- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Goodwins of Hartford, Conn. - Descendants of William and Ozias Goodwin" compiled for James Junius Goodwin Hartford, Conn. published by Brown and Gross 1891 They arrived on the "Lion" 16 Sep 1632, which had sailed 22 Jun 1632 from England. Settled Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass. In 1635 removed to Connecticut and settled Newtown, now Hartford. Settled Hadley, Mass. in 1659. Elder William Goodwin fled from England to escape religious persecution in 1632. He came in the "Lion". He was ruling elder of the Braintree company at Mount Wollaston, Newton, MA, and was later at Hartford, CT, in 1635 or 1636, and afterwards at Hadley, MA. He was deputy to the General Court in 1634, and was a freeman 1632. He was a wealthy man. He was a founder of Hartford and Hadley and founded the Hopkins Grammar School at Hadley and built a grist mill to maintain it. In 1670 he was at Farmington. His name is on the Founder's Monument ar Hartford and he was ruling elder there and was elder at Hadley. He came from Braintree, Co. Essex, England. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The Memorial History of Hartford County Connecticut p.240 Others on the "Lion" were John Talcott, James Olmsted and William Wadsworth, also all original proprietors of Hartford. William became a freeman in Massachusetts 6 Nov 1632; deputy from Newtown (now Cambridge MA), 14 May 1634 and came to Hartford prob. in 1636, and was an original proprietor; his home-lot was on Main St., extending from the present Wadsworth St. to Arch St. he was a great man of influence in Church and State, and prominent in all the early transactions of the Hartford settlement; he purchased large tracts of land up the river, and was one of the agents of the town employed to purchase Farmington from the Indians. Gov. Hopkins appointed him one of the trustees of his will, and he therefore was one of those who had charge of establishing the Hopkins Grammar School. He was an ardent friend of Hooker, but after his death was deeply involved in the great dissention in the church at Hartford, and after several years of controversy "the Withdrawers" as they were called, under the leadership of Goodwin and Gov. John Webster, removed to Hadley (MA) in 1659. He was Ruling Elder of the church there, and remained there about ten years, then removed to Farmington, where he died 11 Mar 1673. p.277 The ecclesiastical organization known as the First Church of Hartford antedates by two or three years the settlement of the town. The earliest ascertainable date in its history is 11 Oct 1633, at which time the Rev. Thomas Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone were ordained respectively its pastor and teacher. William Goodwin had probably earlier been chosen ruling elder, and Andrew Warner, and one or more others, deacons. p. 279 Mr. Hooker died 7 Jul 1647, in an epidemical sickness, which prevailed throughout New England, at the age of sixty-one years, leaving behind him the memory of one of the best and greatest of men. Upon the death of Mr. Hooker various endeavors were made for a successor in the vacated office. The Rev. Jonathan Mitchell was invited to the pastorate in June 1649. With similar intent, at different periods later, the pulpit was supplied by Michael Wigglesworth occasionally in 1653 and 1654, by John Davis in 1655 and by John Cotton, son of the Boston minister in 1659. But the period covered by these years between Mr. Wigglesworth's and Mr. Cotton's services in Hartford is chiefly memorable for a quarrel in the church, led by Teacher Stone on the one side and by Elder William Goodwin on the other, and of which it seems probable that candidacy of Michael Wigglesworth was the provoking occasion. Into the perplexing and prolonged details of this controversy it is impossible here to enter. (See, for recently discovered papers in this controversy, the second volume of the COnnecticut Historical Society publications, pp.51-125; and for a general account of the affair, the History of the First Church in Hartford," pp. 146-175.) It must suffice to say that after the first recognizable point of difference, in Mr. Stone's refusal to allow the Church to vote on Mr. Wigglesworth's "fitnes for office in ye church of Hartford," and Mr. Goodwin's opposition to this restraint as an infringement of the rights of the brotherhood, the subsequent progress of the quarrel was attended by such incidents as these: the indignant resignation of his office by Teacher Stone, yet his resumption of his functions as if he had not resigned; the practical deposition from office of Ruling Elder Goodwin by the Church's choice of a "moderator;" the withdrawal of Mr. Goodwin and his party from the Church; successive ecclesiastical councils; days of humiliation and prayer appointed by the Passachusetts churches in the Hartford Church's behalf; repeated blundering attempts of the General Court to interpose, resulting in aggravation rather than healing of the strife; the final review and "determinatioon" of the matter by a council at Boston in September and October, 1659; the acceptance of the "sentence" by both parties, and the removel of Elder William Goodwin and most of his party to Hadley. The quarrel brought up many interesting questions of polity, but was to be deplored as centring, after all, in the personal element implied in the opposition of two able and excellent but obstinate men. ii 166. FARMINGTON by Noah Porter, D.D., President of Yale College. It was in 1640 that the township of Farmington began to be occupied by white settlers, principally inhabitants of Hartford. A few of these were members of the church which Thomas Hooker organized at Newtown (Cambridge), in Massachusetts, and a few years bofore had transferred to the valley of the Connecticut. ... The number of actual settlers at first was small, but it gradually increased, until in 1645 (Tunxis) received its present name, and became a taxable town, with "the like liberties as the other towns upon the river for making orders among themselves." Elder William Goodwin is listed as one of the original owners of house-lots. ii 273. ii 426. Complete Book of Emigrants (p. 102-103) 22 June 1632. names of men transported from London to New England to the plantation there per certificate from Captain Mason ("The Lion"), and have taken the oath of allegiance (Public Record office: E157/16, Chancey Lane, London, WC2A 1LR, England): William Wadsworth, John Tallcott, Joseph Roberts, John Coxsall, John Watson, Robert Shelley, William Heath, Richard Allis, Thomas Usfitt, Isack Murrill, John Witchfield, Jonathan Wade, Robert Bartlett, John Browne, John Churchman, Tobie Willet, William Curtis, Nicholas Clark, Daniell Brewer, John Beniamin, Richard Beniamin, William James, Thomas Carrington, William Goodwynn, John White, James Olmstedd, William Lewes, Zeth Graunt, Nathaniell Richards, Edward Ellmer, Edward Holmar, John Totman, Charles Glower. Source: rootsweb archives for 1992 ============================================================ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1992 21:47:03 GMT Submitted by: Don Weymouth <weymouth@bibus.ogo.dec.com>