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The Goodenow Family Association, Inc. is a group of families descended from five Goodenows who immigrated from England in 1638 on the ship Confidence and settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The name is spelled various ways including Goodenough, Goodnough, Goodno, and Goodnow among others.
The Association, formed in 1988, publishes a quarterly newsletter, Goodenows' Ghosts, which shares news, history and lineage information about Goodenows worldwide. Back issues are available for purchase. GFA's hardcover book, Goodenows who Originated in Sudbury, Massachusetts 1638 A.D., by Theodore James Fleming Banvard (1994) was awarded second place in the 1995 Anna Ford Book Contest by the Heart of America Genealogical Society and Library, Inc.
The first 4 generations of Goodenows descended from the immigrants to Sudbury are presented on this site. The Goodenow database, containing more than 48,000 names, may be queried by e-mailing the database manager.
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In celebration of America 250, the Sudbury Historical Society (SHS) will proudly present the Sudbury Witness House Tour on Saturday, May 2nd!>
Experience some of the oldest homes in Sudbury that witnessed 1776, the momentous year of the ratification of the United States Declaration of Independence and one that recalls Sudbury’s town spirit through its famous 01776 zip code. Visit sudbury01776.org for more details and tickets.
Tickets: $40 for Historical Society members
$45 Early Bird rate (through April 30, 2026)
$50 At The Door rate
Information contributed by GFA Life member Hal Cutler:>
One of the houses on the Sudbury Witness House Tour
will be the Read/Goodnow House at 175 Landham Road.
That house was built for Joseph Read in 1770 and purchased
in 1780 by John (the Centenarian) Goodnow and his wife,
Persis Howe. John was a Revolutionary War veteran and
lived in that house until his death at age 101, in 1863.
The next owners were Nahum Goodnow and Isadora Thompson Goodnow. Nahum had the house moved from its original site at 163 Landham Road to 175 Landham Road; between 1884 and 1886, another house was built atop the foundation that was left behind at 163 Landham Road. (This is the house currently owned by Hal and Betsey Cutler.)
At some point, the Read/Goodnow house, at 175 Landham Road, was purchased by Roland Rogers Cutler, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Harrison, and they occupied the house until Roland’s death in 1986. It was then sold out of the Goodnow/Cutler family. (Roland was a Goodenow descendant through his mother, Mary Edith/Edythe Goodnow Cutler).
Wreath-laying ceremony on May 3rd at gravesite of Sibil Arms Goodnow Whitney (1788-1873) in Manhattan, KS
The Polly Ogden Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, located in Manhattan, KS, is planning a wreathlaying ceremony on May 3, 2026, at the gravesite of Sibil
Arms Goodnow Whitney, in honor of her being a "true
daughter” of the American Revolution. We’re hoping to
locate descendants of Sibil’s… We’d be honored if
descendants of Sibil’s were in attendance.
[The excerpt above is from an email received on February 6, 2026, by GFA Facebook page manager Christine BanvardFox, who has also identified and notified a current GFA member directly related to Sibil Arms Goodnow Whitney –Rosemary Scheenkloth of Markham, IL, is a 4th great granddaughter of Sibil and Maj William Goodnow.]
Background of Sibil Arms Goodnow Whitney, wife of Maj William Goodnow: she was born in Vermont on 7 Mar 1788, was married on 16 Nov 1806, and died and was buried in Kansas, in 1873. One of her 8 children was Isaac Tichenor Goodnow (1814-1894), founder of Manhattan, KS.
Lineage data for Maj William Goodnow, first husband of Sibil Arms Goodnow Whitney: Capt. Edmund Goodenow1 Capt. John2 Joseph3 Lt. Daniel/Danil4 Jesse Joseph Goodnow5 Maj William6 (1781-1828) GOODENOWS…1638 A.D., p 145 #412.
A digital copy of the full GFA database is available for purchase, by GFA members only, for $50.
You have a choice of digital medium: (1) a USB flash drive, (2) a CD, or (3) a DVD. You must also select from two different genealogy database formats: (1) in Legacy Family Tree, or (2) as a GEDCOM file.
The contents of each flash drive, CD or DVD will include: the primary database of 65,936 listings; a secondary database of persons not (yet) connected to the immigrants, with 3,055 listings; and two presentations made at the 2014 reunion – Hal Cutler’s “Puritan’s Make A Village” presentation and Robert Goodenough’s presentation on Bob Goodenow.
NOTES: (1) No software is included; purchaser is responsible for acquiring needed software. Free versions are available for both Legacy Family Tree and GEDCOM; to access full capabilities of Legacy Family Tree, users must purchase the Deluxe version. (2) For technical reasons, we cannot g uarantee that 100% of the Notes in the Legacy Family Tree file will be transferred intact into GEDCOM.
Reunions
Reunions are held every other year at various places associated with the Goodenows.
The next biennial reunion of the Goodenow Family Association will be headquartered in Sudbury, Massachusetts in July 2018. The "Early Bird" Program is July 16-18 and the Main Program is July 18-22, 2018. Reunion Coordinators are Hal and Betsey Cutler. 2018 will mark the 380th anniversary of the arrival of John, Thomas, Edmund and Ursula Goodenow in the Massachusetts Bay colony. All members are invited!
Goodenow Family Tours
It is with deep regret that the Officers and Directors of the Goodenow Family Association report the death December 26, 2017 of Carol McWain Goodenough, the wife of Robert A Goodenough and mother of Scott and Susan.
Carol was the founder of Goodenow’s Ghosts in the early 1980’s as a newsletter for the decedents of the five Goodenow siblings that immigrated to Sudbury Plantation in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 and 1639. As the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the siblings in the New World approached in 1988, Carol responded to the requests of her readers to organize a reunion in Sudbury to mark that milestone. One hundred-seventy seven persons participated at one level or another in that 1988 event. A direct outcome of that reunion was the formation of the Goodenow Family Association.
Of course, Carol and husband, Bob, were prime movers in the early years of the Association and continued to be participants in a variety of ways in the work of the Association including organization of the GFA reunion in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2014. An obituary for Carol may be found at gaylordfuneralhome.com.
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