The Goodenow’s

Uncle Goodenow, as we called him, carried the Goodenow surname as his first name. I remember asking my parents why Uncle Goodenow had such a funny name.  They said it was a “family” name, which satisfied me until recently, when I began to explore the endless spiral of genealogy. For the purposes of this blog, I have limited my research to names directly associated with my family, and have stopped the research at the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.  In other words, I am not attempting to present any information concerning family history before its arrival in America.  In the case of the Goodenow’s, this research spans a long, long timeline.

By the time the Goodenow name and lineage became associated with Uncle Goodenow, it had travelled through at least ten generations, beginning with Edmund Goodenow and family, who arrived from Bristol, England on the Confidence in 1638, making land at what is now called Sudbury, Massachusetts. Sometime when you care to, type the name Edmund Goodenow into your search engine and you will be surprised at the information that is available. Below is a photograph of Edmund and Anne Goodenow’s tombstone, located in Sudbury, Massachusetts, along with a transcription of the markings on the tombstone.

Grandpa Walter Thompson was a Goodenow.  His mother, Ida May Goodenow Thompson, bore the surname Goodenow before she married  great grandfather Stacy C. Thompson and changed her surname accordingly.

Ida May Goodenow Thompson was an only child, having been born to her parents after twelve years of marriage.  No brothers or sisters were to follow. Because historically we pass paternal surnames from one generation to the next, with Ida May being an only child and a female,the Goodenow name as a surname had reached the end of its line, with regards to our family.

Her parents were: Walter Goodenow, and Margaret McGrath Goodenow.

Walter was born in Onieda, New York in 1822, the fifth child of a family of twelve children.  As a young man he travelled to Erie, Ohio, probably following the Erie Canal project.  This is where he met Margaret, and where they were married. The Erie Canal began in 1808 and was completed in 1825.  It connected the waters of Lake Erie on the west to the Hudson River on the east.  It was a enormous project in its day and remains something of significance to this day.

October 27, 1825, the Seneca Chief approaches the stone aqueduct in Rochester:

“Who comes there?” 

“Your brothers from the West, on the waters of the Great Lakes.”
“By what means have they been diverted so far from their natural course?”
“Through the channel of the Erie Canal.”
“By whose authority and by whom was a work of such magnitude accomplished?”
“By the authority and the enterprise of the people of the State of New York.”

Everything was moving westward, including the Goodenows.

Walter and Margaret Goodenow first moved to Cook County, Illinois where they settled for a while.  They then moved to Crete, Illinois. In 1856, Ida May Goodenow was born here and this is where she received her early schooling. It also is a place where dozens of Goodenows settled during the middle of the 1800’s.  Today Crete, Illinois still exists, and, as a part of its heritage, it has preserved a large tract of land as the Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve. Like many things today, you can find it on Facebook. Look it up and visit it sometime.  It is a part of your Goodenow heritage.

In 1870 or thereabouts,  Walter and Margaret purchased the Knapp Hotel in Albion, Michigan, changing its name to the Goodenow Hotel.

Albion, Michigan is where Ida May received her high school education and where she enrolled at Albion College.  It also is where she met Stacy C. Thompson, also a student.  Albion College was fully authorized to award four-year college degrees to both men and women on February 25, 1861.  Ida May Goodenow and Stacy C. Thompson were enrolled as students in 1873.  In 1874 they left Albion College and were married in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This wedding announcement and Ida May Goodenow’s calling card are taken from Stacy C. Thompson’s scrap book.

This is a page from Stacy C Thompson’s scrapbook with various newspaper clippings announcing different family events.

These are closeups from the above page  taken from Stacy C’s scrapbook.  The above two clippings are from a Grand Rapids newspaper, dated December 21, 1874.

The following year, again at Christmas time, Ida May and Stacy announced the birth of their first child, Claudia.

This birth announcement bears transcription, both because of the age and condition of the newspaper article and its content.

The wife of Stacy C. Thompson of this office presented her liege lord with a beautiful daughter on Thursday evening, weight 8 1/2 pounds.  Stacy feels  pretty proud and obstinately refused to hang up his stocking, saying that was enough for one Christmas. Condensed milk taken on subscription.  Manistee Advocate December 25th.

The Thompson above named was last year at this time one of the publishers of The Recorder.He went off with his girl – the daughter of Walter Goodenow – to spend Christmas, and they were married in Grand Rapids, before they returned home. This year it is another kind of Christmas.

In 1877, my grandfather, Walter Stacy was born in Manistee, Michigan.  The local newspaper carried this announcement.

Some time after grandpa’s birth, Walter and Margaret Goodenow sold their hotel in Albion, Michigan and moved to Manistee.  Walter Goodenow became a hunter of game in the region.  The local newspaper carried the following article concerning his hunting exploits.

This is a drawing of Great great grandpa Walter Goodenow hunting in the Manistee woods.  My cousins Arthur and Edward Thompson have the original drawing.

On June 29, 1888, Margaret McGruder Goodenow died while visiting a sister in Hinsdale, Illinois. The following death notice was published in a Manistee newspaper

Four years later, on November 26, 1892, Walter  Goodenow died while doing what he loved most: hunting with his friends in the Manistee forest.  He was 70 years of age.

Walter Goodenow  father of Mrs. Stacy Thompson, and a resident of Manistee for the past fifteen years, died suddenly of heart-failure last Saturday evening, while on a hunting expedition up the little Manistee River. The hunting party consisted of Isiah Goodenow of Berlin, Michigan, Charles Powell, Albert Porter and the deceased. Mr. Isiah Goodenow left the camp some days before the breaking up of the party, leaving his brother in apparent good health and the best of spirits, and after a few days visit with friends here and at Reed City and vicinity, had gone to his home in Berlin, Mich., arriving there on Monday evening of this week, where he found the announcement of his brother’s death awaiting him. He at once returned to  this city to take a brother’s part in the last and sad rites accorded the deceased.

The hunting party on Saturday last had finished their work and were ready to break camp. Porter, having come to Manistee after a team to bring their game and equipage down, leaving his two companions alone. After supper they smoked and talked over their hunting experiences as usual, Mr. Goodenow seemingly being as well as ever. Suddenly, without a murmur or sign of pain, Mr. Goodenow fell asleep, never to wake again. Mr. Powell, his companion, was almost paralyzed by the suddenness of his friend’s death. A moment before he was a genial companion; now he was a corpse, and they were in the wilderness nearly fifteen miles from any habitation.  Mr. Powell kindly cared for the remains of his old friend, then fastened up the tent and walked to this city and notified the relatives of the deceased.

His remains were brought here on Sunday morning. The deceased was 70 years of age.  The funeral services were held at the residence of Mr. Stacy Thompson in Manistee town, Tuesday at 10 o’clock A.M., and the body was taken to Hinsdale, Illinois, for burial, in charge of Mrs. W.O.Cole, niece of the deceased and Stacy Thompson.

This ends the telling of the tale of one of the branches our family, The Goodenow’s, starting with the voyage on the Confidence in 1638 and continuing through the lives of our Manistee relatives. In a larger sense, the tale continues still, through our own lives.  For those interested, there is a Goodenow Association which publishes a quarterly newsletter, sponsors Goodenow journeys to locations as close as Illinois and as far away as South Africa.  They have a Facebook page – The Goodenow Association – which is available for your enjoyment and educational enrichment concerning a branch of our family that goes back to the very beginnings of the American Experience.

GFA Editor’s Remarks, May 2013… The months since the previous (quarterly) issue of Goodenows’ Ghosts have been eventful, as this issue will prove. For instance: the seventh GFA Scholarship recipient has been selected; a family member serving in the Marine Corps has been deployed to a new assignment; a Ribbon Cutting ceremony took place at a historic building in Kansas City that once house the Goodenow Textile Company, attended by several descendants of one of the company’s founders; a family member received an honor from President Obama at the White House; and two Life members are helping celebrate the 150th anniversary of the library in Sudbury MA, by dressing up and depicting the library’s Goodenow benefactor and his niece. And we should pause to remember that 375 years ago, on April 24, 1638, the immigrant Goodenows made landfall in the New World!

THIS, readers, is what the association is all about. Share in the happenings, and in the pride of the surname, and descendants of the surname.

Enjoy!