Robert GOODALE (1601 – 1683 ) was Alex’s 12th Great Grandfather; one of 8,192 in this generation of the Miner line.
Robert Goodale (Goodell) was born in Aug 1601 in of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. He was christened on 16 Aug 1601 in Dennington, Suffolk, England. His parents were Robert GOODELL and Joan ARTYS. He married Catherine [KILHAM?] about 1629 at Easterham Suffolk England. They immigrated in April 1634 sailing on the “Elizabeth” from Ipswich.
“Robert Goodall”, aged 30, and “Kathern, his wife,” aged 28, were enrolled at for passage to New England on the Elizabeth[Hotten 280];on 30 April 1634, “Mary Goodale”, aged 4, “Abraham Goodale”, aged 2, and “Isaacke Goodale”, aged “half a year,” children of “Rob[er]t Goodale”, were enrolled at as passengers for New England on the Elizabeth[Hotten 282].
After Catherine died, he married Margaret Lazenby on 30 Aug 1669. Robert died 4 Apr 1683 at Salem or Danvers Mass.
Catherine Kilham was born in 1606 in Dennington, Suffolk, England and christened on 20 Mar 1606 in Ropsley, Lincoln, England. Some sites say her parents were Henry KILLHAM and Alice GOODALE. Others believe that the Catherine Kellam baptized in Ropsley, Lincolnshire 20 or 21 Mar 1606, father was Rafe not Henry
In her will of 1 March 1601/02, “Elizabeth Goodale” of , mentioned three sons, including Robert, and “Henry Kilham and Alice his wife, my daughter”[Waters 2:1403, citing Archdeaconry of Suffolk 38:478]. This latter couple were the parents of Austin KILHAM and this may be what led George E. Williams to claim that the first wife of Robert Goodale was “Catherine Kilham”. While there is little evidence for this identification, the fact that one of the daughters of Robert Goodale married a son of Austin Killam suggests that there may be some relationship. Catherine died 10 Sep 1666 in Salem, Essex, Mass.
Margaret was born xx. Robert entered into an agreement with Margaret to settle on twelve acres of her land and build a house there. He also promised two cows and a riding horse for the property. His son, Jacob, was to inherit this property after Margaret’s death. Margaret was mentioned in Robert’s will of 1682. She received support from the town from 1683 to 1689, and on 25 March 1689 the town paid “for digging of graves” for four people, including “Goody Goodall”
30 August 1669 – “Robert Goodell have made choice of & by God’s permission do fully intend to take to my wife Margaret Lazenby, late of Exeter in New England (& the which being done), I the said Robert do hereby covenant & promise to & with the said Margaret, that in case she outlives me, to give & bequeath unto her for her comfortable maintenance … a new dwelling house which I do intend God willing shortly to build, with what household stuff therein God shall please to continue unto me until my death; item: two cows & a horse or mare fit for her to ride on, also my whole orchard upon my farm near my dwelling house at Bald Hill, with six acres of the planting ground upon which the said orchard stands, the best of the said ground & four acres of meadow ground near to my said orchard with a pasture plot of about two acres fenced in near to my said house & orchard & also that she shall have a competency of fire wood & timber for her use … & after her decease … shall fall to my son Jacob Goodell … [and] in case she outlive my said son Jacob that then she shall have & enjoy for her use & benefit that part of my estate which I shall & do intend to leave unto my said son Jacob, during her life”.
Children of Robert and Catherine:
Name | Born | Married | Departed | |
1. | Mary GOODALE | 1630 in England | Capt. John PEASE 1653 Salem, Mass |
5 Jan 1667/68 Enfield, CT |
2. | Abraham Goodale | c. 1632 England |
Died Young | |
3. | Isaac Goodale | 1633 England | Patience Cook 25 Nov 1668 |
1679 |
4. | Nehemiah Goodell | 30 May 1636 Salem | Hannah Haven 30 Jul 1673 Lynn,, Mass |
Dec 1726 in Framingham MA |
5. | Elizabeth Goodale | Oct 1638 Salem Village, Mass. |
John Smith c. 1658 . William Bennett 6 Mar 1673/74 |
1692 Salem, Essex, Mass. |
6. | Zachariah Goodale | 31 May 1640 Salem, Mass. |
Elizabeth Beauchamp 30 Apr 1666 Salem, Mass. |
1715 |
7. | Sarah Goodale | 31 May 1640 Salem Village, Mass. |
John Batchelder (son of our ancestor Joseph BATCHELLER) 4 MAY 1666 |
22 Mar 1729/30 Wenham, Mass. |
8. | Jacob Goodale | 9 Jan 1641/42 | Unmarried | 1676 “Jacob was employed by Giles Corey, and in a quarrel with the latter was so badly beaten that he died * |
9. | Hannah Goodale | 6 Aug 1645 Salem Village, Mass. |
Lot Killam (son of our ancestor Austin KILHAM) 22 May 1666 Salem, Mass. |
1677 in Salem, Essex, Mass |
Robert’s son is featured as a ghost in Longfellow’s play “The New England Tragedies” (See 8. Jacob Goodale below for details.)
Robert seems to have devoted his life to the development of his large grant for the benefit of his sons and daughters to whom, as they married, he gave generous acreages as wedding gifts, thus creating a family settlement about his own homestead.
His firm, clear handwriting would indicate a good education, but he took no part in governmental affairs and his name seldom appears in the records in any capacity except as plaintiff or defendant in suits based on the ownership of his land and stock.
On August 30, 1669, he made a settlement on his second wife, Margaret: “12 acres of land, a new dwelling house, two cowes and a horse or mare fitt for her to ride on.” He died and his will was proved June 27, 1683—he left his estate to his daughter Elizabeth and his grandson, John Smith. Wife Margaret was mentioned as having already been provided for, as were his other children.
Robert was recorded as age 30 by the Customs House when he came to this country in 1634 which would make his birth 1604 instead of 1601. There has been much speculation as to who Robert’s parents were, but their identity has not been proven. One current theory, as suggested by George E. Williams in his book, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Goodale/ Goodell of Salem, Massachusetts, states that Robert Goodell was the son of Robert Goodell and Joan Artys, who was born in 1601 and was baptized 16 Aug 1601 in Dennyngton, Suffolk Co., England. There are other families with sons named Robert of his generation, but in no case do the few known facts go together correctly.
Robert, his wife Katherine and three children, sailed from the port of Ipswich, Suffolk Co., England on 30 Apr 1634 on the ship “Elizabeth” in charge of Captain, Mr. Andrews. They took the oath of allegiance and supremacy at his Majesties Customs House on 12 Nov 1634 at Ipswich MA. Sailing on the same ship was Margerie Washburn, the wife of John Washburn and their two sons, John and Philip. They were the ancestors of the Putney, Vermont Washburns who married into the Goodell family in the 9th generation. Also, on board were John and Anne Crosse, who were probably the ancestors of Hannah Cross, who married John Munroe. John Munroe was the great grandfather of Minnie Jane (Monroe) Scott, and three of her children married into the Goodell family.
According to Bowen’s account and the History of Salem, they made their home at Salem,”in the field northeasterly of Cold Spring in North Salem,” where he was granted a house lot and an acre of land in 1636. He obtained another 20 acres in 1639 and 1652. By 1651, he had 480 acres of land in Salem.
1658 Lot #5, 1663, Lot #55 -The Division of the North Fields was laid out before the Salem town records were begun. Most of the original lots consisted of ten acres each. See the above link for the location of Robert’s land and his many real estate transactions.
Throughout his half century of residence in Salem, Robert pursued a single goal with great determination. So far as we can tell he was never a church member, never a freeman and never an officeholder. The vast majority of the records in which he appears, even his few minor criminal transgressions, involve his dealing with land. He devoted much effort to the amassing of land, and the provision of estates for his children.
(Click here for today’s Goodale Street)
On 15 Mar 1660, he sold 50 acres to Giles Corey called the “Corey Farm.” He gave generous acreages of land to his sons and daughters as wedding gifts. George E. Williams gives the following account of his land:
…the first record of the Goodells in America [at Salem], indicated that they settled at Great Cove in the North Fields. This Spring, so often mentioned in the early records in what was later called Liberty Hill Park [Liberty Hill Avenue Google Maps], was on Robert Goodell’s farm and was known for the first half century of Salem’s history as Goodell’s Spring. It is not recorded how he acquired this first farm. However, in 1636 and in 1638 he received grants of twenty acres each in that portion of the town which became known as Salem Village, and he gradually acquired by purchase similar grants made to other early settlers, until by 1651, he was the owner of a tract of land at Bald Hill comprising four hundred and eighty acres, which was confirmed to him by a town grant on November 7, 1651. He probably moved to this new property at about that time, and, as opportunity offered, disposed of his Great Cove farm, deeding the house and a portion of the land to his son-in-law, John Smith in 1658. Another lot was conveyed to Nicholas Manning in 1667, and a third conveyance was probably made to John Orne, who owned a part of the property, hitherto unconveyed in 1684.
Robert was a farmer. “He was a man of piety, of education, of considerable wealth, of great strength of character, a helper in all important matters — such was our ancestor, Robert Goodell” (Versailles). In 1670, the people of Salem petitioned for a church of their own and Robert Goodell’s signature is on that document. Robert does not appear to have taken part in govenment affairs.
27 Dec 1642 – “Robert Goodell” was one of twelve men “presented for breach of order of court, keeping their cattle in the common corn fields” and fined for this infraction[EQC 1:49].
26 Dec 1643 – “Robert Goodell” was one of eleven men “fined for putting their cattle into the north corn fields”[EQC 1:56].
27 Aug 1644 – “Robert Goodell [was] fined for suffering his goat to go in his neighbor’s cornfield”[EQC 1:69].
18 Feb1645/46 – “Robert Goodell was accused by Myghel Sollis (also Sallow) of stealing four goats. Sollis had lost one old and three young goats and finding such, with his mark on them, in custody of Goodall, the latter promised to return them. When Sollis went for them, Goodall said that he had killed one and the rest were lost. Quit for lack of testimony”[EQC 1:91].
11 July 1644 – “Robert Goodell complained of Ruben Guppy for rent and burning fence”[EQC 1:68].
27 June 1671 – “Rob[er]t Goodell” sued “Gartrid Pope for withholding or molesting, mowing and carrying away the hay on a parcel of meadow. Withdrawn”[EQC 4:384].
In 1668, Robert built a house for his son Isaac. Save for a decade or so in the early 1900s, the Goodale family has lived in this house since it was built. The timber frame saltbox is one of the best preserved examples of a first-period house in New England, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
But after nearly 340 years of ownership, the Goodale family put the place on the market in 2009 for $1.39 million, hoping to attract a buyer who will respect the storied structure’s origins. In 2010 it was still on the market. Equally exquisite is the 41-acre property near Ipswich the house sits on, with rolling meadows bordered by woods that sweep down to Great Marsh – the largest salt marsh in New England – with a view of Hog or Choate Island beyond.
This is not the home’s original location. It was built in Salem, by Robert Goodale for his son Isaac. The Goodales had sailed from England to Salem in 1634, just 14 years after the Pilgrims dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor. Robert purchased more than 500 acres in Salem and gave land to his children upon their marriages. Sometimes, he built houses for them, as he did for Isaac, a farmer who lived in the house for just over a decade before he died in 1679.
Isaac’s descendants remained in the house until 1915, when it was sold, for reasons unknown. Three different owners occupied the house over the next several years, and it was put up for sale again in 1928.
Dr. Robert Goodale, a Boston physician and a direct descendent of Isaac’s brother Zachariah, learned from a newspaper article that the house was for sale. “He went right out to look at the house, bringing a building inspector with him,” said Maisie Crowther, 72, the youngest child of Robert Goodale, who now lives in Brattleboro, Vt. “He and my mother decided to buy it then and there. They wanted to bring it back into the family. They wanted to preserve it.
The sale price was $5,000, a hefty sum for the era. Goodale’s plan was to have the house moved from Salem to Ipswich where it would be a summer haven for the couple and their four children. Robert Goodale’s father, Joseph, owned a commercial orchard on Argilla Road and gave him 41 acres at the end the narrow dirt lane.
The original plan was to move the house intact, on rollers, along Route 1 to Ipswich, but Crowther said the family was unable to do that. “So they had to dismantle the house piece by piece to transport it. It was rebuilt exactly to the original specs and with the same materials.”
Before the house was transported, the Goodales discovered a few of the home’s original 17th-century narrow casement windows with diamond-shaped leaded panes in the basement. They restored the windows and had replicas commissioned for the rest of the house. During reassembly, they also exposed the original raised paneling and returned the openings of the home’s four massive fireplaces to their original size – nearly 6-feet long and 4-feet high.
Robert Goodale died in 1683 in Salem, Essex Co., MA (LDS/AF, 4 Apr 1683) (Versailles). The will of Robert Goodell was dated 12 Oct 1682 and was probated 24 Jun 1683 in Salem, Essex Co., MA. His will reads as follows:
I Robert Goodell being now aged & weake, in body as alsoe my wife and my daughter Elizabeth Bennett, hath taken care of me and therefor my will & desire is & I doe will & bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Bennet & my grand child, John Smith, my house & the orchard & all the meadowes that I now posess with the pasture which is about eight acres of upland be more or lesse, all which house land & meadowes my daughter Elizabeth Bennett, and my grand child John Smith, shall enjoy after the lease, or terme, that it is now let for, is expired, they or either of them paying as much rent, yearly which is to the value of twenty shillings in currant pay, dated the twelfth of October one thousand six hundred eighty two; & after my daughter Elizabeth’s decease, the whole lands shall be my grand child’s John Smith. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal
Children
1. Mary GOODALE (See Capt. John PEASE‘s page)
3. Isaac Goodale
Isaac’s wife Patience Cook was born in 1635. Her parents were John Cook and Mary Roote. After Isaac died, she married 1683 – Reading, Middlesex, Mass. to James StimsonPatience died in 1699 in Salem, Mass.
In 1668, Robert built a house for his son Isaac. Save for a decade or so in the early 1900s, the Goodale family has lived in this house since it was built. The timber frame saltbox is one of the best preserved examples of a first-period house in New England, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (See above for details)
4. Nehemiah Goodell
Nehemiah’s wife Hannah Haven was born 22 Feb 1646 – Lynn, Essex, Mass. Her parents were Richard Haven and Susanna Newhall. Hannah died 01 Jan 1727 in Framingham, Mass.
5. Elizabeth Goodale
Elizabeth’s first husband John Smith was born about 1645 – Edgartown, Dukes, Mass. His parents were Richard Smith and Mary Weed. John died 6 May 1672 – Salem, Essex, Mass.
John Smith was involved in a scandal with his sister-in-law. See Zachariah Goodale’s section for details.
Elizabeth’s second husband William Bennett was born about 1635. His parents were Peter Bennett and Elizabeth Fielder. William died in 1692 in Salem, Mass.
6. Zachariah Goodale
Zachariah’s wife Elizabeth Beauchamp was born 23 Jul 1646 – Salem, Essex, Mass. Her parents were Edward Beauchamp and Mary Metcalf. Elizabeth died 1682 – Salem, Essex, Mass.
Elizabeth (Beacham) Goodale, wife of Zachariah Goodale, accused her brother-in-law John Smith of sexual assault; this case brought forth many illuminating depositions from family members and neighbors. Elizabeth let slip to a few of her friends that brother John had made some inappropriate advances to her and, then as now, apparently, a secret has no value unless shared! When brother John learned through the grapevine that his sister-in-law was saying less than complimentary things about him, he sued her for slander in the Salem Quarterly Court of 1672. One of the Goodell’s defenses was that slandering brother John wouldn’t be easy! From the looks of the court records, the whole neighborhood got involved and Smith was found guilty of a countercharge filed by Elizabeth Goodell. He was fined and sentenced to be whipped, though this latter punishment was remitted when his friends promised to pay his fines. Synopsis of the court records follow:
June: John Smith v. Zachariah Goodell and Elizabeth, his wife. Slander. The defendant allowed costs.
Writ, dated June 10, 1672, signed by Hilliard Veren, for the court, and no return made. Bond of Zachariah (his mark) Goodell and Elzabeth (her mark) Goodel.
Bill of cost, 7s, 6d.Plaintiff’s plea: that he objects to defendant saying that she kept the abuses, which he was alleged to have committed, private for years and would never have revealed them but to save herself from damage against her in court.
“Now if a woman might singly alone be so surcomstansed noe man can scap from suffering: but if I might be sufred to sware in my owne case I can safly sware that her charg and accusation is fals but let the considaration of the testamony the Nayborhowd that will say that thay neuer saw any hurt by me in that respect but do raly thinke that I am wronged and I hope that I neuer shall be left to Committ shuch wickedness pray haue soe much charity towards me as to credit me in what I say: now I hop that no man can according to law be condemned without it be by the mouth of tow or thre wittnissis and in this case wher ther is noe surcomstanc in the Case to Joyne with her complynt thus hoping to confidently believe as raly I dow that my grettest hapynes lyeth in that your worships are holly wiss and just and charitable.”
Defendant’s plea: the court was asked to judge of the legality of the attachment, for the law provides six days for the defendant to prepare his answer and testimony; the attachment was for slander but mentions no time nor place nor word of slander; defendant had said many things concerning plaintiff for many years upon many occasions and if common fame my be credited “it is not a very easy matter to slander the plaintiff.” Summons appearing not to be legal, defendant requested a nonsuit.
John Smith and Elizabeth, wife of Zachariah Goodell, being bound over to this court to answer to several abusive and uncivil carriages between them, with which said Elizabeth charged said Smith, the latter desired to be tried by a jury, who found him guilty. Court ordered him to be whipped on the next lecture day in Salem and to remain in prison until the sentence be executed unless he pay 40s. Upon supplication of Anthony Needham and Giles Coree, who engaged to pay the fine and gaol charges within two months, his sentence of being whipped was remitted.
Summons to constable, John Suthwick of Salem, for the apprehension of John Smith, and Elizabeth, wife of Zachery Goodell, and to bring them to Mr. John Gardner’s, dated 11: 4: 1672 (4 Jun 1672). Summons also for witness, Gould and his wife, Tho. Flynt’s wife, Coree’s wife, Carrill’s wife, Anne Needham and Kelam’s wife, dated 15:4:1672 (15 Jun 1672), and signed by Wm. Hathorne, assistant.
Lot Killum and Zacheriah Goodell deposed that John Smith, being at said Goodell’s house, the latter’s wife being present, said that he was sorry for what he had done to Goodell’s wife and prayed God to give him repentance, hoping he should do so no more. Zacheriah replied that he wished God would give him repentance.
Edward Beachum and Zachariah Goodell were bound for the latter’s wife Elizabeth’s appearance. Thomas Flint, Giles Coree, John Rubton and John Smith were bound for Smith’s appearance.
John Tomkins, sr., John Small and his wife, John Foster and his wife, John PEASE, George Jacobs and his wife, Eliz. Symonds, sr., James Symonds and his wife and john Tompkins, jr., certified that they “being nere neighbores unto Elizabeth Goodel, the daughter of Edw Beachom and having had acquaintance with her from her childhood to her marriage Do testify yt according to our best observation and judgment shee hath been of an honist civill conversation & one yt would not wrong the truth in her speches.”
Mary Corey, aged about forty-three years, and Mary Carrill, aged about thirty-five years, testified that Elizabeth Goodell told them that one time as John Smith, her brother-in-law, was working in a swamp near her house, he called to her for fire, so she carried it to him and laid it on the side of the brook, he being on the other side. He asked her to tarry and smoke, and she told him she had already smoked, so she ran away up the hill and he ran after her, etc. Also at another time he assaulted her when he fetched her from her house to help his wife when she lay in, so that she jumped from the horse on which they rode. Also when he was at Lott Keellam’s digging a well, and once on a Lord’s day while her husband was at meeting, etc. She said he was an ugly rogue and threatened to tell her husband, and that he had been uncivil to her ever since her son Zachery was a little boy, but she feared that if she told her husband, said Smith would kill her or her children or hurt her creatures. She told deponents that these things were true and that she would swear to them before the best magistrate in New England.
Hannah Flint, aged about twenty-two years, deposed that she was at John Smith’s house at the time of his wife’s lying in, and Elizabeth, wife of Zachary Goodell was there also, etc. Deponent heard said Elizabeth tell of lascivious language used by both herself and Smith, and also heard Patience, wife of Isacke Goodell, affirm to her sister’s face, etc.
Patience Goodell and Hanah Kellum testified that the foolish words that their sister Elizabeth Goodell spoke to them about Smith were said in a jesting way.
Zachary Goodel declared to the court on his wife’s behalf that “he hath not found his wives affections in ye least alienated from him, but she doth love and respect his as well if not better since these things between John Smith & her have bin reported, from ye time of ye first therof unto this time as ever she did before.”
Geyles Corey, aged about fifty-five years, deposed that Elizabeth, wife of Zackary Goodell, related to him that on a morning after she and his wife had been at the house of Nathaniel Carrell, coming into deponent’s house, John Smith being there, said Elizabeth had been affronted by said Smith. Deponent asked her where he and his wife and daughters were. Her answer was that she was in the house and went up the ladder into the chamber and that his wife was near some bushes at the door taking in linen. He said if there had been anything amiss, she should have told him then, but when he came down he saw nothing but laughing and smoking. Elizabeth said that she was like to have broken her brother Smith’s head with the ladle and his wife said if she had, there would have been but six pence or a groat to pay. Later Elizabeth told deponent that she knew he was in the house, etc.
Lott Killum deposed that his wife being lame from a fall that she received upon a rock, John Smith offered her abuse, and she told him of it at night. Whereupon deponent dealt with said Smith privately about it.
An Needham deposed that she and her husband were in Elizabeth Goodell’s house, with the wife of Thomas Flint, when deponent’s husband told said Elizabeth that she was foolish to have reported such stories, and she said that they would not have gotten out if she could have helped it. Also that deponent heard Nethanel Carall say that Elizabeth had said several times in his house this winter that she wished that the old folks were gone, etc. Also that the wife of Robbert Goodell told Hanna Flinte that in the winter time she told her old man that Smith and Betty were together very much.
John Harrod and his wife testified to the same.
The answer of Elizabeth, wife of Zach. Goodell: that the stories had been grossly exaggerated; that she had told what had happened to her husband and her sister Hannah Killum in private, but it had “come to the mouths of such talkers as have pverted the truth and made the matter appere far worse then euer it was to my great Scandall and reproach. Mary Gory & Mary Carril hearing of it came to enquire of me how it was, and I foolishly told my ptended friends what before I had told my Sister Killum; “That the reason she did not complain to the authority was because she was afraid Smith would do her harm, as she was often alone with her children and remote from neighbors; that if she had complained and he had been punished, “what a sad life should I have had with my Husbands relations, Again I hoped he would reforme & being a relation I thought a privet healing might make it up, and I was some advised when it was known, not to complaine against him because it would as they thought ruin his family, he being desperate some times, I was resolved to complaine against him as Mary Gory & Mary Carril do witness I told John Smith I would & to that end did go downe the towne to acquaint Majr Hathorne with it but was discouraged by others and being foolish & not acquainted with the Law did forbear untill the Major was to go to the Generl Court and when he came home againe I pceiued that it was so spread abrode through indiscretion” etc. that she was heartily sorry for her foolish words and “I desire to be humbled that I sould any way be an occasion of filling the mouths of any with pfane and sinful words to ye Dishonor of the Great God and the scandal of the Gospell … And I desire it may be warning to mee & to us all never more to jest or speake foolishly vainly or slitely of such matters as should be cloathed with gravity & modesty, and I do acknowledge tis a dishonor to ye Sect of women … but this I can truly say … I love my husband as dearly as ever I did and no man else with such a love and I thinke he will say that he neuer saw cause from mee to thinke the contrary … I desire that the truth should not be wronged nor yet that John Smith should suffer more then he heth deserved … I thinke my neighbours amongst whome I have lived in the north field can testifie that they never saw any uncivill cariage by mee from my Childhood untill I was married. The language John Smith used to me and the Actions were such as most tend to ye way of his calling in dealing wth Cattel and not so like unlawfull dalliances tending to uncleanness.”
7. Sarah Goodale
Sarah’s huband John Batchelder was baptized in the First Church at Salem
20 Jan 1638. His parents were Joseph BATCHELLER and Elizabeth DICKENSON. He first married Mary Dennis 12 Jul 1661. John died 17 Nov 1698.
8. Jacob Goodale
Jacob was killed at age 34 by Giles Cory, for whom he worked. He was beaten and died soon afterwards. The coroner’s jury said “The man was bruised to death, having clusters of blood about the heart.” Giles Cory was fined for the offense. Some of the evidence given at the time his death points to the conclusion that he was not entirely of normal mentality. At the Court session of April 1669, Robert Goodale was ordered to pay five shillings to the constable for bringing home his son.
Longfellow wrote a poem about the death and trail but used the name “Robert” instead of “Jacob” the son. Giles Cory was pressed to death at age 80 in Salem Mass., a victim of the witchcraft trails of 1692.
When Corey was accused of witchcraft with five other men years later, the murder of Jacob came back to haunt him during his trial. Refusing to plead, Corey was crushed to death when the tribunal ordered heavy stones be laid on his body.
Legend has it that the ghost of Jacob Goodale appeared to Corey from time to time, crying out about his murder. In his play “The New-England Tragedies,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow refers to the lore: “Look! Look! It is the ghost of Jacob Goodale . . . Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder, By stomping on his body! In his shroud. . . . He comes here to bear witness to this crime.”
HATHORNE.
That is enough; we need not question further.What answer do you make to this, Giles Corey ?
MARY.
See there ! See there !HATHORNE
What is it ? I see nothing.MARY.
Look ! Look ! It is the ghost of Robert Goodell,
Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder
By stamping on his body ! In his shroud
He comes here to bear witness to the crime !The crowd shrinks back from Corey in horror.
HATHORNE.
Ghosts of the dead and voices of the living
Bear witness to your guilt, and you must die !
It might have been an easier death. Your doom
Will be on your own head, and not on ours.
Twice more will you be questioned of these things;
Twice more have room to plead or to confess.
If you are contumacious to the Court,
And if, when questioned, you refuse to answer,
Then by the Statute you will be condemned
To the peine forte et dure! To have your body
Pressed by great weights until you shall be dead !
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul!END OF ACT IV.
9. Hannah Goodale
Hannah’s husband Lot Kilham was born 11 July 1641 Salem, Essex, Mass. His parents were Austin KILHAM and Alice GORBALL. Lot died 26 October 1683 in Enfield, Hartford, MA .
In September 1684, John PEASE was appointed administrator of the estate of Lot Kilham a townsman of his while in Salem and one of the first persons it is said to have died in the new settlement of Enfield, Connecticut.
Sources:
x
http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_g.htm
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lougene/p6.htm#i291
http://www.ida.net/users/lamar/WEB/smithc/pafg35.htm#12310
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/vt/town/westminster/goodell.html
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2009/02/01/passing_along_a_family_legacy/?page=2
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/h/a/Carol-A-Chadwick/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0589.html
http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/Kilham%20Family/KilhamLot1640.html#RobertGoodall
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I am trying to locate Robert Goodell’s Grave site . May 26, 2011
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