Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

GODING This family is of English lineage. Though the ancestry of the first emigrant to America has not been traced in the mother country, yet there is some reason to suppose he was from the county of Kent. The surname, a corruption apparently of the Anglo-Saxon Godwin, may be rendered "a friend of God." Its varying forms as found in the records of the seventeeth century are Godding, Godden, Godyn, Goddin, Goddyn and Gauden. (I) Henry Goding was master of the ship "Abigali," which in 1628 brought Governor Endicott and his colony to Salem. His name occurs the following year on the records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in connection with payment for freight carried by his vessel; but whom he married, or whether, indeed he ever became a permanent resident, is not known. His children were William and Henry. (II) Henry (2), son of Henry (1) Goding, was born in 1642, and April 7, 1663, married Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony and Elizabeth Beers; he died Oct. 13, 1720. His early life is unknown to the present day, other than that he learned the art of cloth weaving. The first appearance of his name in the colonial records is his marriage at Watertown, in 1663, and a few months later, Oct. 29, 1663, record is made of his having received from the town authorities remuneration for dressing Hugh Parson's leg. In 1667 he gave money for repairs on the town schoolhouse, and he with others is a defendant for allowing his cattle to graze over the range without paying the herdsman, and is ordered to pay his share to the selectmen. June 12, 1681, Widow Ruth Bloyce (also spelled Bloys and Bloice), dau. of Hugh Parsons, granted him land formerly belonging to her father, taking up a permanent residence with his family, and remaining there until her death; this land consisted of four acres, and July 19, 1698, the town voted that this land should be legally confirmed to him or his heirs by the town within a year after the death of Widow Bloyce. Three years before his death he sold these four acres for twenty-five pounds. His wife's death preceded his own. Children: Timothy, born May 8, 1664; died unmarried, 1723. Elizabeth, born Nov. 8, 1667, married John Morse Jr., and had no children. Henry, see below. (III) Henry, second and younger son of Henry (2) and Elizabeth (Beers) Goding, was born in 1669 in Watertown, Mass., and died in 1746. He leased the four acres which had belonged to his father, and after occupying same several years, purchased them for fifty pounds, receiving deed thereto May 10, 1728. He appears from his will to have accumulated considerable property, which he bequeathed to his children. The only office we find record of his holding was that of tithingman, to which he was chosen in 1724. March 26, 1701, he married Mary Pease, of Cambridge. Children: 1. Mary, born Oct. 18, 1701. 2. William. 3. Henry, born Oct. 28, 1704; married Elizabeth Holden. 4. Samuel, baptized March 16, 1706; married Mary Boyce. 5. Elizabeth, baptized June 23, 1708; married John Batherick. 6. Thomas, baptized Oct. 1, 1710, probably died young, as he is not mentioned in his father's will. 7. Abigail, born 1713; became Mrs. Wheeler. 8. John, baptized Sept. 18, 1715. 9. Hannah, baptized May 20, 1716; married Isaac Child. 10. Dorothy, baptized Oct. 20, 1717; married John Gleason. (IV) William, eldest son of Henry and Mary (Pease) Goding, was born April 24, 1703. He lived in Watertown, where he owned at least two separate tracts of land which he sold in 1752 and in 1761. He was assessed in Medford in 1728, and therefore must have onwed some property there. The Watertown records mention his election as fence-viewer in 1743, and in 1749 his loss of three children by diphtheria. He married (first) 1731, Martha, daughter of Peter and Rebecca Spooner, b. March 6, 1715, died July 1, 1749, and (second) Oct. 8, 1753, Mercy, widow of Daniel Stearns, who died in 1767. Children, all by 1st marriage: 1. Martha, born June 30, 1732; married Daniel Peirce, of Waltham, Mass. 2. Rebecca, born July 19, 1734, died Sept. 22, 1749. 3. William. 4. Jonathan Coolidge, born Jan. 31, 1739; married Hannah Larned. 5. Joanna, born April 21, 1741, died July 5, 1749. 6. Peter, born July 29, 1744, died July 8, 1749. 7. Henry, born Nov. 13, 1746, died Sept. 8, 1749. 8. Spencer, born July 28, 1749. (V) William, eldest son of William and Martha (Spooner) Goding, was born Oct. 29, 1736, and spent his early life in Watertown. After his marriage he lived in Cambridge, where his first two children were born. In 1765 he became a resident of Newton, Mass. He enlisted at Boston in the French and Indian war, Nov. 28, 1755, and served until May 29, 1756, as a member of Capt, Thomas Cheever's company, from Watertown. During the revolutionary war he was in Capt. Joshua Reed's company, Col. Varnum's regiment, in 1775, and a few years later served in Rhode Island, in Capt. Stephen Frost's company, Col. How's regiment. He married, April 20, 1761, Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Mercy (Grant) Stearns. Children: 1. William. 2. Sarah, born June 13, 1763; married Seth I. Brown. 3. Rebecca, born Oct. 14, 1764; married Asa Moore. 4. Mercy, born July 14, 1766, died in infancy. 5. Mercy, born Oct. 14m 1768; married Rev. Joseph Adams, of Waltham. 6. Anna, born Aug. 2, 1770, died of consumption in youth. 7. Henry, born Sept. 10, 1772; married Eunice Shepard. (VI) William, eldest son of William and Sarah (Stearns) Goding, was born Dec. 27, 1761, and died June 15, 1848. In his youth he was apprenticed to a weaver of cloth who had a hand loom in his house, but this trade was distasteful to him, and as his mother lived near Harvard College and let rooms to students, he had an opportunity to associate with those who were gaining a higher education, and devoted his evenings to study with such application that he acquired a good education by his own efforts. He was gifted with a marvelous memory, and was able to memorize nearly the entire Bible. Until he reached the age of twenty-five he worked for various retail merchants. He then removed to Jay, Maine, where he built the first log house. He became a member of the Baptist church at North Livermore, Maine, in 1793. Having a natural gift in religious work, he was ordained in 1802 as an evangelist, and served for four years as pastor of the Baptist church in Wayne, Maine. He then accepted a call from the church at Acton, where he devoted twenty years of his life to self-sacrificing labor. In person he was a large man, an enthusiastic speaker, and since he exemplified in his own life what he preached, he won many converts to the faith he advocated. His later years were spent at Shapleigh, Maine. He married Hannah, daughter of John Walker, of Livermore, Maine, who died Feb. 13, 1846. Children, b. in Livermore: 1. Rebecca, born Feb. 26, 1788, died March 20, 1854, unmarried. 2. Luther. 3. Hannah Walker, born Nov. 8, 1793; married Rev. Atherton Clark. 4. Polly, born April 4, 1795, died in youth. 5. Sarah Pike, born May 14, 1797; married Elijah Morse. (VII) Luther, eldest son of William and Hannah (Walker) Goding, was born Dec. 16, 1791, and died Jan. 13, 1880. He received his early education in the schools of his native town. After the family removed to Acton, Maine, he became a successful vererinary surgeon, and gradually entered into pubilc life as a town officer. He served as tax collector and as deputy sheriff for several years. Holding the commission of justice of the peace, and occupying several positions of trust, he gave much time to the administration of estates, and was a valued adviser at sessions of the probate court. He represented his town in the state legislaure of 1861; and during the civil war was actively devoted to the interests of solduers' families, many of whom have reason to hold him in grateful remembrance. He married, Feb. 18, 1816, Abigail Hubbard. Children: 1. Hannah Walker, born Dec. 30, 1816; married Thomas G. Jamieson. 2. William, born Feb. 2, 1820; married Clara A. Morse. 3. Abigail Hubbard, born Feb. 23, 1822, died unmarried. 4. Luther Martin, born Feb. 21, 1824; married Draxey Brackett. 5. John Walker, born Sept. 19, 1827; married Elizabeh A. Ranlet. 6. Sarah Hubbard, born April 15, 1830; married George Gilman. 7. Richard Hubbard. 8. Mary Elizabeth, born Aug. 21, 1839; married George Clough. (VIII) Richard Hubbard, fourth and youngest son of Luther and Abigail (Hubbard) Goding, was born May 25, 1832, at Acton, where his youth was spent. Here, on reaching his majority, he held several town offices, but was chiefly engaged in farming. In 1864 he was elected sheriff of York county, and by successive re-elections served for six years. His duties led him to remove to Alfred, the shire town, where in 1871 he was chairman of the selectmen, and in 1872 represented the town in the state legislature. The same year he opened the Alfred House as a pubic hotel, and conducted it till his death, Aug. 20, 1879. The last two years of his life he was county treasurer. In his official positions he gained the respect of those associated with him; while as a private citizen his practical common sense and his kindly disposition won him many firm friends and caused his early death to be deeply regretted throughout the county. He married, Jan. 2, 1861, Dorcas J. Brackett. Children: 1. Sarah Elizabeth, who has been for several years assistant librarian of the Philadelphia Free Library, and has served as vice-president of the State Library Association. 2. Richard William, a graduate of Bowdoin College, with highest honors in 1888, of the Boston Univ. Law School in 1890, and whose brilliant career as a lawyer ws cut short by his death from tuberculosis at Denver, Colorado, May 5, 1896. 3. Edward Nathan. 4. Mary Abbie, who is children's librarian at the Philadelphia Free Library. 5. Alfred Luther, born Sept. 6, 1874; married, Aug. 14, 1891, Emma Whitten, and is engaged in farming at Alfred, Maine. (IX) Edward Nathan, second son of Richard Hubbard and Dorcas J. (Brackett) Goding, was born Nov. 4, 1870, at Alfred, Maine, where he received his early education in the public schools, completing his preparation for college at the Coburn Classical Institute at Waterville, Maine. He then entered Bowdoin College, where he graduated with honor in 1891. He at once began the study of law at Harvard University, and was admitted to the Suffolk county bar in 1894. Settling in Boston, by close attention to his chosen profession, he has won for himself a lucrative practice, and by his personal qualities the friendship and esteem of a large circle of friends both within and without the legal fraternity.