were born. But he had no idea where in North Carolina. We kind of assumed it was from Rowan County, North Carolina because our Goodmans lived in Salisbury in Sangamon County, Illinois and there is a Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina.
In August of 2011 I purchased the Family Finder test from FTDNA and when I got the results it was a little overwhelming trying to learn all the new jargon and how to compare the information on my matches. But little by little the light bulb would come on and new matches would come in that would lead me to some clues about one of my family lines. Well a couple years later I noticed a grouping of DNA segments from different matches lining up along an area on my chromosome #15. There were about three of them and when I checked the surnames they had listed I did not see anything that rang any bells. Then early in 2014 I got an email from a very nice lady by the name of Patti Hobbs about these very same segments except now there were some more. When we checked for common surnames we found that they all had Goodman from Rowan or Cabarrus County, North Carolina in their lines.
Here is a look at how the 5 matches (there are more now but you can only show 5 at a time) were lining up on my chromosome 15. Each different color represents a different kit or match. The real breakthrough for me on this was that Patti worked at a library and was also studying to be a certified genealogist so when she visited North Carolina a couple years ago she took her digital camera and took pictures of ALL the documents related to Goodman she could find. She shared these photos of documents with me through DropBox and after searching through a lot of the documents I came to one that was talking about an estate and where some of the benefactors had moved out west to Illinois. When I got to looking at the names in the document I knew I had found my Goodman family in North Carolina! Thanks to DNA and this great certified genealogist (Patti became a certified genealogist in December of 2014).
The names of Christopher, my 5th great grandfather, and his seven children were found in a petition for the sale of property held as tenants in common by his children and that they received after Christopher's death. The petition was to sell the property at the court in Salisbury, North Carolina to the highest bidder. The petition was dated October 10, 1831. All of the children's names were spelled out in the document along with the names of the husbands of Elizabeth (George Crite), Catherine (Joseph Williams) and Rosina (John Darden). In the document George states that Tobias Goodman and Elizabeth Crite no longer live in North Carolina but have moved out west. George Goodman has purchased the rights of John, Catherine, Christian and Rosina and is trying to sell the property at auction to highest bidder and had the sale advertisement placed in a newspaper. But since he already owns the rights of his siblings except for Tobias and Elizabeth (who have moved out west) he was able to make sure he was the highest bidder. He won the auction with a bid of $500.00 and when it came time to pay he refused saying that he already owned the rights of the other's except for Tobias and Elizabeth which were living out west (Union County, Illinois) and paid $54 for those two shares which the county officials deemed a proper payment for their share.
Goodman Properties in Cabarrus and Rowan Counties
After finding the above mentioned petition I searched around the Salisbury, Illinois area using the federal census and I found John and Rosina (Goodman) Darden about a mile away from from my John Goodman Sr. Then I re-read the probate records for John Goodman Sr and his executor of his estate was Valentine Crite, his nephew, son of George and Elizabeth(Goodman) Crite. I then ordered the probate case file for Valentine Crite and his wife Elizabeth is listed as executor of his estate. Tobias Goodman and Christopher Goodman Jr purchased property across the road from their brother John Goodman Sr. Also Milas Goodman, son of Tobias Goodman purchased property next to his father.
John Goodman Sr. My 4th great grandfather was already living in Sangamon County by the time his brother George petitioned the court to let them sell the estate. Also on July 29, 1830 Elizabeth (Goodman) Crite living in Union County, Illinois gives power of attorney to her nephew John Goodman Jr (My 3rd great grandfather) to sell her shares of any property etc she may own in Rowan County (this document was also found among those photographed by Patti Hobbs).
John Goodman Sr. (1779 – 10 Sep 1842), my 4th great grandfather, marries (1) (Unkown), (2) Anna Louis Peake (1807 – 20 Sep 1840). His marriage to Anna Louise Peake was about 1834. On January 16, 1801 John was a witness to the will of Jacob Beam. Jacob was a neighbor to the Goodman family on the Reedy branch in Rowan County, North Carolina (pg 57 Abstracts of Wills and Estate Rec. 1753-1805 by Jo White Lin.). On March 4th, 1840 John Goodman Sr. hired Reuben Harrison (the Sangamon County Surveyor and a close neighbor) to survey his land for $1.00 (John Goodman’s probate case file record # 506 found at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois).
John Goodman Sr. is featured prominanty in the "Diary of John Peake a Soldier of the American Revolution Who Later Settled in Central Illinois". John Peake stayed "lodged" at the home of John Goodman. The road from Salisbury to Springfield bisected John Goodman's property at that time and I am sure he had a lodging house for those traveling the Springfield Rd. The road has since been adjusted with a nice curve that does not cross that property anymore but the old roadway is still visible. See map at the end of this section.
John Goodman Sr had three KNOWN children by his first wife (unkown) and they were Solomon Goodman (b. 1804 N.C., d. 4 Jan 1853 in Sangamon County), John Goodman Jr. (b 1806 N.C., d. 1874 Sangmon County), George Henderson Goodman (b 1823 KY, d. ?). I presume he had more children by his first wife given the number of years between John Goodman Jr. and George Henderson Goodman but I have not found them.
John Goodman Sr had thee children by his second wife Anna Louise Peake and they were Marietta "Mary" Goodman (1835 - aft 1911), Thomas B Goodman (1836 - 1878) and Sarah Pauline Goodman (1838 - 1911).
John Goodman Jr., my 3rd great grandfather, had six children by his wife Margaret and they were George Goodman (b. 1831 KY - 1904 IL), Nancy Goodman (b 1834 IL, 1904 IL), Joseph Goodman (b 1838 IL, ?), William Goodman (b. 1841 IL, ?), Catherine Goodman (b 1843 IL, ?), John Goodman (b 1844 IL, d 1881 IL) my 2nd great grand father.
John Goodman III mustered into the Union Army at Camp Butler on August 13th, 1862. He was captured by the rebel army at Guntown Mississipi along with Joel Gordon (his future father-in-law and my 3rd great grandfather). In July of 1864 he was released from Andersonville prison but his future father-in-law had died while in prison.
John Goodman III, my 2nd great grandfather married Mary E Gordon (see Gordon section) and they had three children and they were Charles Goodman (1874 - ?), William Marion Goodman (b 1875 IL, d. 1914 IL) my great grandfather, Harden W Goodman (1881 - ?).
John Goodman III
was killed in a fight in salisbury in June of 1881 leaving behind a wife,
Mary, 2 sons and
an unborn child.
Mary E (Gordon) Goodman
re-married in 1882 to an Andrew Nash.
In order to obtain a widow's pension provided by the Act of June 27,
1890, she relinquished her right of guardianship of the minor
children of John Goodman.
The Guardian was "John Tice". He was the Guardian
for the two youngest children
William Marion Goodman and Harden W Goodman.
Harden the youngest being born in 1881.
William Marion Goodman married Anna Maude Miller, my great grandparents, and they had five children: Mary Mae Marie Goodman, (b 1897 IL, d 1976 IL) my grandmother, Jesse Marion Goodman (b 1899 IL, d. 1968 IL), Homer Tice Goodman (b 1904 IL, d 1904 IL), Mabel Maude Goodman (1901 IL - 1943 IL), Hermit William Goodman (b 1905 IL, d 1923 IL), Wilma Dell Goodman (b 1913 IL, d 1917 IL), John Gordon Goodman (b 1914 IL, d 1917 IL).
Mary Mae Marie Goodman
(1897 - 1976) married John Wesley
Garrison Sr (1893 - 1963), my grandparents, on
August 18th, 1914 and from that union they had five children:
Edythe
Lorraine (1916 - 2002), William Edward (1919 - 1993),
Mary Catherine
(1921 - 1921), Lois Bernice (1922 - 2005),
John Welsley Jr
(1933 - 2007) my father.
Salisbury, Sangamon County, Illinois
Map of Land owned by the Goodmans in the Salisbury, Illinois area circa 1834