See also
| Husband: | William + GOODRICH (1545-1631) | |
| Wife: | Margaret + RICHARDSON (1549-1630) | |
| Children: | John + GOODRICH (1587-1632) | |
| William GOODRICH (c. 1590- ) | ||
| Elizabeth GOODRICH (c. 1592- ) | ||
| Susan GOODRICH (c. 1594- ) | ||
| Marriage | 1568 | Felsham, England |
| Name: | William + GOODRICH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Richard + GOODRICH (1520-1581) | |
| Mother: | Clare + NORTON (1528-1596) | |
| Birth | 1545 | Suffolk, England |
| Death | 24 Oct 1631 (age 85-86) | Bury St. Edmunds, England |
| Name: | Margaret + RICHARDSON | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 1549 | Suffolk, England |
| Death | 22 Mar 1630 (age 80-81) | Hessett, Suffolk, England |
| Name: | John + GOODRICH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Spouse: | Margerie + HOWE (1588-1632) | |
| Birth | 1587 | Bury, Sussex, England |
| Death | 19 Apr 1632 (age 44-45) | Suffolk, England |
| Burial | 21 Apr 1632 | St. Mary's Parish |
| Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, England | ||
| Name: | William GOODRICH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1590 (est) | |
| Name: | Elizabeth GOODRICH | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Birth | 1592 (est) | |
| Name: | Susan GOODRICH | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Birth | 1594 (est) | |
The basis of the brothers John and Ens. William Goodrich, who immigrated from England and settled at Wethersfield, Conn. by the mid-1640s, was first published in 1889 by Lafayette Wallace Case in "The Goodrich Family in Amercia." In 1953 Vol. II of "The Ancestry of Col. John Harrington Stevens, and his wife Frances Helen Miller," or Stevens-Miller for short, was published by Winifred Lovering Holman on behalf of her deceased mother, Mary Lovering Holman. This work contains further evidence and records concerning the Goodrich family of Bury St. Edmunds not included by Case in 1889. These two works are incorporated in the following presentation.
William Goodrich of Hessett in Suffolk, England is the documented beginning of what is known about the Wethersfield, Conn. Goodrich family. William had a wife Margaret. Stevens-Miller cites a marriage of a William Goodrich and Margaret Richardson at Felsham in 1568 from the Suffolk Marriage Index at Ipswich, and suggests this was probably the marriage of William Goodrich of Hessett. "It must be from a transcript as the earliest extant register of Felsham begins in 1656." There is no proof that this was the marriage of the Wethersfield Goodrich's grandparents. Although Felsham is the parish town just south of Hessett, the memorialist choses not to endorse the Steven-Miller conclusion.
One basis of the Stevens-Miller work needs to be corrected. This was the assumed reason why baptism records for some of the descendant family in England could not be located. Stevens-Miller more than once repeats the theme that "he was probably born in his mother's parish and if so, the law compelled his baptism there." At the time Anglican Church law required a family to attend and support the parish church where they lived, and the children to be baptized where the parents resided. Where the mother was born had nothing to do with where a child was to be baptized.
William Goodrich's wife Margaret was buried at Hessett on Mar. 22, 1630/1. Seven months later William Goodrich d. testate and was buried at Hessett on Oct. 24, 1631. [1631, "Sepulti, Guglielmus Gotheridge vicesimo quarto Octobris."] He left the following abstracted will dated Apr. 4, 1631, proved Feb. 2, 1631/2 at the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury:
• To son John Gooderich, all his houses, lands, and tenements at Hessett (spelled Hegessett in the will), both freehold and copyhold, and he to pay or render to William's other children, namely:
• to William's son William Gooderich, £16 [£4 within one year, the balance within seven years];
• to William's dau. Elizabeth Clarke, wife of Philip Clarke, £8 [£4 within two years, the balance within five years];
• to William's dau. Susan Beamond, wife of John Beamond, £8 [£4 within three years, the balance within six years].
• if son John did not pay his three siblings their legacies, then William's other children not fully paid "maie enter into all the said howses and hereditaments and the same to occupie Untill he or they shalbe fully satisfied."
• Son John Gooderich to be executor of the will.
• Witnessed by John Whyte, John Bateley and John Tapley.1
| 1 | "Find a Grave". |