Goodloe Genealogy

A plunge into the Goodloe gene pool, my grandmother Susie’s family.

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I was a year-and-a-half into this website before I started tackling our family history, starting with Sue’s Memory Book for Mom and Dad. At that time, I remembered seeing a thick book on Goodloe Genealogy at Mom and Dad’s house but I lost track of where it was. I tried contacting Leecy Barnett about it, but to no avail. I was reconciled to having only a sparse set of anecdotes and photos, no real sense of our family’s story beyond Mom and Dad’s parents.

A year later, in 2020, I stumbled upon the family album by Barb’s grandmother, Helen Fisher, which opened the door to generations of her history. Through compiling posts about her ancestors, I started to find more online family trees and resources, including a tree for the Goodloes, and started to incorporate more into this site.

In February, 2021, I found our copy of the Goodloe Genealogy, hiding in plain sight on one of the bookshelves in our living room — the forbidden room we rarely enter. The book of more than 450 pages was published in 1982 by Paul Miller Goodloe II, PhD. (Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, Library of Congress number 81-85541). Tucked inside were a handful of other notes and articles I’ve included in this post.

Herewith, my attempt at a summary of Goodloe side of the family, cribbing generously from other sources along the way.

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Goodloe Ancestry

The Goodloe family, in various spelling permutations, goes back to the 13th century in Aspull, Lancashire, England. The Genealogy book focuses on the American side of the family but does include a tree going back to Rauf (Ralph) Gidlow, born 1477 in Aspull (page A-2). The geni.com Goodloe tree goes a few generations further to a John Gidlow born before 1400, if you track back to its source.

There is still a Gidlow Hall, a moated estate house, in Aspull dating to 1574. The source documents for this building trace the family even further to “Robert de Gidlow, freeholder of Aspull in 1291.” This was roughly the dawn of English family surnames. (see more in web archive).

It’s remarkable to me that there’s a record of more than 350 years of this family living in the English region of southern Lancashire and then more than 350 years in America in Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia.

The name Goodloe/Goodlaw comes from Old English and translates to “good hill” or “holy hill” or “good place.” The family coat of arms dates to this drawing in the British Museum recognizing the family’s strong support of Queen Elizabeth vs. King Phillip of Spain in 1581. The signature of Thomas Gudlawe is at the bottom. The heraldic description indicates at least one Goodloe participated in the Crusades, but no more detail is known (Genealogy preface p. x-xi).

The Goodloe motto, “Vis Unita Fortior,” translates to “Strength United is Stronger” or “Power stronger by union.” It’s been used by many others, including the state of New Hampshire, the English town Stoke-on-Trent, and the title of a Led Zeppelin bootleg album (from a 1973 concert at Stoke-on-Trent).

By the time of the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), Lancashire was noted for its Royalist or Cavalier sympathies and also the site of many battles. The Goodloes were evidently both Royalist and Catholic, supporters of Charles I and Charles II. According to the Genealogy, as a result of the English Civil Wars which “destroyed or confiscated the Catholic Goodlaw’s Aspull (and other) property” (page B-5), the family dispersed. There are few records of the family in Lancashire after the mid-17th century.

Goodloes in America

George Gudloe, born in 1637 in Aspull and the only son of Thomas Goodlaw, joined a tide of Cavalier exiles coming to Virginia. The total Virginia colony population grew from 8,000 in 1642 to 38,000 in 1670. At age 18, George came to Virginia on June 20, 1655 aboard the “Philip” with his half-sister (or aunt) Margaret Gudloe (what happened to her is uncertain). He received 50 acres of land, as was common under the “headright” system for new colonists, on the south shore of the Rappahannock River in what became Middlesex County. He would have been among the early English settlers in this area and probably began growing tobacco. There’s a hint that he hid (or dropped) his Catholic background at a time when Catholics were particularly unwelcome in Virginia (page B-5).

George married Mary (whose family name is unknown but was born in 1651 in Gloucester County, Virginia…so from an even earlier immigrant family), probably around 1671 when he was 34 and had been in Virginia for 16 years; she was maybe 20. They prospered in Middlesex County where George added grants of 250 acres in 1674, 60 acres in 1679, and 113 acres in 1702. They had three children: Mary (born 1672), Henry (born 1675) and Anne (born 1681). George became constable (the highest elected office) of Middlesex County in 1686 and was noted in “Planters of Colonial Virginia” in 1704 (though only with 50 acres, so I’m not sure what’s up with that; originally published in 1922, the Planters book is remarkable and free online). George lived until 1710 and Mary died a year later; his actual will is on Genealogy page B-6.

Note: The Goodloe Genealogy uses a two-digit notation system to designate direct family members (spouses don’t count). The first digit represents the generation in America and the second digit the sibling sequence in the particular family. So, George Gudloe is 1-1, his son Henry is 2-2, I am 11-4, Allie is 12-1 (though she’s not in the book). This number is typically placed before a name, so “11-4 William Howard Duncan.”

Furthermore, the Genealogy book is itself divided into Parts representing the principal lines of descent, and pages are numbered within each Part. So, our immediate family starts on page C-25.

George’s only son, Henry Goodloe (2-2, p. B-11, 1675 – 1749), flourished over his 74 years, amassing more than 3,000 acres of land in Spotsylvania County along with a number of enslaved people according to his will on page B-11 of Genealogy. Here are the names of those enslaved that he identifies: Peter, Hannah, Nancy, Sam, Matt, Han, Yeoman, Jugg and Jack. I think it’s possible there were unnamed others in the catchall, “All the residue and remainder of my of my estate of what kind or quantity soever.”

Henry and his wife, Elizabeth (family name unknown, born in 1678; they married in 1698) built the “Goodloe Plantation” home near Thornburg, Virginia, in Spotsylvania County south of Fredericksburg. His descendants lived in that house (with various additions) until 1910.

This home was mentioned in connection with the book and TV show Roots, but it turns out that Alex Haley’s ancestor, Kunta Kinte, was owned by the Waller family who were neighbors and friends of the Goodloes. Henry’s great-grandson, Thomas (my great-x4 grandfather) married Dorothy Waller. This is the extent of our family connection to the Roots saga.

I found a note online written by Susan Rech in 2003: “Last May, my Mom, sister and I visited this home, still owned by a distant relatives. They were very gracious and showed us all around. They’ve done a good job of restoring the home which was vacant for several years.” Susan was very active on the Genealogy.com site; I haven’t looked into all her posts and comments yet, but will. I knew that Susan had done a lot of research into the family genealogy but I hadn’t run into any of it until now — I’m glad to have this new connection to her memory.

This find led me to a forum on the Goodloe line that I haven’t really plumbed yet. For example, it leads me to believe the address for the Goodloe home is 6301 Marye Road, Woodford, Virginia 22580. This address is near (within a mile) but not exactly where the Genealogy places the home. I may have to make a field trip sometime to check on the place.

Our Family Branch

I’m not going to track through all the details of the nine succeeding generations to get to me. They are in the Genealogy as well as the Goodloe Geni.com tree, but as a guide, here is my direct line (which was challenge enough to figure out):

• 1-1 George Gudloe (b. 1637, Aspull, Lancashire – d. 1710, Middlesex County, VA)
• 2-2 Henry Goodloe (b. 1675, Middlesex County, VA – d. 1749, Spotsylvania County, VA)
• 3-2 George Goodloe (b. 1701, Middlesex County, VA – d. 1741, Caroline County, VA)
• 4-1 “Parson” Henry Goodloe (b. 1730, Caroline County, VA – d. 1820, Spotsylvania County, VA)
• 5-2 Thomas Allen Goodloe (b. 1754, Spotsylvania County, VA – d. 1813, Fayette County, KY)
• 6-5 John Waller Goodloe (b. 1789, Fayette County, KY – d. after 1860, Hopkins, KY)
• 7-9 William Hamilton Goodloe (b. 1829, Madisonville, KY – d. 1886, Valdosta, GA)
• 8-2 Lester Goodloe (b. 1857 Madisonville, KY – d. 1909, Valdosta, GA)
• 9-2 Martha Susan “Mattie Sue” Goodloe Duncan (b. 1893, Valdosta, GA – d. 1979, Valdosta, GA)
• 10-1 Conrad Howard Duncan (b. 1918, Valdosta, GA – d. 2014, Gainesville, FL)
• 11-4 William Howard Duncan (b. 1958, Short Hills, NJ)
• 12-1 Alexandra Fisher Duncan (b. 1995, Columbia, MD)

The inside cover of the Genealogy has a tree of the first five generations of the Goodloes in America. Our branch is on the left, Section C, via 5-2 Thomas Allen Goodloe.

I had hopes of learning more about my great-x5 grandfather, “Parson” Henry Goodloe (4-1, p. C-5, 1730-1820) but the references are a bit sparse, other than the impressive fact that he and Frances Kemp had 17 children. He was known as the “Marrying Parson” because he performed more than 1,000 weddings in his 50 years as a Baptist minister. He was a close associate of fellow Spotsylvania gentry and rabid Baptist proselytizer, John Waller (from the same family that purchased Kunta Kinte). Henry was jailed and declared insane (huh?) for letting Waller preach in the Goodloe’s home. Henry served in the Revolutionary War for a year (Dec. 1780 – Dec. 1781), under George Rogers Clark, rising to the rank of Sergeant. In 1782, Henry paid 18,000 pounds for 11,250 acres of land in Bourbon County, Virginia which became part of Kentucky when it became a state in 1792. I don’t know if Henry went there but I’m pretty sure that land became the home of several of Henry’s children, including 5-2 Thomas (my great-x4 grandfather) and 5-6 Vivian.

I think Henry’s Revolutionary War service makes Allie eligible for the Daughters of the American Revolution if she ever so chooses, and the same holds for my sisters and their girls (Henry is DAR#A046440). Go for it, girls — you know you want to! I guess, by the same token, I could consider joining the Sons of the American Revolution, a group I didn’t even know about.

My great-great grandfather, William Hamilton Goodloe (7-9, p. C-24, 1829 – 1886), was a minister in the (Campbellite) Christian Church who moved his family from Madisonville, Kentucky to Valdosta, Georgia, in the 1870’s. His son, Lester Goodloe (8-2, p. C25, 1857 – 1909), married Helen Pardee (with her own extensive family background going back to the founders of Yale University) and became an accountant for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Their second daughter, Martha Susan “Mattie Sue” Goodloe Duncan (9-2, p. C-25, 1893 – 1979) was my Dad’s mother. Here we all are on our pages in the Genealogy, details more or less accurate as of 1982.

It seems worth having a closer look at the photo, probably taken in 1904 or so. The youngest child, William (9-5 William Lester Goodloe, p. C26), is my great uncle William for whom I’m named, according to Mom. He married Ann Paulk and had two children, “Woot” (10-1 William Lester Goodloe, Jr., aka “Dynamite”; see more info below) and 10-2 Leecy Ann Goodloe (p. C-28). Their little corner of the family were among our favorites to visit when we went to Valdosta. I only saw Uncle William a few times and he was pretty much glued to a recliner by then, but Ann Paulk was lively and very sweet. See more about our visits to Valdosta.

It seemed like Mom, Dad, Leecy, Woot, and Helen all grew up together in Valdosta, sort of a little “Our Gang” group (but no Buckwheat).

Leecy is the last survivor of this generation, living (as far as I know) in Greenwood, SC, as of this writing in 2021. She is another very gracious Southern lady who pops into our family story from time to time but I haven’t actually contacted her in decades. She was born in 1920 and first married George “Tony” Henry whom I think she met at Moody Air Force Base just like Helen Duncan met Joe Barnett. Leecy and Tony had two children, “Bunky” Henry who became a professional golfer (he was Woot’s protege), and William Henry who lived in Atlanta. Leecy eventually divorced Tony and married John Coleman.

Woot was one of the most fun and notable Goodloe relatives, a true character, as described in a 1970 Sports Illustrated article: “Even in repose he was a striking figure, almost a perfect square, maybe five six or seven, 240 pounds. Despite his physique, he had been an outstanding athlete: football at Georgia Tech and an enviable record in amateur golf.” Here are more articles about Woot, and his Georgia Sports Hall of Fame profile. They are each worth a read.

Mom, Dad and I played golf with Woot a few times. Watching him hit the ball was a sight. His drives were like low missiles that whizzed along the ground for about 100 yards then rose majestically in the air, sailing almost beyond sight. They made the most extraordinary noise, and always went straight. He joked that he used to envy Dad when they played together growing up, “Howard’s shots were always bending to the left or bending to the right, and all mine ever did was go straight,” he’d say in a thick Southern drawl. Another time, trying to convince Mom to hit the ball more forcefully, he stood next to her and said, “Sara, you’ve got to get your HIPS into it” as he forcefully hip-checked her, almost knocking her over and giving her a bruise the size of a melon. Valdosta long held (still holds?) an annual golf tournament honoring Woot.

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Goodloes and the Civil War

The author of the Genealogy, Paul Miller Goodloe II, includes an interesting self-penned essay about Goodloe participation in the Civil War — more than 50 Goodloes fought for the Confederacy and Paul was not happy about it. His own family was sharply divided, as he explains below, but on balance there were far more Confederate Goodloes than Union sympathizers.

He notes in his Introduction (p. xv) to the Genealogy, “Much is to be found in the records of Granville Goodloe [more] and Hallum Wood Goodloe [more, more] on the service of the Goodloes in the army of the Confederate States of America (more than fifty served in the Southern Army during the Civil War), but all this data has been omitted consciously from the present Goodloe Genealogy.”

Here is an excellent article on Daniel Reaves Goodloe who indeed had an interesting career as an abolitionist author, U.S. Marshall in North Carolina during Reconstruction, and Washington correspondent for the NY Times and other papers for decades to follow; this article includes links to Goodloe’s most notable writing, much of it available free online. A collection of more of his papers, some online, is available through UNC Libraries. Goodloe collaborated with Frederick Law Olmstead on his book, The Cotton Kingdom. We can be happy that at least one Goodloe was on the right side of history, more or less.

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Notable Goodloes

Out of the thousands of Goodloe names that pop up through the Genealogy and family tree, most remain anonymous — simply names and dates (even us!). We’ve touched on some key Goodloes above. Here are a few other notables.

One of the most interesting is Robert Goodloe Harper (5-5, p. B-47, 1765-1824), a U.S. Congressman and Senator, Federalist candidate for Vice President (1816) and proponent of the idea of repatriating negroes to Liberia. He fought in the American Revolution, attended Princeton and studied law in Charleston, SC. He became a Congressman from South Carolina from 1795-1801. He married Catherine, daughter of Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence (“who violently opposed the match”) in 1800 and moved to Baltimore where their estate, Oakland, later formed part of Roland Park. Wikipedia says Harper is “best remembered for the phrase, “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute”^[1] in connection with the XYZ Affair,” but if you can figure out why he’s best remembered for that, more power to you.

Harper fought in the War of 1812, attaining the rank of Major-General and became a Maryland State Senator. After less than a year as U.S. Senator in 1816 he resigned “on the grounds that his business engagements would not allow him to serve.” He was one of several Federalist candidates for Vice President in 1816 and also received a vote in 1820.

In his later years his greatest interest was the negro problem. In 1800 he had opposed the emancipation of slaves, though he favored abolition of the slave trade. By 1917 [sic…should be 1817] he had become actively interested in the matter of colonizing the negroes outside the United States, hoping that it might lead to the establishment of a system of free white labor in the South. He was one of the original members of the American Colonization Society and defended it against pro-slavery and abolitionist critics. He was influential in the selection of Africa as the place for the colony and it was he who suggested Liberia and Monrovia as suitable names for the colony and its capital.

Genealogy, p. B-47

Ten years after his death, the Republic of Maryland was founded in present-day Liberia with the town of Harper, named in his honor, as its capital.

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Multiple generations of Goodloes settled around Lexington, Kentucky and throughout the state through the 19th century; other branches sprouted in Tennessee and Arkansas. There’s a small town named Goodloe in Floyd County, KY (“town” is being generous — it’s a couple of trailer homes at a fork in the road) named for John Kemp Goodloe, a state legislator and Mexican War veteran.

There is a historically Black section of Lexington named Goodloetown after William Cassius Goodloe (&-3, p. E-53, 1841-1889) — I haven’t figured out exactly why yet but he was the great-nephew and personal secretary to Cassius M. Clay while Clay was ambassador to Russia. Goodloe fought for the Union and became an outspoken Republican state legislator during Reconstruction. He died proving the adage “don’t bring a knife to a gunfight” (see “A Dark Kentucky Tragedy“).

There was a successful author in the family, Abbe Carter Goodloe (1867 – 1960). You can read four of her books for free, including College Girls, if you wish. One of her stories was made into a 1935 Joan Crawford movie. Hot dog!

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Other Documents

The rest of this post deals with other documents found tucked into the Goodloe Genealogy book.

Helen Barnett corresponded with Paul Miller Goodloe II, author of the Genealogy and received this nice letter from him in May 1979. It recaps much of the information ferreted out above — my job would have been easier if I read this letter in more detail to begin with. It’s an interesting coincidence how Paul’s career sort of paralleled Dad’s. I don’t guess they ever got in touch.

Paul suggests there may be more links between the Goodloe and Duncan families — but I think it might be through a different Duncan, Emily, the daughter of John and Lucy (White) Duncan who don’t appear to be in our branch (though, as we’ll see below, there were multiple John Duncans floating around Tennessee and Kentucky in the early 1800’s so it’s a little fuzzy).

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