Goodeys of Halstead, Essex

St Andrew, Halstead marriage register, 1653,
with what appears to be a Regency addition.

My great-great-great-grandmother was Susannah Goodey from the Essex market town of Halstead. I thought Goodey was a fairly uncommon surname, but there do seem to be quite a lot of them Halstead, and a considerable amount of variation in genealogies I’ve found as to who belongs to which branch.

For nearly a year now I’ve been working on a project to identify the various Goodey family groups. Essex Ancestors provided me with the parish registers of both St Andrew’s Church and Holy Trinity Church in Halstead (from which I’ve transcribed all Goodey records – of any spelling!), the sole will any of them left (Samuel, 1824) and details of a legal case which identifies two brothers not otherwise connected. I’ve transcribed some records from nearby Pattiswick, as one census return from 1851 gave Pattiswick as a birthplace, and sure enough there were a few Goodeys there too.

I’ve transcribed all Goodey census returns from 1841-61 (so far) to see how families were grouped and am continuing to work my way through the rest of the 19th and early 20th century. I’ve cross-referenced all the information to registrations of births, marriages and deaths in the Halstead Registration District.

I’ve also consulted the British Newspaper Archive for contemporary reports, particularly the Essex Assizes (these were not always a well-behaved bunch!) and any family notices.

And finally I’ve spent a small fortune ordering birth, marriage and death certificates where I think they can help answer specific questions. Often they serve only to raise more – but that’s what I love about this!

A few things stand out:

• There seems to have been a local tradition in Halstead for mass baptisms at Easter each year, so any baptisms in March/April could be for infants or for children nearly a year old.
• The Goodeys weren’t particularly diligent about attending this annual mass baptism, and periodically turned up with a group of children who hadn’t been baptised before, or who had been but were getting it done again for whatever reason. Sometimes their ages at baptism were recorded (sometimes even their birthdates as best their parents could recall!), but more often they weren’t, making it difficult to work out the exact birth order.
• The Goodeys weren’t necessarily members of the Church of England, and I’ve no doubt other records exist elsewhere which I’ve not yet been able to consult. For instance, Elizabeth Goodey married John Stock Willings, a Quaker, and their son Frederick Henry was a Baptist minister in Halstead; Henry Goodey and his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in its infancy and immigrated to the USA. I’ve consulted some non-conformist and non-parochial registers where available (National Archives RG4).
• Quite a few of the Goodeys weren’t particularly drawn to monogamy. Neither were their spouses, or their spouses’ spouses. In the days when a divorce was nearly impossible to obtain for the majority of people, it’s hardly surprising to find couples separating and often remarrying without divorcing in between. It does make it difficult to find the wife’s maiden name, though.

There is a dearth of Goodey baptisms in Halstead in the mid-18th century, and it may never be possible to reach a definitive conclusion as to who goes where. So how have I grouped them and what methods did I use? Where I’ve been unable to find a clear, contemporary record which says this person was the child of these people, I’ve looked to:

• Occupations. As these are often handed down from father to son, they can be an indicator of a possible relationship.
• Literacy. The late 18th and early 19th century Goodeys fall into two groups: those who could sign their names on the marriage record, and those who made an X.
• Witnesses. Witnesses at marriages can often be a clue to a family relationship.
• The records of a Braintree Solicitor (Essex Record Office D/DO B24/73) which identifies Joseph and Daniel Goodey as brothers.
• The will of Samuel Goodey (17 January 1824, Essex Record Office D/ABW 125/1/61) which gives the names of all his surviving children and their spouses, and details of his property ownership – unfortunately, this is the only will I’ve found for any of the Goodeys of Halstead!
• Forenames – in particular, those who had a daughter or other female relative named Thermutas, which is unique in the Halstead records and relates only to members of the Pepper and Goodey families.

The Goodey family groups on which I’ve concentrated are:

1. John Sr, father of: (a) John (1748-?) (b) Joseph1 (ca 1756-?) and (c) Daniel (?-1811)
2. Samuel Sr (?-1824)
3. William Sr (ca 1756-1820)
4. Joseph2 (ca 1775-?)

Links to outline genealogies are at the end of each section below.

1 John Sr

There were a few earlier generations of Goodeys before John and Sarah’s son, John Jr, was baptised in 1748, but I cannot connect him to them. I have – tentatively – identified him as the same John who, with a (second?) wife Mary, buried two daughters in November of 1761, but this could be a different group entirely. What is recorded in the registers are the baptisms of two sons, John Jr in 1748 and Joseph, aged 3, in 1759, and nothing further to point to his origins.

1a John Jr

Other than his 1748 baptism, there is no further information.

1b Joseph1

Joseph1 was baptised in 1759, aged 3, son of John and Sarah, presumably the same John and Sarah who were the parents of John Jr in 1748. If so, there is an eleven-year gap between births and could be other, as yet unidentified, children.

In 1777 Joseph1 married Ann Wicker, and the marriage was witnessed by a William Goodey.

In 1798, Joseph and Daniel Goodey, brothers, were prosecuted for assault by James Punt, a farmer of nearly Stisted (Essex Quarter Sessions).

Joseph1’s son Joseph Jr said on the 1851 census that he was born in Pattiswick, although there is a baptismal record in Halstead. This could well be an error on the part of the enumerator, or on Joseph Jr, or could point to origins outside Halstead.

I do not know when Joseph1 died or details of his occupation, but his son James became a chair maker.

1c Daniel

I’ve no birth date for Daniel, but he was buried on the 1st of January 1812. His 1781 marriage to Sarah Woollard was witnessed by Thomas Arnall, who does not appear to be a relative but who also witnessed quite a lot of marriages of the Pepper family; Elizabeth Pepper married William Goodey in 1777.

As noted above with Joseph1, Joseph and Daniel were identified as brothers in a 1798 assault case. Whether they were full or half-brothers (see the note under John Sr for a possible second marriage) I do not know.

Daniel’s son, Daniel Jr, joined the army and left Halstead for Stepney, where he later worked as a bricklayer, as did his sons John, Joseph and George.

2 Samuel Sr

Some online genealogies speculate that Samuel Sr was from Sudbury, Suffolk, which is relatively near to Halstead and not unreasonable to assume that a family from one could relocate to the other. I haven’t yet accessed original records from Suffolk to see whether this could be a possibility or simply a coincidence.

Samuel Sr left a will, dated 17 January 1824. He died in Halstead on 14 May 1824 (from his probate file), although there is no record of a burial in Halstead. (Several family trees online give Samuel’s burial date as 28 April 1796, which is recorded in the St Andrew register, but this is almost certainly the son of William Sr.)

Samuel Sr died after William Sr (1820), and made no mention in his will of any siblings or their families, but that’s not definitive proof of a family relationship (or absence thereof). The will, which he signed with an X and a seal (of a swirl), left a number of properties in Halstead to his widow and surviving children. There is a Goody’s Yard on the 1871 census; another census location with Goodey residents is Sooty Square (1861) and I wondered if these were once his properties, he having been a chimney sweep like William Sr.

Samuel Sr’s son, Samuel Jr, and his daughter Thermutas, could sign their own names, but Samuel’s other children couldn’t. Samuel Jr’s distinctive signature can be found when he signed the church register as witness to the marriage of William Sr’s son John in 1803. Of Samuel Sr’s descendants, his sons Samuel Jr, Thomas and James were all wheelwrights.

3 William Sr

William Sr is my most distant known Goodey ancestor. There is no baptismal record at Halstead; his age suggests that he was contemporaneous with John Jr, Joseph1 and Daniel, and these facts suggest that he might be another brother:

• He (or someone named William Goodey) witnessed the marriage of Joseph Goodey to Ann Wicker in 1777.
• William Sr’s first marriage, in 1777, was to Elizabeth Pepper. Elizabeth’s sister Thermutas married in 1785 to Thomas Willis, and Thomas Arnall was a witness; Thomas Arnall also witnessed the marriage of Elizabeth’s aunt Thermutas (to John Cooper) in 1757, the marriage of Elizabeth’s father and her stepmother in 1766, and the marriage of Daniel Goodey and Sarah Woollard in 1781 – was he a family friend? He was not the parish clerk – George Dykes was – and his signature is found usually only on weddings relating to the Pepper family.
• Ann (Wicker) Goodey witnessed William’s 1781 marriage to Sarah Wicker – is this because she was William’s sister-in-law, Sarah’s sister, or both?
• William Sr’s son William Jr, and his sons, became bricklayers, like Daniel’s son and grandsons. William Jr was able to sign his own name. Note that William Jr was the only surviving child of William’s first marriage, to Elizabeth Pepper, and Elizabeth’s father, Thomas Pepper, was also able to sign his name.

However, it is also quite possible that he was a brother of Samuel Sr:

• Although William died before parish registers regularly recorded occupations, his son James, at his 1844 marriage to Maria Joyce, gave William’s occupation as a sweep, as was Samuel Sr (and, indeed, James himself). But William’s other sons who lived to adulthood, John, Edward and George, were agricultural labourers, so occupations cannot be conclusive evidence of any family connection.
• Other than William Jr, none of William’s children were able to sign their own names. All of these children were born to William’s second marriage, to Sarah Wicker; did the Pepper family (family of William’s first wife) provide for education for William Jr, the sole surviving child of his first marriage?
• William had a son named Samuel; he did not have sons named Joseph or Daniel.
• William’s first wife, Elizabeth Pepper had a sister and aunt both named Thermutas; Samuel Goodey had a daughter and granddaughter named Thermutas. Outside of the Pepper and Goodey families, the name Thermutas does not appear in any other Halstead families.
• Samuel Sr’s son Samuel Jr witnessed the marriage of William Sr’s son John in 1803.

4 Joseph2

Joseph2 has no known relation to the other families in Halstead. He was about a generation younger than John, Daniel, Joseph1, William Sr and Samuel Sr, marrying for the first time nearly 20 years after their marriages. He was able to sign his own name, like his contemporaries William Jr and Samuel Jr, and unlike the sons of Daniel and Joseph1, who could only mark an X. He witnessed the marriage of Sarah Goodey and John Bust in 1796.

Joseph2’s son, also named Joseph, was a chair maker, like the son of Joseph1. This younger Joseph (Joseph3?) was convicted of assault with intent to kill in 1833 and transported to Australia, returning to Halstead in 1855 two years before his death – but that’s another story and the only real link here is that the records of the Essex Assizes report that he was a chair maker and that the axe he tried to use was “that commonly used by coopers, with a short handle and a long sharp edge”.

See an outline genealogy for the family of Joseph2 Goodey.

Others

There are quite a few other Goodey families which didn’t clearly fit into any of these groups, so I’ve set them apart. If evidence can be found to group them differently in the future, I’ll move them around. I haven't put all of them on here, as by the mid-19th century the census and birth, marriage and death registration records are quite widely available and can be used to identify their descendants.

Earlier Records

Finally, I’ve put together some of the pre-18th century groups which might or might not be related.

Conclusion

For the time being, I’ve put John and Sarah’s children, John Jr, Joseph1 and Daniel as one family group, and William Sr, Samuel Sr and Joseph2 as separate families (although I’m leaning towards William Sr and Samuel Sr being brothers).

I’ve concentrated on the male lines for now, following the Goodey surname, but will continue to pursue the female lines.

My current focus will be identifying the descendants of William Goodey, my most distant known ancestor, but I’m interested in what you think about the family groupings I’ve chosen and my reasons – and whether or not you can see different combinations. I’m also hugely interested, obviously, if you happen to have an old family bible which sets it out conclusively!

Update 23 February 2016

The long-hoped-for link has been found! The Ipswich Journal of 8 May 1772 includes a report of the Chelmsford Assizes, at which William and Samuel Goodey, late of Halstead, brothers and chimney sweeps, were committed for theft: William stole two sacks of oats from Jeremiah Ringer of Halstead and Samuel stole five bushels of flour and two sacks, valued at 25c, the property of Thomas Rolfe of Coggeshall. Their father, John, was also committed for having received the goods, knowing them to be stolen. On 1 August 1772 William and Samuel were branded as thieves and sentenced to two years in gaol (no further word about their father!).

I've updated the once-separate family trees for John and his sons John, Joseph and Daniel (see 1 above) and the newly-confirmed sons William (see 3 above) and Samuel (see 2 above):

The Goodeys of Halstead