Hello Jan, I am responding to your request for information from Michigan genealogy. There are a couple transcription errors that I noticed when I reviewed the 1900 census, John's birth year should probably be 1866. He was located in Detroit, but his age was transcribed as age 14. John was naturalized, so you can order his records. He immigrated in 1879 or 1880...different on two censuses. I found one family with John W. listed, the correct age and year of immigration from one census record. Also, in comparing the different census information, Mary is another person because the ages are different and where she was born in Ohio is different from wife #1. I will send the file from the 1900 census to you. It appears from the census that John married wife #1 between 1888 -1889. I located this marriage below in Madison, Ohio which may or may not be correct because of the first name, Clara..but she might have been called by her middle name. I did not see a marriage listed for John in the Michigan DiBean records, but I might have missed it. Goodson John W. Harbage Clara Feb 9 1888 http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/madison/vitals/marriages/marriage15mb.txt May I suggest that you try using the free National Search engine for marriages in the surrounding states of Michigan as well as checking the Michigan records again. Search for Goodson in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, New York, and Ontario, Canada. On the Michigan Gen Web, you can can check the Dibean records for his marriage. Access to the records is found on the following URL. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsearch.htm Ontario, Canada Marriage Registrations. This is a good resource for Michigan people as many people came from Canada to Michigan as well as others going to Canada to marry. I believe you can search by year and/or name. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maryc/thisisit.htm 1900 > MICHIGAN > WAYNE > 1-WD DETROIT Series: T623 Roll: 747 Page: 129 Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year GOODSON JOHN W 14 M W ENGL MI WAYNE 1-WD DETROIT 1900 June 1st and 2nd 1900 Living on Milwaukee Avenue 151 7 7 Goodson, John W. Head July 1886 33 Married 11 yrs Eng Eng Eng Imm 1879 21 yrs in US Naturalized Lawyer Owns home Dilla or Filla M. wife Aug 1868 31 Married 11 yrs 2 kids/2 living Michigan Canada/Eng Michigan Florence G. daughter Feb 1890 10 single Michigan England Michigan Lyla G. Daughter July 1891 8 single Michigan England Michigan Maskill Mary Boarder Feb 1823 77 Widowed 3 kids/1 living England Eng Eng Imm 1831 69 yrs in US GOODSON JOHN W 43 M W ENGL MI WAYNE 2-WD DETROIT 1910 April 21, 1910 Living on Second Avenue 544 104 142 Goodson, John W. Head 43 (1867) Married 1 - 21 yrs Eng Eng Eng 1879 Fella or Filla or Tilla M. 44 (1866) Michigan 2/2 Married 1 - 21 yrs (1889) Michigan Canada Eng Florence daughter 20 Michigan Engl Michigan Lyla Z.? 18 Michigan Eng/ Can Michigan 1920 > MICHIGAN > WAYNE > 17-WD DETROIT Series: T625 Roll: 816 Page: 41 Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year GOODSON JOHN W 53 M W ENGL MI WAYNE 17-WD DETROIT 1920 Feb. 2, 1920 294 145 141 Goodson John W Head 53 (1867) Married 1880 Na 1893 Eng Eng Eng Attorney Mary wife 47 (b 1873) Ohio Germany Germany don't know John's father's name, but this listing might be John or perhaps his father. It was the only Goodson listed in the Detroit directory and it was published the year he immigrated according to one census record. Detroit city directory for 1879 : embracing a complete alphabetical list of business firms and private citizens, a directory of the city and county officers, churches, public and private schools, benevolent, literary, and other associations, banks and incorporated institutions : to which is added a complete classified business directory of Detroit Detroit: J.W. Weeks & Co., 1879, 922 pgs. "Goodson, John, teamster Towar Bros, home 34 Jones" Heritage Quest on line http://www.rootsweb.com/~miwayne/ The free BMD (Births, Marriages, Deaths) Listing for the UK showed the following. They are listed by quarters. So Sept. would include birthdays from July - September. You probably already know which district the family lived in. Many countries/people used the christening date as the birth date so the dates and years can be a couple years off. Births Sep 1866 (>99%) Surname Given Name District Volume Page Goodson John W T Caistor 7a 569 Births Sep 1867 (>99%) Surname Given Name District Volume Page Goodson John William Stockton 10a 73 http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl Immigration Information April 1880 Ship Bothnia JOHN B. GOODSON ENGINEER 42 M 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA ELIZABETH GOODSON WIFE 44 F 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA ***JOHN W. GOODSON LABORER 13 M 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA (Note= b 1867) ARTHUR C. GOODSON CHILD, YOUNGSTER 12 M 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA ALBERT E. GOODSON CHILD, YOUNGSTER 9 M 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA GETRUDE ELIZABETH GOODSON CHILD, YOUNGSTER 7 F 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA WALTER W. GOODSON CHILD, YOUNGSTER 5 M 22 Apr 1880 GREAT BRITAIN BOTHNIA http://www.castlegarden.org I hope some of this information pans out for you. If I can help you further, please send an email to me. Karen