William Goodrich

  General Notes:

Lafayette Wallace Case in *The Goodrich Family in America*, 1889, p.19, has an abstract from the will of "William Gooderich of Hegesset[rather than Hesset], yeoman, made April 4, 1631, and proved in theArchdeaconry Court of Sudbury, Feb 2, 1631/32 [1632/1633 ?]."

"ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF WILLIAM GOODRICH [the settler]. JOHN GOODRICH ofBury St. Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, England, was the father ofWilliam Goodrich, the early settler in Wethersfield, Connecticut, hisancestry and descendants being fully determined and published in "TheGoodrich Family in America" by Lafayette Wallace Case, M.D. JohnGoodrich was a clothier. He inherited from his father, WilliamGooderich [sic] of Hegesset, Suffolk County, yeoman, by his will,dated April 4, 1631, and proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury,February 2, 1631-2, all the houses, lands, and tenements in Hegessett,and was executor of the will. The Christian name of his wife wasMargerie or Margaret, who is mentioned in the will of John Goodrich,dated April 14, 1632, and proved May 16, 1632, as also his sons,William Goodrich the elder, William Goodrich the younger, JohnGoodrich, and Jeremy Goodrich. John Goodrich, the father of thisfamily, was buried April 21, 1632, the same being recorded in theParish Register of St. Mary, Bury St. Edmunds. William Goodrich, theyounger, was a clergyman, educated at Caius College, Cambridge, inHegesset in 1678, willing property to sons of his brothers William theelder and John, who were the early settlers in Wethersfield. TheEnglish home of this family was, therefore, Hegesset, now calledHessett, which is six miles east of Bury St. Edmunds. Of this homeand the family history in England, an account by Hon. Grant Goodrichis published in the above genealogy."
--- William F. J. Boardman, *The Ancestry of William Francis JosephBoardman, Hartford, Connecticut*, 1906, p 184-185

"WILLIAM GOODRICH, the earliest ancestor to whom this family can betraced, was born probably in Suffolk, about 1545 and was buried inHessett in that shire, 24 Oct. 1631, "*Sepulti, Guglielmus Gotheridgevicesimo quarto Octobris*." He married about 1670, MARGARET -----,who was buried in Hessett, 22 Mar. 1630-31. She was apparently themother of all his children. (P) The marriage of a William Goodrichand Margaret Richardson in Felsham in 1568 is given in the *SuffolkMarriage Index* at Ipswich. This is probably the marriage of WilliamGoodrich of Hessett. It must be from a transcript as the earliestextant register of Felsham begins in 1656. It is stated that Williamwas the son of an Adam Goodrich of Felsham whose will is dated,1596-97. Other records are stated to exist which, if substantiated,would give William the pedigree, *Adam, Robert, John, Robert* but thedocuments are not quoted and have not been found again. (P) That thetwo immigrants, John and William Goodrich, who settled inWethersfield, Conn., descended from William of Hessett is amply provenby documents preserved in the Archives of Connecticut. Their brother,Rev. William Goodrich, dying in 1678, left property to the sons ofJohn and William, and, in order to establish the claim of the heirscertain documents had to be filed in court. Part of the evidence isprinted in Manwaring's *Hartford Probate*, including the will of Rev.William Goodrich of "Hegesset."
(P) The records of Hessett were searched, in a somewhat sketchyfashion, years ago and the results embodied in the *GoodrichGenealogy*. In 1938, much more exhaustive work was done. [Footnote:By W.L.Holman, S.B., for C.D.Stillman, Esq., who kindly allowed thedata to be used. She has further material.] This account is based onthat research and *some* additional work. It seems quite evident, tothe present compiler, that John Goodrich was the eldest son ofWilliam. He may have been born in Felsham, if his mother belonged inthat parish. In the lapse of so much of specific data, conclusionshave to be based on the customs of the time, the laws, etc., as wellas from such vital records as may be unearthed. (P) Hessett issuggested to have been originally a part of Rougham, by Canon Cooke,in his admirable history of this parish. He states that it wasprobably called "Hegesset" earlier and was held by the Abbot of Buryuntil the dissolution of the monasteries, in 1541, when it wasconveyed to Thomas Bacon. The Bacon family held the property until1653, when Lionel Bacon who had possession, died without male issue.It then passed to Robert Walpole, grandson of Lionel's eldest sister,Elizabeth, who was father of the famous Sir Robert Walpole. In 1724,the manor was sold to Thomas le Heup. The beautiful parish church ofHessett, erected in 1472, was dedicated to St. Ethelbert, King andMartyr, and became a rectory in the Deanery of Thedwastre, Archdeaneryof Sudbury. The registers begin in 1539. ..... [part of William'swill is quoted] ..... Children, born probably in Suffolk: i. JOHN,b. about 1575; prob m. ----- -----, and MARGARET HOW. ii. ROBERT,bapt 5 May 1577, Hessett, not named in will, prob d. unm. iii.WILLIAM, bapt. 11 Sept. 1580, prob. bur. 7 Aug. 1645, Hessett; m. 16May 1608, Hessett, BARBARA COLE. Left issue. iv. HENRY. bapt. 12Jan. 1583-84, Hessett. He m. and prob. d. before 1631, as he is notnamed in his father's will. He left 2 children mentioned in hisbrother John's will. v. SUSAN, bapt. 30 May 1591, Hessett; m. (1), in1618, JOHN LOCK at Lawshall, Suffolk; she m. (2), in 1628, atBradfield, Combust, JOHN BEAUMOND. She had children by John Lock,mentioned in her brother John's will. vi. ELIZABETH, b. about 1595;m. 25 July 1623, Bradfield St. George, PHILIP CLARKE."
--- Helen Pendleton (Winston) Pillsbury and Mary Lovering Holman,F.A.S.G., *Ancestry of Colonel Harrington Stevens and his wife FrancesHelen Miller*, 1948 (Privately Printed at The Rumford Press, Concord,New Hampshire) p 181-2

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Appendix 19, Godric & Goodrich

Excerpt from Hon. Grant Goodrich of Chicago, "The Goodrich Family,Historical Introduction," in the book by Lafayette Wallace Case, M.D.,The Goodrich Family in America. A Genealogy of the Descendants ofJohn and William Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn., Richard Goodrich ofGuilford, Conn., and William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass., togetherwith A Short Historical Account of the Family in England, the Originof the Name, a Description of Goodrich Castle, etc., Edited for theGoodrich-Family-Memorial Association, Chicago (Fergus Printing Co.)1889, p. 5- 19 passim.

GOODRICH, like most other family names, has been subject to a varietyof changes and modifications, all of them, however, retaining in partat least their original Teutonic and Saxon signification. . . . . .It is certain that Goodrich was originally Godric, from which cameGodricus, Godryke, Goodryke, Guthrich, Guthridge, Gothridge, Godridge,Goodridge, etc. In the correspondence between Col. Brich [Birch],commander of the parliamentary forces in the siege of Goodrich Castle,and Sir Henry Lingen, who defended it, the latter called it GuthridgeCastle, while Birch called it Goodrich Castle. Some of thesediversities were doubtless occasioned by attempts to Latinize orAnglicize the original Teutonic name, or grew out of provincialpronunciation; but in whatever form it is found, the radical word isalways preserved. The Saxon word god is clearly the primary root ofthe name, and has the same meaning as the Gothic word guth and theDanish gud, the u having the sound of oo. In Anglo- Saxon, the wordsgod and good are written exactly the same; and as the word good wasused not only to signify Deity, but rule or ruler, it probably had thelatter meaning when applied to persons; and though the names werespelled Godric, Goodrich, Guthrich, Goodridge, or otherwise, if theprimary word god, good or guth were retained the meaning was the same.Whether the suffix ric, rick, or rich really meant rich, or had thesame meaning as when added to Bishop, as Bishopric, signifyingdominion or rule over a district is not entirely certain.

Robert Ferguson, M.P., in "Surnames as a Science," p. 53, says:"Godricus Doomsday (book(, English Godrick --- rick, ric, is rich inold Saxon." In the "Etymological Dictionary of Family and ChristianNames," by William Arthur, M.A., it is said: "Goodrich (Saxon),Godrick from god or good; ric, rich --- is rich in God or ingoodness." In "Our English Surnames, their Sources and Signification," by Chas. Warring Bardaley, p. 20, we are told that "The primary rootgod or good, which stood in all Teutonic languages as the title ofdivinity, was familiarized as the chief component in several names,such as Godebold, now Godbold, etc. * * Goodrich or Godrick areappellations which belonged to an early Saxon abbot, who was exaltedto the ranks of the saints, as St. Godric, is also found in ourexisting registers." Whether the name was originally intended toindicate one rich in God or in goodness, a good ruler, or a ruler overa good district or domain, is not important at this day; eitherdenotes an honorable family origina and name, which all who inheritshould strive never to dishonor or disparage.

The Goodrich tribe or family evidently existed in Great Britain at avery early period, but when or at what place it first appeared is lostin the obscurity of the past. So far as we have been able to learn,the earliest mention of the name is referred to in Edwin Hubbard's:Goodrich Family Memorial," where it is said: "The following is foundin Ingulph's 'History of the Abbey of Croyland,' and whatever may bethought of the value of that work as to charters recited andhistorical events recounted, its history of its own abbots isdoubtless correct. After the destruction of the abbey by the Danesunder Harold and Sidroc, in the year 870, in the times of Ethelred andAlfred, Ingulph says: 'By common consent of all, the venerable FatherGodric, though very reluctant and making great opposition thereto, waselected abbot.' The abbot for the next four years was harassed byfines and confiscations by the king of Mercia till that kingdom ended,and Alfred reigned over both that and Wessex. In the reign of Edmund,A.D. 940, weighed down with extreme old age, Godric, abbot ofCroyland, died." . . . . .

It is probable one of the earliest evidences of their existence isfound in the ruins of Goodrich Castle . . . . . [which] stands on acommanding eminence, near the southeastern extremity of the County ofHerford, in Herfordshire, Wales, on the eastern bank of the River Wye;distant, almost due south, from Herford sixteen miles, and four fromRoss. The land immediately surrounding the castle and belonging to itis wholly in the County of Herford. . . . . . {The] keep clearlyantedates the Norman conquest, and is as truly Saxon as it can be,while its surrounding works are mainly Norman. The windows are inevery respect Saxon. . . . . . All the other historical evidence wehave been able to find, in relation to the probable founder of thecastle and its subsequent ownership, is embraced in the followingextract from "The Beauties of England and Wales," in twenty-sixvolumes, published in 1805. In Vol. 6, pp. 516 to 526, after a minutedescription of the castle, it is said: "Whoever was the originalfounder of the castle, whether Godricus Dux, who witnessed KingCanute's charters (A.D. 1016 ro 1036), or any chieftain prior to him,it is certain the earliest authentic record concerning it, at presentknown, is of the date of 1204, when it was given by King John toWilliam Strigul, Earl Marshall, to hold by service of two knights'fees. His son Walter, Earl of Pembroke, died here in the year 1246.It was afterward conveyed by a female to William de Valence, Earl ofPembroke, whose third son, Aymer de Valence, became his heir, and wasmurdered in France, 1323. From him it passed to the Talbots, by themarriage of Elizabeth Comyn, daughter of Johnm with Sir Richard,afterward Lord Talbot, who procured a license from Edward III, to haveprision here. This Richard was a renowned soldier and statesman, andis thought to have expended a considerable part of the ransomsobtained from prisoners, taken by him in the French wars, on thereparation and improvement of Goodrich Castle. His descendant, JohnTalbot, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed at the battle ofCastillon, in 1453, * * is styled Lord of Goodrich Castle andOrchenfield. His descendants were equally distinguished for bravery,and were frequently employed in affairs of great trust. George, thesixth early, had the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, committed to hischarge. * * Gilbert, seventh earl of Shrewsbury, was in possessionof this castle at his death on 14 of James 1st. Elizabeth, his seconddaughter and coheiress, conveyed it with the manor, in marriage, toHenry de Gray, Earl of Kent, in whose family they continued until theyear 1740, when, on the death of Henry, Duke of Kent, they were soldto Admiral Griffin, whose son, Geo. Griffin, Esq., is now (1805) theowner." It subsequently passed into the hands of Sir Samuel Meyrick,who built Goodrich Court, not far from the castle, the first stone ofwhich was laid April 23, 1828.

The Talbots were in England before the Norman conquest, but wereprobably of French origin, and friendly to William, and held theirpossessions after the conquest.

On the breaking out of the civil war in 1642, between Charles I andthe Parliament, a great effort was made by both parties to obtainpossession of Goodrich Castle. It was first seized by Parliament, andoccupied; but its forces were soon dislodged by the Royalists, and itwas held by them under command of Sir Henry Lingen. It was afterwardbesieged by the Parliamrentary forces under Col. John Birch, and aftera stubborn resistence [sic] of nearly two months and the gallantrepulse of several assaults, it was surrendered to him, whorecommended that it be demolished. Parliament ordered that theCountess of Kent be notified of this necessity, and satisfaction bemade her; and on the first of March, 1647, resolved that "GoodrichCastle be totally disgarrisoned and slighted." The order wasexecuted, and the castle left in ruins as they appear today, unchangedexcept by time and decay. Any one curious to learn further details ofthe siege or description of the castle, mau consult "Memoirs of CivilWar," by Cary, 2 vols., "Grose's Antiquities," and "Monumenta Antiqua," Vol. 26, p. 516.

It is shown by Doomsday (book) and Freeman's "History of the NormanConquest, 1066," that the land-holders of the Goodrich family werethen numerous. Freeman makes repeated mention of a Godric of greatprominence, who fell at Senlac in the battle of Hastings, bravelyfighting for his king and country. He was officially conspicuous, andpossessed of large landed estates in different counties. He wassheriff of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and possibly of Bedfordhire.At that time the sheriff was the first man in the county, and superiorto any nobleman while he held his office. . . . . . His lands wereconfiscated by William, and granted to Henry of Ferrers, whosedescendants held the earldoms of Derby and NOttingham. To Godric'swidow was granted a hide of land, to be held by the degrading tenureof feeding the king's dogs; and of this she was in the end defrauded.There are few men of that period, not of exalted rank, of whom thishistorian has made more frequent mention. . . . . .

Their Saxon descent renders it probable the Goodriches were loyal toEngland and followed Harold, and, in consequence, their lands wereforfeited to the conqueror and confiscated. . . . . . [Many] weredisplaced by Frenchmen, in accordance with the general government ofthe country by William, so that at the end of twenty years, and at thetime of the return of the Doomsday Survey, there was scarcely a Saxonremining in office in either the civil, church, or military service.This has been suggested as the reason why so many of the name becamepriests and ministers by profession. Hubbard gives from the Rotule,Henry VIII, of 1509 to 1546, the names of:

Thomas Goodricke, rector of Hogely, Lincoln.
Sir John Goodryke, knight, Huntingdon.
Thomas Goodryke, parish of Bowdon, Maj.
Annie Goodrycke, prioress of Greenfield, Lincoln.
Dr. Henry Goodrich, rector of Northfield, Kent.
John Goodereych, preb. of Hudson, Stafford.
John Goodridge, vicar of Clewdon, Somerset.
Wm. Goodrich, rector of St. Martin, Outerfield, London.
Rich'd Goodrich, comm. of poor, Parish of St. Nicholas, Gloucester.


There is a cannon on the esplanade of the Tower of London, with aninscription stating that it was presented by Sir Maurice Goodrich to(as now recollected) King Charles I. The copy of it was burned in theChicago fire, October, 1871, and the authorities of the castle refusedpermission to visit the place when solicited during the last year[abt. 1888]. . . . . .

During the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the most prominent ofthe name seems to have been Thomas Goodrich, bishop of Ely and lordchancellor of England. In 1510, he became fellow of Jesus College;1515, proctor of the University; 1529, syndicus to return answer fromthe University of Cambridge, concerning the lawfulness of the marriageof Henry VIII with Queen Catherine, and on that occasion recommendedhimself to royal favor. He was presented to the rectory of St. Peters,Cheapside, London, by Cardinal Wolsey; made canon of St. Stephen's,Westminster, and chaplain to the king; 1534, bishop of Ely. He was azealous promoter of the Reformation; 1540, was appointed one of therevisers of the New Testaqment, the gospel of St. John being assignedto him. He was named commissioner for reforming the ecclastical lawsby both Henry VIII and Edward VI, as well as the University ofCambridge; engaged with others in compiling the Common Prayer Book;became member of the privy council of Henry VIII and Edward VI, and bythem was sent on various embassies and affairs of state; 1551, wasmade lord chancellor of England. Died Oct. 10, 1554. Mention of himis made in the history of Ely Cathedra, in the October number of the"Century," 1887, where he is called a great legal authority.

In "The Visitation of Yorkshire in 1584-5 and 1612, made by theHerald's Robert Glover and Richard St. George,: edited by JamesFoster, 1875, London, it is said: "John Goodrich of Bollinbroke hadson Edward Goodericke of Kirby, County Lincoln, who married Jane, dau.and heir of Williamson, Boston. Edward Goodericke had children: Mary,Henry, John, Thomas, and Elizabeth.

"Thomas was bishop of Ely and lord high chancellor of England, tempusHenry VIII and Edward VI.

"Henry had sons William, Richard, and Christopher, and one daughterAlborougha.

"Richard had children: Richard, Henry, and Margaret.

"Richard, the son, was knighted in Queen Elizabeth, 43d, and marriedMuriel, daughter of Lord William Evans, and had sons: William, Henry(knight of Ribston in 1612), Robert, Ralph, John, Richard, Francis,and daughter Margaret.

"Sir Henry Goodrick, knight of Ribston, married Jane, dau. of SirJohn Savile of Methby, baron of the exchequer, and had children:Henry, Richard, Mary, Jane, and Elizabeth. (Title extinct in 1833.)

"The arms of Richard Goodrick, bart. and nephew of the bishop of Ely,were: Argent on a fess gules, between two lions passant, guardantsable, a fleur-de-lis between two crescents or. Crest: a demi-lion,rampant, guardant sable. Motto: Fare wel til then."

[continued in GOODRICH, William (1) +]

William married Margaret Richardson, daughter of Robert Richardson and Unknown, on 24 Oct 1568 in Felsham, Suffolk, England. (Margaret Richardson was born in 1549-1550 in Hessett, Suffolk, England, died on 22 Mar 1630 in Hessett, Suffolk, England and was buried on 22 Mar 1630 in Hessett, Suffolk, England.)