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GOODWIN Family History, Part II

Thomas GOODWIN (1849)

131. Thomas Goodwin was born in Kilbirnie, Strathclyde, Scotland, on September 5, 1849. He died months later and was buried in Kilbirnie.

James William GOODWIN (1851)

132. James William Goodwin was born in Ayrshire, Strathclyde, Scotland, on March 17, 1851. He died six months later while en route to American in September 1851. He was buried at sea just before arriving in New York.

Elizabeth (GOODWIN) GOSS³ (1852-1942)

133. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Goodwin³ was born August 12, 1852, in Bear Gap, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, the first child to survive beyond infancy. She was apparently named after her paternal grandmother back in Scotland and perhaps her aunt who lived nearby in Pennsylvania coal mining country. When she was a little girl her family moved to Coulterville, Mariposa County, California during the Gold Rush. Lizzie married Andrew Goss, a Swedish immigrant, on May 3, 1868, apparently just days before she gave birth to their first son. She was only 15 years old, he was 28. Together they had six sons:

Continue on to Goss Family History

Four Generations, c. 1941
Left to right: Benjamin and Gayle, Alice, Elizabeth and Judy, Lloyd, and Will.

Elizabeth and her husband divorced about 1886. After the divorce, Andrew and Elizabeth split the estate. Andrew's half eventually became his son James Albert's, who later turned it over to his youngest daughter Bussie. When Bussie moved to Oakdale, she sold it to her niece Billy.

Elizabeth and youngest son Jess moved to Tuolumne, Tuolumne County, before 1900 where she was a hotel keeper with as many as 14 boarders.^{[Cen 1900]} She ended up defaulting on the taxes of the Coulterville property and the estate was bought out by a local cattle rancher, Tim Carlon. Later Carlon sold the property to the Merced Gold Mining Company from whom granddaughter, Ila Goss-Barrett bought it. Ila later sold the property to her daughter Billy so that now much of the original homestead remains in Billy's hands.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Goodwin) Goss died on June 2, 1942, at her son James' home in Coulterville. She was 89 years old and outlived all her younger siblings. Elizabeth is buried at the Coulterville Cemetery.

Martha Jane (GOODWIN) WAGNER (1854-1885)

134. Martha Jane Goodwin was born either April 11 or September 7, 1854, in Bear Gap, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. She moved with her parents to Coulterville, Mariposa County, California, during the Gold Rush and married Charles Wagner, an immigrant from Rittershoffen, Alsace, France. Jane and Charles married on June 13, 1872, in Coulterville and had seven children before her early death in 1885:

Martha Jane and Charles were married in Coulterville on June 13, 1872, by B. F. Morris, Justice of the Peace. Martha Jane was 18 years old and Charles was 34.^{[Mar 1872]}

Charles had moved to Coulterville in 1872, but had already been living in California as many as ten years, according to his daughter Marguerite on his certificate of death.^{[Dth 1915]} A year prior, his homeland of Alsace fell to Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and was annexed by the newly formed German Empire in 1871. Charles spoke French.^{[Cen 1910]}

The Wagners tragically lost three children between 1883 and 1884; and two months later Martha Jane (Goodwin) Wagner died on March 1, 1885, at the young age of 30. She is buried at the Coulterville Cemetery.

After Martha's death, Charles continued to farm in Red Cloud Precint (Greeley Hill), along with daughters Marguerite and Carrie, Carrie's daughter Violet, and with help from Martha's nephew Jess Goss. A 51-year-old boarder, George M. Wagner from Pennsylvania (whose relationship, if any, is not yet known) also worked the farm.^{[Cen 1900]}

By 1910, a hired man named Francis M. Owen lived and worked on the Wagner farm.^{[Cen 1910]}

Charles Wagner died in Coulterville on January 12, 1915, of "presumably heart failure from old age". He was 76 years old. Charles was also buried at the Coulterville Cemetery on January 15.^{[Dth 1915]}

John Charles GOODWIN (1857-1876)

135. John Charles Goodwin was born April 9, 1857, in either Pennsylvania^{[Cen 1870]} or the Mother Lode of California. He was likely named for his uncle.

John Charles Goodwin died at the age of in September 19, 1876, in Coulterville, Mariposa County and is buried there at the Coulterville Cemetery.

Maggie (GOODWIN) WIBLE^Δ (~1860-1899)

136. Maggie Goodwin^Δ was born in the Mother Lode of California in 1860 or 1861. She married Charles Phillip Wible from Straban Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, on March 16, 1898, but died the following year after giving birth to their only daughter:

Maggie and Charles were married by the Rev. Alfred H. Croco on March 16, 1898, in Sonora, Tuolumne County, California. Both were living in San Mateo at the time.^{[Mar 1898, News 1898]} Charles was described as 5' 8½" tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes, and black hair.^{[Vote 1892]}

Maggie (Goodwin) Wible tragically died the day after her daughter's birth on November 3, 1899, in San Francisco. She was about 38 years old and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco.

Shortly after Maggie's death, Charles stayed a while in the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Mateo County^{[Cen 1900]} and perhaps in Suisun, Solano County^{[Vote 1902]}, before moving south to Brawley, Imperial County, California, near the Mexico border, by about 1908. There he ran orange groves through at least 1926.^{[Cen 1910-1920, Vote 1926]} Charles remarried to Flora May Cook, a native of Ohio, and moved to 964 Larrabee Street in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, by 1930^{[Cen 1930]}. Within two years they moved again to 4307 Woodlawn Avenue in Los Angeles by 1932.^{[Vote 1932]}

Their daughter Marguerite was raised by Maggie's nieces, the Wagner sisters, primarily Maggie May Wagner. Charles and Marguerite traveled back to Charles's hometown near Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, to visit his brothers, George and David, in July 1936.^{[News 1936]}

Charles P(hillip) Wible died about 1941 or 1942; however, Flora was enumerated as a widower in 1940, living alone at 53 West Market Street in Long Beach^{[Cen 1940]}. Charles would have been about 82 years old.

After Charles' death, Flora moved to 1394 Rose Avenue in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, by 1946.^{[Vote 1946]} Within two years she moved two blocks south to 1116-2 Gardenia Avenue.^{[Vote 1948, Cen 1950]}

Flora May (Cook) Wible died in Los Angeles County on January 17, 1965. She was 92 years old.

George Thomas GOODWIN (1861-1920)

137. George Thomas Goodwin was born in March, 1861 or 1862, in Coulterville, Mariposa County, California. He first married Julia about 1885 or 1886 but divorced in late 1901. George remarried to woman who may have been surnamed Matson around 1904 or 1905. She and George had at least one daughter:

George worked as a restaurant keeper in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California with his wife Julia, in 1900^{[Cen 1900, Vote 1900]}.

Then came 1901--a very tough year for the Goodwins. In the early Friday morning of July 5, 1901, tragedy stuck when a fire that started near their restaurant destroyed four buildings along 10th Street in Modesto. This came only five months after George advertised his new renovated restaurant and he had underwent electric bath treatment for nervous prostration! Fortunately, barely two weeks later George was able to reopen the restaurant in the Braun Building on 10th and H Streets:

Having recovered from one tragedy, the Goodwins befell more misfortune and Julia filed for divorce from George, citing "extreme cruelty".

George reopened his restaurant again by October 1902, but in 1904 (about the time that George remarried), George was noted in Jacksonville, Tuolumne County^{[Vote 1904]}, then in Jamestown East^{[Vote 1906]}. In 1910 he was enumerated twice as a boarding house cook in Township 5 (probably the town of Tuolumne) in Tuolumne County. In both he was noted as having been married twice, and in one his second marriage was recorded as having lasted five years^{[Cen 1910B]}. Voter registrations then and thereafter show that George lived in the areas of Carter's South and Tuolumne East in Tuolumne^{[Vote 1910-1918]}.

George Goodwin died at the age of 58 on March 15, 1920, in Tuolumne, Tuolumne County. He was buried in Carter's Cemetery in Tuolumne on March 17.^[Grave]

James (Norman) William GOODWIN (1864-1935)

138. James (Norman) William Goodwin was born in October 1864 in Coulterville, Mariposa County, California. He married Florence J. Stephenson on September 9, 1891, in Merced County. They had two daughters:

In 1900, James worked as a miner about 100 miles north at Foster Bar in the foothills of Yuba County while his wife lived with her parents in Stockton.^{[Cen 1900]}

The Goodwins lived together at 317 Buchanan Steet in Coalinga, Fresno County, California by 1910.^{[Cen 1910]}

Florence J. (Stephenson) Goodwin died in the 1910s. She was likely in her 40s.^{[Cen 1920]}

After Florence's death, James' daughter Shirley continued to live at home with him at 1136 North Ophir Street in Stockton through at least 1920.^{[Cen 1920]}

James remarried to Modest E. (Ross Bailey) Harlow by 1930. She had been married twice and had a least one grown daughter. They continued to live at 1136 North Ophir Street in Stockton^{[Cen 1930]}

James William Goodwin died in 1935 in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California. He was about 70 years old.

After James' death, Modest move to Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, where she lived with her elder sister Pinke Perry Ross.^{[Cen 1940]}

Modest E. (Ross) Goodwin died on February 27, 1945, at County Hospital in Ellensburg, Kittitas County, Washington. She was 75 years old and had been living in nearby Thorp. Modest was cremated and buried in Thorp Cemetery alongside her mother and sister Pinke.^{[Dth 1945, Grave]}

John Maurice GOODWIN, Sr. (~1848-1901)

141. John Maurice Goodwin, Sr. was born May 1, 1848/1849, in Kilbirnie, Scotland. He emigrated as a child with his father John Sr., first to Pennsylvania and later to California and Arizona. He married Margaret M. (Bürkbüchler) Bigler, a 19-year-old native of Apple Creek, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, on June 22, 1873, in Bear Valley, Mariposa County and had at least seven children:

Bigler Family

Margaret Bigler was the daughter of Hessen immigrants Joseph Bürkbüchler/Bigler and Margaret Kestor/Castor. Margaret was the second of three children. She and her older sister, Elizabeth Maria Bigler were born in Apple Creek, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. The family left Missouri in 1854 and settled in Bear Valley, Mariposa County, California. Margaret's mother is claimed to have been the first white woman to live in Bear Valley. Their younger brother, Henry Joseph, was born there on April 10, 1858, a few months after their father's death by gun shot in late 1857. Margaret's mother remarried to Maurice Newman by 1860 and had two more children, Emily Anna and Maurice Emil Newman.

The first three children were born in Bear Valley. By 1880 John likely followed his father east over the Sierra Nevada mountains to Bodie in Mono County. His family stayed behind in Bear Valley.^{[Cen 1880]} About 1880 they followed John's father and brother south into Arizona to the copper and silver mining region of the Upper Verde valley of Yavapai County, Arizona, where son Joseph is believed to have been born at Peck Mine. There John served as a judge.

In the second half of the 1880s the Goodwins moved back to California and settled for a time in Calico, outside of Barstow in San Bernardino County, where the twins were born. In 1892 John was elected as County Recorder for San Bernardino County.

After John's father died, he inherited his father's estate in the Upper Verde valley in Yavapai County, Arizona, on October 14, 1896, and lived there until at least 1900^{[Cen 1900]}. John later sold the estate and moved to Kingman, Mohave County, Arizona, by 1901.

John Maurice Goodwin, Sr. died on July 30, 1901, in Kingman at the age of 53.

Margaret lived on another 27 years after John's death. By 1920 she was living with her widowed mother and half-sister Emily Newman in San Francisco at 333 7th Avenue, a block away from son Robert and his family who resided at 496 8th Avenue.^{[Cen 1920]}

Margaret M. (Bigler) Goodwin died in Oakland, Alameda County, California, on November 8, 1928. She was 74 years old and was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Mariposa, Mariposa County, California, along with her parents.

Thomas GOODWIN (~1850-)

142. Thomas Goodwin was born about 1850 in Scotland. At the age of 20 he was working at mill in Township 2, Mariposa County, California, and living with a James Pittiler^{[Cen 1870]}. By 1880 he moved to Yavapai County, Arizona, with his father, where they worked as stockraisers^{[Cen 1880]}.

Frank GOODWIN

143. Frank Goodwin was possibly another son of John Goodwin, Sr. He married Mary Wingfield on April 10, 1879, in Arizona. Both were living in Verde Valley, presumably in Yavapai County.

Continue on to
Goodwin Family History, Part III