"John Goodrich … probably had a first wife, by whom his eldest son John was born, and married secondly, in St. James', Bury St. Edmunds, 7 Aug. 1615, Margery How, or Howes, who died between the 14 Apr. and the 16 May, 1632, and was sister of Jone (How) Coats. John Goodrich was about forty when he married Margery How, that is, if he were his father's eldest son, and as he was undoubtedly his father's heir and the law of primogeniture was strong in England, there can be no doubt that he was the oldest of the sons. He was probably born in his mother's parish and if so, the law compelled his baptism there. The fact of John Sr.'s age coupled with the other fact that it is nearly impossible to have his son John, also undoubtedly the eldest son, born of the marriage to Margery, because of the birth of William-the-elder, in 1617, points to an earlier marriage. It is possible, but not probable, that he was Margery's son."
