Person talk:Nancy Goodwin (8)

Descendants of Theophilus Goodwin (ca 1709-1788) [5 November 2011]

It is estimated that there are over 15,000 descendants of Theophilus Goodwin (ca 1709-1788). They are descendants of his first wife, Elizabeth Wyche (ca 1710-1763) and his second wife Nancy(Ann/Nanny)Wyche (ca 1735-1800).

The family of Theophilus and Elizabeth migrated from the Surry County area of Virginia in the 1730s to what is now Franklin County North Carolina. The children of Theophilus migrated from there in the early 1770s to the "up country", Ninety Sixth District of South Carolina. From 1818 thru the 1830s these families moved on to what is now Lowndes, Butler, Conecuh, Jefferson, Clarke, and Chilton Counties in Alabama.

Goodwin descendants continued to migrate westward as new territories opened and new states were formed. Descendants of Theophilus now occupy most and possibly all of the 50 states.

Theophilus Goodwin Sr. was born in Virginia, ca 1709. He married Elizabeth Wyche, daughter of George and Sarah Wyche, ca 1727. Theophilus and Elizabeth had four sons and a daughter in Surry County, Virginia, before they moved to Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in 1737. The boys were Thomas, John, Theophilus Jr., and Henry. The daughter was Sarah. Two other sons, Mark and Peter, were born in North Carolina in the 1740s and a daughter, Amy, was born 1751. In addition to these eight children, Theophilus and Elizabeth Wyche Goodwin were probably the parents of George Goodwin, also born in the 1740s.

In North Carolina, they settled on land purchased from William Hoggett along Conway Creek, a tributary of the Tar River. Theophilus Sr., received land grants along Sandy and Conway Creeks in the years 1742, 43, 44, 45. The grants totaled one thousand three hundred fifty acres. He also received another land grant of five hundred twenty-six acres on Sandy Creek on March 11, 1760. The area where Theophilus Sr., and Elizabeth settled was originally Bertie County. It was subdivided to Edgecombe, then Granville, then Bute and then Franklin. Sandy and Conway creeks are at present in Franklin County, North Carolina.

Elizabeth Wyche Goodwin died ca 1763 and Theophilus Sr. remarried in ca 1765. His second wife was Ann (Nancy/Nanny) Wyche, the daughter of James Wyche, and the first cousin of Elizabeth Wyche, Theo's first wife. Theophilus and Nancy had two boys and one girl. They were Young, born April 7, 1766, David, born ca 1770, and Mary Anne, born May 7, 1780. Nancy is referred to as Nanny, Anne and Nancy in land transactions between 1766 and 1788. She is listed as Nancy in the 1790 census of Franklin County, North Carolina, as head of her own household with one male over sixteen (ca David, about twenty), one unkown male under sixteen, and three females (ca herself, her daughter Mary Ann, age ten, and an unknown). Young Goodwin, is listed as the head of his own household in 1790.

For more information on these descendants, go to the website http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/g/o/o/Ron-D-Goodwin/index.html made possible because of the generous contributions of numerous Branch, Goodwin,Sullivan,Cassady, Coker and Woodham researchers.