GOODWIN

Goodwin

A name that appears very prominently in eastern New Brunswick is that of Goodwin.  In 1734 Daniel Goodwin was born in Plymouth, England.  In due time he became a soldier and in 1755 he came to Chignecto as an officer in the British Army, and in the same year at the taking of Fort Gaspereau, now Fort Moncton, messages were carried from Fort Cumberland to Fort Gaspereau by Daniel Goodwin to Captain Adams of Colonel Winslow's detachment of the British Army.  For some time after the capture of the Fort and the name had been changed to Fort Moncton in honor of the Commander, Goodwin was quartered at the Fort.  One foggy morning from the Fort a sound as of voices was heard coming up the Bay Verte. He and another soldier were detailed to carry a message to Fort Cumberland, for the little garrison was afraid that the enemy was going to make an attack upon them.  In two and one-half hours the two men on foot reached Fort Cumberland a distance of 20 miles and gave the alarm but it was soon ascertained that the sound came from some Indians coming to make peace with the English. 

On another occasion he was detailed to take a party from Fort Moncton to Fort Cumberland.  He seemed to think that he was warned in a dream not to go, so he feigned illness and remained in the Fort.  The party was killed and scalped by the Indians near a brook on the Frank Trueman farm at Point de Bute. Daniel Goodwin went to Quebec with the British Army and served under General Wolfe, but he was not at the taking of Quebec.  At the close of the war he returned to Point de Bute.    Later, and at the time of the Revolutionary War during the Eddy Rebellion his house was burned but not before Mrs. Goodwin and their children had taken refuge in the Forest.  The family were given shelter in the old Fort until the rebellion was over. 

Daniel Goodwin was given a grant of 500 acres of land but he disposed of it and removed to Bay Verte.  He lived to a good old age and died in 1823 aged 89 years.  His remains rest in the old graveyard at Tidnish where he lived during the late years of his life.  He raised a large family of twelve children.  The two eldest sons served in the 104th New Brunswick Regiment that marched from Fredericton to Quebec in the winter of 1813 and took part in the Battles of Sacket Harbor and Lundy's Lane during the Anglo-American war that lasted from 1812 to 1815.  These two sons of Daniel Goodwin, later went with the British Army to England and served under the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.

Of the large family of twelve children the youngest of them, James, born December 1st 1788, settled at Bay Verte more than 120 years ago.  He had a family of six sons viz.: Robert, Knapp, Albert, Amos, William and Eben and five daughters, Olive (Mrs. Henry Hayward), Mahaley (Mrs. Fage, Hasting, N.S.), Thirza (Mrs. McElman), Abigail (Mrs. Thomas Cadman) and Celia (Mrs. Graham Walton).  William removed to Little Shemogue where he married Mary, daughter of Hopper Huddlestone, and located on part of the MacDougall property, which had been granted to John and Duncan MacDougall in 1810 and which had been transferred to Hopper Huddlestone at  a later date.

The Goodwins have filled a large place in the professional life of Canada.  One of them, a Dr. W. L. Goodwin was Professor of Chemistry and Dean of Science in Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, and another, E. P. Goodwin is a prominent Civil Engineer.  T. T. Goodwin, the well known Moncton lawyer, is a son of the late Amos Goodwin.  Dr. Wilfred Goodwin of Botsford is a son of the late Albert Goodwin.  Dr. Whitman Goodwin, a dentist of Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, is a son of the late Robert Goodwin and Dr. Wendell Goodwin, of Pugwash, N.S. is a son of the late Eben Goodwin.  Fred S. Goodwin, who occupies the homestead at Shemogue, is a son of the late William Goodwin.