Benjamin Goodman ca 1662 - 1735
Numerous entries are found for this Benjamin Goodman in the Register of St. Peter's Parish New Kent County VA 1684-1786. Old St Peter's Parish was in Hanover Co., VA, near the New Kent Co. border, and also included parts of what were later Louisa Co.
Samuel, son of Benjamin Goodman, was baptized April 27, 1701 in St. Peter's Parish New Kent County, Va.
Benjamin Goodman is listed in numerous St Peter's parish land processioning records from 1711-1729.
Benjamin Goodman died some time after 1729, and probably just before his will was recorded May 5, 1735. Benjamin Goodman's will lists sons Samuel, Robert, Benjamin, wife Lucie, son in Law John Turner, and mentions "all my children", which may mean more than those listed in the will, and possibly children by an earlier wife, before Lucie. Benjamin, Samuel and Robert receive lands, about 100 ac each, Robert's "his old plantation in Hanover", and Benjamin and Samuel in Louisa County, on the Hanover border. [Source: Hanover County VA Court Records 1733-1735 Deeds, Will and Inventories "The Small Book" abstracted by Rosalie Edith Davis. Also copy of actual will.]
Contention and Surmises on this Benjamin Goodman
There is some contention among researchers of this line about whether this Benjamin Goodman is the same one born ca 1639 in Bedfordshire, England, who was supposedly reprieved for transport to Barbados in 1672. Here are my thoughts on that:
 | A Benjamin Goodman reprieved for Barbados in 1672. OK. I've seen that record. But, he supposedly arrived in Barbados, and there are Goodmans in Barbados still, and no proven record of him ever leaving Barbados. |
| A Benjamin Goodman who came into Maryland in 1674, not Virginia. Were they the same Benjamin, 2 years after the reprieve? Who knows? And how? According to the available records, he was given land in Maryland, not VA, but no specific document is cited on that. |
| A Benjamin Goodman was given land in Pennsylvania in 1677: "At Court of 11 September 1677 ... Benjamin Goodman, 100 acres up Schuylkill, next to Richard Ducket's" [Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, by John Fanning Watson - 1857]. In the same book, at a Court of 3rd April 1678 at Schuylkill: "Benjamin Goodman, a servant to Oele Swenson, Prays his freedom, alleging his master says he has longer to serve. The indenture is ordered, and it being said to be lost, the Court adjudges that he ought to be free". Could this be the Benjamin reprieved to the Colonies? |
| The obvious and still unanswered question of the huge discrepancy in dates between when Benjamin Goodman, supposedly b ca 1739 in Bedfordshire, was reprieved to Barbados and christening of son Samuel in 1701, and son Robert, clearly younger than Samuel and Benjamin Jr., since he doesn't appear in any processioning until several years after Samuel and Benjamin. Did he really have these three sons at age 60+, and live to the ripe old age of 96 (1735-1639)? Possible, but unlikely for those hard times. |
I know it is hard to give it up after so many years of general acceptance, but the long recited mantra that the Benjamin Goodman whose will was probated in Hanover Co. in 1735 was the same one born 1639 and reprieved to Barbados in 1672, and who magically appears in Maryland in 1674 is pretty hard for me to swallow, primarily because of the dates. They just don't make sense. Unless someone has specific documentation I haven't seen or heard of, this whole assumption needs to be properly labeled what it is: Conjecture, and improbable at that.
On the other hand, the Robert Goodman transported to Virginia about 1762, and pretty definitely directly into New Kent County based on the records, would probably have had multiple sons and possibly grandsons by 1700. So, at this point, I would definitely put my money on that Robert Goodman being the emigrant ancestor of at least some of the later New Kent / Hanover Virginia Goodmans, rather than, or in addition to, descendants of the Benjamin Goodman born in 1639.
