Mr.
W. B. Miller of Fort Bayard, New Mexico, wrote Mrs. Janet N. Walden of
Chula Vista, Calif.,
for the Revolutionary War record of our ancestor, Joseph Goddard. Mrs.
Walden turned
the job over to me, who in turn shifted it onto our mutual friend,
Benj. C. Waldenmaier
of Washington, D. C., who has done an admirable job and will receive
the blessings
of a thousand descendants.
In
order to follow the record, a brief history of the entry of the
Goddards to America, as handed down by "word of mouth", will be
necessary:
Two
little boys, John and Joseph Goddard lived with their father and
stepmother in an English
seaport town. One day the stepmother took the two boys on board a ship,
ostensibly,
to show it to them. While the Captain was showing them over the ship
they discovered
it had left shore and was under way. They cried to be allowed to
return, but the Captain
whipped them. They were taken to Virginia and bound out till they were
twenty-one, (some said sold.)
Later
one of the boys married the daughter of a French Protest and who had
suffered martyrdom
for adherence to his faith. To this union born two sons, John and
Joseph (this Joseph
is our subject) and three daughters who later became Mrs. Susan Pitts,
Mrs. Grace Quantance
and Mrs. Sarah Plummer.
Joseph
Goddard married Frances Glasscock in 1780. After the war he and his
father and their
families immigrated to Fleming County, Kentucky, where they bought
farms and remained
through life. The sisters married and settled down in the same county.
So now I'll turn
you over to Ben.
Washington,
D.C., October 31st, 1835
Dear
Mr. Patton - Herewith you will find an abstract of the records of your
ancestor Joseph Goddard.
It is interesting and I really enjoyed digging it all out of old musty
records. It is indeed
a record to be proud of. I congratulate you, all.
I
hope this finds you all reasonably OK - Sincerely, Benj. C.
Waldenmaier, 1835 Mintwood Place.
Joseph
Goddard, born Septembe 27th, 1761. Frances
Glasscock (his wife) born September
30th, 1762. Married September 20th,
1780. Their children were:
William, born Oct. 17, 1781, married Judith Greenwood. John, born March
12,
1783, moved to Iowa, probably to Troy, Davis County. Abbot, born May
28, 1765, married Fannie Lewis. Mollie (Polly and Mary) born March 12,
1787, married
Elisha Berry. Jesse, born February 5, 1789, married Rebecca Hill,
second Nancy Edmonton.
Benjamin, born July 27, 1791, married Nancy Ringo. Richard , born
December 12, 1793,
married Sarah Moss. Leanner, born January 16, 1796, married James
Cookson. Frances P.
born October 19. 1799, married Joseph Malin. Sarah, born March 20,
1802, married
Joshua Smithson. Grace Q. born March 25,1905, married James Cole. Fanny
Lewis, born
January 28. 1807, married Wm. Northcott.
Jesse
Goddard, born February 5, 1789. Rebecca Hill his first wife died
February 17, 1845, aged
57 years, 6 months and 17 days. Lenora P., born July 10, 1810. Cynthia
T. born January
12, 1812. William B. born November 8, 1813. Joseph Hill, born September
7, 1815. Richard
T. born November 9, 1817. Nothan S., born November 234, 1820. Rebecca
Ann born
November 17, 1823.
Kerrella D., born February 1, 1825. John A. born
February 20, 1827.
Second wife, Nancy Edmonton, born 1809, married June 16th,
1845. Jeremiah C., born June 11, 1846. Mary
Jane, born May 17, 1847. James F. born June 24, 1848. Martha Ellen born
April 14, 1850.
Sarah Marie born April 29, 1851.
Revolutionary
soldiers were not provided with enlistment and discharge papers as is
now the
custom. About all the data concerning them is taken from Roll Books.
These items have been
transcribed on separate pieces of paper about 3 by 8 inches and are
placed in an envelope
jacket with the name of the soldier on the jacket. These are indexed.
At
the Old Records Division the index showed two Joseph Goddards,
Revolutionary soldier from Virginia. One of the jackets was empty and
the
notation indicated the two names were of one and the same
individual.
The other jacket had a number of slips showing mostly payments of money he
received. The
first entry however was enlistment as a private November 19, 1776 in
Thos. Blackwell's
Co., 10th Regular Continental Troops,
commanded by Col. Edward Stevens, later command of Maj. Samuel Hawes.
There
was an entry from Valley Forge showing he was there from March 1778 to
April 1778 also
an entry from White Plains, August 3rd, 1778. On
September 7, 1778
he was made a Corporal.
There were entries showing him at Camp Robertson, October 5, 1778; Camp
Middlebrook,
October 1778' Camp, Rasmipaw, Oct., 1778. The last record was dated
Oct., 1st, 1779. It was not legible in
the copyists handwriting as these copies were made years ago, before
typewriting
machines were used. No other records.
This
looks to me like the ancestor you want to know about. The tradition in
your family that he
was in the battle of Brandywine is in agreement with the Valley Forge
entry, as both locations
are within a few miles of Philadelphia.
The
records available do not show any age, place of birth or residence, but
the file jackets were
with the Virginia veterans files. That he was from Virginia is sure.
Also, that there was
no other Joseph Goddard from Virginia in the list of names of
Revolutionary soldiers.
An
act approved March 1st, 1790 provided for the
enumeration of the
inhabitants of the United
States. The scattered and spares population in most outlying districts
of the original states
made it difficult to obtain data. But there was moreover other
difficulties of very serious moment in 1790, the inhabitants having no
experience with census taking, imagined that some schemes for
increasing taxation was involved and were inclined to be cautious lest
they should reveal too
much of their own affairs.
There
was also opposition to enumeration on religious grounds, this being
regarded as contrary
to divine pleasures.
The
original schedules of the first census, 1790 are now contained in 26
bound volumes, preserved
in the census office at Washington D.C.
For
the most part the headings in the original schedules were written by
hand. Indeed up to and
including 1820., the Assistant Marshals generally used for the
schedules such paper as they happened to have; ruling it, writing in
the
headings and binding the sheets together themselves. In some cases
merchants account paper was used, and now then the schedules were bound
in wallpaper. As a
consequence of requirin Marshals to supply their own blanks, the
volumes containing the
schedules vary in size from about 7 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1/2
inch thick, to 21
inches long, 14 inches wide, 6 inches thick. Some of the sheets in
these volumes are only 4
inches long, but a few are 3 feet in length, necessitating several
folds.
The
results for the states of Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey,
Tennessee and were
destroyed by the British when they fired the Capitol in Washington
during the War of 1812.
For
several of the states for which the original schedules are lacking, the
names of heads of
families have been obtained from tax lists in the respective counties.
From a volume of lists
of heads of families taken from enumeration records and tax records
between 1782 and
1785 for the state of Virginia, but 39 counties are given, 41 counties
are missing.
I
examined the above volume and find not a single name of Goddard but
there appears:
Name
County Family
Abraham
Glasscock Glouchester 6
Issac
Glasscock Glouchester 6
William
Glasscock Frederick 6
William
Glasscock Halifax 6
Estate
22 colored
Zach
Glasscock Mecklenburg 8 white
1
colored
The
census records for Kentucky before 1810 are lost, probably all burned
with the Capitol fire
in 1814. The census schedules for 1810 for Kentucky have all been
photographed and it is these bound nealy into volumes that are passed
out for inspection.
The
data given herewith, I have copied from these pages. The order in which
the names appear
is without meaning. The ages of dependents are very confusing until
knows that apprentices,
maid servants, hired hands, brothers, sisters, boarders and in-laws are
listed as
dependents. (See Spreadsheet document called Goddard1810 is the table
listed in the news
article.)
Most
of these Goddards are undoubtedly the ones you are seeking. All are
very probably relatives.
The two John Goddard sons are very likely cousins and as these names
are found several
pages separated they lived in different parts of Fleming County.
The
name Glasscock may or may not be a relatives but I found it so included
it in the list for
your inspection.
The
record indicates that Jesse Goddard had a free negro hired hand. There
were no slaves listed
with a Goddard.
The
applications for pensions are the best source of information on
Veterans of the Revolution
and War of 1812. The veteran made affidavit to facts concerning himself
that are
not to be found in his military record and often nowhere else. I went
to the office where these old pension papers are preserved and asked if
they had any file as to Joseph Goddard, Revolutionary Veteran or his
widow Francis
Glasscock Goddard? There was such a file. Here is the summary of
the contents of the file wrapper:
August
9th, 1823 Fleming County,
Kentucky.
Joseph
Goddard appeared to answer to an affidavit to take advantage of an act
of Congress passed
June 7, 1832 for a pension for Revolutionary War soldiers. He was born
September 27th, 1761 (place not given.) He
enlisted in Army of the Va., January 16th, 1777,
where he then resided, serverd in 10th Virginia
in Continental
Regiment under Col. Edward Stephens (not difference in spelling
from War Dept. record) in Thos. Blackwells Company. He was in the
Battle of Brandywine, 11th of September 1777 as
a
private. Later made a Corporal, served until Dec. 1778. The command was
later
reduced and called the 6th, then under Co. John
Green in Company of
Capt. James Williams. He was at Camp Middlebrook, N.J., in December
1778. He re-enlisted
under ----- Nichols, Major in the 10th Regiment.
Other officers named among them,
Samuel Hawes. He was furloughed a few days before Christmas 1778 to
visit his
home in Virginian that he substituted a man named Harris to serve for
him. Later he
(Goddard) returned to his Company in Middlebrook, N.J. and served until
the expiration of his
enlistment September 1779 and was discharged but says his papers were
lost. (I think he
never was given any discharge). He says he was in the Battle of
Monmouth, also Stony Point
under General Wayne.
His
signature is very well written indeed.
This
affidavit and the character of Joseph Goddard attested to by A. G.
Houston of Fleming County,
Ky., August 1832.
Another
affidavit made by John rust as to character and truthfulness of Joseph
Goddard.
And
affidavit made September 1844 states that Joseph Goddard died in
Fleming county, Key,
June 28th, 1844 and that Francis
Goddard was his widow and now applying for a widow's pension.
This
pension seems not have been granted as she died in 1845.
Joseph
Goddard received a pension of $80 per year, which was increased to $85
per year December
18th, 1845. (These dates with his
death are in conflict, and can be explained by very slow mail an
dilatory
pension officers.
This
affidavit for pension made by Francis Goddard made March 22nd,
1845 before Jonathan Froman, Justice of the Peace,
says she was too aged and feeable to go to court to make the affidavit.
It states she was
married to Joseph Goddard, September 20th, 1780
in Tanquier Co., Va., and that shortly
after her husband's death she went with a son to Indiana and has since
resided there. Signed X
her mark. Jonathan Froman's signature is attested by Edward Patton,
Clerk Court,
Switzerland County, Indiana. There were other affidavits from persons
in Fleming County, who knew
her there. There was arrears of pension due Joseph Goddard, not pail
until after the
widow's death. For this Sarah Smithson qualified to receive the money
for the heirs. Her
signature was very well written. Attested to by Zadig Rous and his
signature attested by Ira
Malin, Clerk Court."
B.
C. W.