Goodman Families of Barren and Hart Counties

Goodman and Related Families in Tax Lists and Census

Early Barren County Tax Lists

Conways, Thomas Conway possibly father of or at least related to Sarah Conway, first wife of Amos I. Goodman.

Jeames (James) Conway – 1806
Thomas Conaway – 1807
Thomas Conway – 1808
Thomas Conaway – 1809
Elisha Conaway – 1807, 1808

US Census Records

In 1810, an Amos Goodman appears in Jefferson County, with Joab (Joel?) Goodman. This is not Amos I Goodman, who was in Barren County in 1810.

Another Amos Goodman is in Barren (later Hart and others) County, KY in 1810. Many other Goodmans, including two Johns, a John Jr., two Williams, Charles, Jacob, Jessee, and several others, were also in Barren/Hart County. See complete Barren Co. list below.

The Barren County (later Hart County), KY 1810 census data was very interesting for several reasons. There were lots of Goodmans there! And, for the most part, the families appear to be grouped, as if several families were on the same property, comprising 6 ‘extended’ families. This appears to result from the fact that the enumerators probably recorded the census as families were encountered.

On page 33, I found: Matthias Reynolds, husband of Martha Goodman of Bedford Co., VA and David (or Davis) Reynolds, within 1-4 lines of Amos Goodman. Amos had one female over 45 in his household, probably Epharilla (Thorpe) Goodman, his mother. Mathew Harper, 2nd husband of Sarah Jane Richardson Goodman, was just 2 lines away from Matthias Reynolds and wife Martha Goodman, who had married in Bedford Co., VA. Wm. Richardson was also within a few lines of Amos Goodman, and had too many females in his family group to be accounted for by the age of the eldest, some of which may have been the widow Sarah Jane Goodman and her children by Obediah Richardson. Obediah Richardson was not found, and the other males in Wm. Richardson’s group were too young to be Obediah, so he is presumed to have died before the 1810 census. So, it is not surprising that we see several later inter-marriages among these families. Finally, although many of the Goodman’s neighbors had slaves, not one of the Goodman or Reynolds families did. Wm. Richardson had 12 slaves, some of which may have previously belonged to Obediah Richardson.

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Barren Co., KY Census of 1810 – Microfilm M252 #5

Pg	Ln	Last	First	M -10	M -16	M -25	M -45	M 45+	F -10	F -16	F -25	F -45	F 45+
24	0	Goodman	Fielding	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
24	2	Goodman	Jessee			1	1	1			1
26	8	Goodman	Charles					1	1	2		1
29	8	Goodman	William	1	2	2	1		3		1	1
29	12	Goodman	Hardin	2			1		3	1		1
29	13	Goodman	Alan/Alex			1			1		1
29	14	Goodman	John	4		1			1		1		1
29	15	Goodman	Abraham		2		1		4		1
33	25	Harper	Mathew	2	2		1		2		1
33	27	Reynolds	Matthias	2	1			1	3	1	2	1
33	32	Harper	Hance			2	1	1	1	2	2		1
33	36	Goodman	Amos	1			1		1		1		1
33	37	Logsdon	John		2	4		1	2	1			1
33	38	Reynolds	David				1		2		1
33	39	Logsdon	Tho.					1					1
33	40	Richardson	Wm.	1	1			1	6	1	2	1
37	32	Connaway	Tho.	1	1	1	1	1			2		1
46	2	Goodman	John Jr.	1			1				1
39?	5	Goodman	Jacob	2	2	3		1		1			2

 

In 1820, Amos Goodman was in Munfordville in the new Hart (previously part of Barren) County, with Arthur and Stephen also in Hart County. Arthur and Stephen therefore probably came to KY after Amos, and between 1810 and 1820, or were in the part of Hart County that was taken from counties other than Barren. Other Goodmans appear in the other counties formed from Barren County in later years, primarily Hardin and Monroe. In the 1820 census in Amos Goodman family are: one male under 10 (John Adams), one male 16-25 (Anselm), one male 26-44 (Amos), three 3 females under 10 (Lourania, 2 others names unknown),  one female 26-44 (Mourning), and one female 45+ (Unknown).

In the 1830 census for Barren County )after Hart was split off in 1820), were found only John, Varda, and Mary Goodman families. Varda and Mary appear to be Matriarchs, at 45+ each. John was a single male, age 50+. John and Varda were both on pg. 117, and Mary was on pg. 157. Other details were hard to decipher from the microfilm.

In the 1830 Hart County census, in Munfordville, Amos, Ansolom (sic: Anselm), and Arthur Goodman are on page 211. Steven Goodman was on page 213.

In 1830, Amos was residing with one male under 5 (George 1825), 2 males 5-10 (Amos Moore 1824, Luke Allen 1820), one male 15-20 (John Adams 1812), one male 40-50 (Amos), one female under 5 (Unknown), one female 5-10 (Miranda 1822), two females 10-15 (the same two unknowns from 1820 census?), one female 15-20 (Lourania 1810), and one female 40-50 (Mourning). So between 1820 and 1830, three previously unknown daughters of Amos Goodman and Mourning Jones are found, but not identified. One or more probably married before Amos Goodman died in 1845, so it’s possible Amos or one of his sons could be found on their marriage bonds, if those were recorded. One or more might be found as single and living with other close relatives in 1850. This needs more research.

In 1830, in Hart County, Ansolom (Anselm) Goodman had 2 young girls, and 2 young boys, and his wife (Nancy Fowler). They are found in Illinois thereafter.

Arthur also had 2 boys and 6 girls. Steven’s family consisted of 3 young males and 3 females.

Interestingly, the 1830 census appears to have been done by several methods. Some enumerators just took the information as they encountered families, and some alphabetized their results. Since pages 211 and 213 were of the alphabetized form, it is hard to surmise anything by the proximity of the names on the list, as one could with the 1810 Barren Co. census.

The Amos Goodman family in 1840 included one male 5-10 (Wesley Christian), one male 10-15 (Gideon Stephen), one male 15-20 (George), one male 50-60 (Amos), one female 5-10 The (Unknown in 1830 Census), one female 40-50 (Mourning)

Other Records

Barren County Marriages

Richardson, Elizabeth to Logsdon, Thos….June 28, 1810. This may have been the Elizabeth Richardson named as a daughter of John Richardson in his 1796 will in Greene County TN.

Richardson, Susannah to Logsdon, Thos….Dec. 23, 1813-Dec. 22, 1814. This was actually Susannah Goodman, the widow of Joseph Richardson. They married in Greene County TN on July 1, 1790. It would be interesting to know if this Thomas Logsdon was the same one who married Elizabeth Richardson three years earlier.
Excerpts from “Minute Book 1803-1841 of the United Baptist Church of Christ.”, Barren/Hart Co., KY, courtesy J.P. Grady:
p. 3.  Names of Members (6th August 1803)  Joseph RICHARDSON p. 4.   Susanna RICHARDSON, Patsey RICHARDSON
p. 7.  Received upon credit of letters Joseph RICHARDSON and his wife Susanna
p. 18.  Received by experience Patsey RICHARDSON (daughter of Susanna and Joseph)
p. 21.  Appointed Bro. R. J. Munford to cite Brother J. RICHARDSON to our next. (Fourth Saturday in Dec 1810)
p. 26.  Complaint against sister RICHARDSON (which one Sarah Jane or Susanna, we cannot determine)
p. 27,  Sister RICHARDSON to appear at our next church meeting (Fourth Sat in Jan 1813)
p. 39.  Sister Susanna LOGSDON (Susanna Goodman / Richardson / Logsdon) and her daughter Patsey RICHARDSON made application for letters of dismission and they were granted. (Fourth Saturday in Sep 1819)

Richardson, Sarah to Harper, Mathew…Dec. 19, 1815. This was actually Sarah Jane Goodman, widow of Obediah Richardson of Greene County TN. They married in Greene Co. TN, May 16, 1797 and he died probably before 1810. Mathew Harper married twice before Sarah, 1st to Elizabeth Pierce on April 21, 1794 in Spartenburg, SC. She died May 08, 1807 in Smith County TN. He married 2nd to Judah Reynolds, daughter of Matthias Reynolds and Martha Goodman, on December 31, 1807. She died on May 07, 1815 in Barren County KY. He married 3rd to Sarah Jane Goodman Richardson, and Matthias Reynolds was Surety for that marriage.

In “Kentucky Land Warrants”, in 1821, Jacob Goodman patented 71 ac., Monroe County, on Spring Creek. In 1832, John W. Goodman had 200 ac., Muhlenberg County, on the Green River.

A Jacob Goodman was married to Sarah Reynolds, according to the will of Charles Reynolds, father of Sarah, probated in 1821. Several Goodman and Reynolds families were members of the Green River Baptist Church in the early 1800s, and so John W. Goodman was probably related to them.

The Tangled Web of Barren/Hart, Kentucky Families

Anselm Goodman’s mother-in-law, Lucinda Jones, was the sister of Elizabeth Jones, who was Anselm Goodman’s aunt by her marriage to Anselm’s uncle Stephen Goodman in 1807. One of her sisters, Nancy Ann Jones, in 1810 had married John C. Logsdon, eldest son of Thomas Logsdon III (more on him below) and his 1st wife, Mary Anne Wilson. How these three Jones women and their father, George W Jones, may have been related to Mourning Jones, Anselm’s step-mother and 2nd wife of Amos I. Goodman, is currently unknown, but very likely they were related in some way.

In 1837, Anselm’s first cousin, Rachel Harper, daughter of his aunt Sarah Jane Goodman by her 2nd husband, Matthew Harper, married Richard Harris Fowler, Nancy Fowler’s much younger brother, in Hart County, KY. In 1818, Nancy and Richard Fowler’s older sister Mary, had married to Joseph H. Logsdon, another son of Thomas Logsdon III and his 1st wife, Mary Anne Wilson. In 1813, Thomas Logsdon III, father of Joseph and John, had married Anselm Goodman’s aunt, Susannah Goodman / Richardson, a 2nd marriage for both.

In 1847, Amos Moore Goodman, Anselm’s half brother, son of Amos I Goodman and Mourning Jones, married Celia Jane Reynolds, daughter of Willis J Reynolds and Maria Manion. Willis J Reynolds was a son of Edward Reynolds and Celia Fuqua, originally of Bedford, Virginia. Another son of Edward Reynolds and Celia Fuqua, Jesse Reynolds, about 1830, married Frances Harper, a daughter of Matthew Harper by his 2nd wife, Judith Reynolds, before Judith died and Matthew Harper married 3rd to Sarah Jane Goodman, Anselm’s aunt, in 1815. Permelia Ann Reynolds, a daughter of Edward Reynolds and Celia Fuqua, in about 1827, married Thorp Richardson in Hart, Kentucky, and they had a daughter Sarah Jane Reynolds. Thorp Richardson was supposedly born ca 1810 in Hart County, KY. His parentage is unknown. But given these names, he could have been a son of Sarah Jane Goodman by her first husband, Obediah Richardson, or a son of Susannah Goodman, by her first husband, Joseph Richardson. In 1851, in Knox, Illinois, Socrates Goodman, a son of Anselm Goodman and grandson of Amos I Goodman, married Mary Bright Reynolds, a daughter of Edward Reynolds and Celia Fuqua. Mary was 6 years older than Socrates.