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When I first began researching my family over 40 years ago, I had a Family Group Sheet showing that John William Goudie was born in Ayr, Scotland and he married Eliza Coombs in Pilley’s Island, NL. I later crossed out the Ayr birth, but my mom and her cousin, Neal Wells, felt that the family had originated in Ayr.
Although he definitely went by the name of John Goudie, I changed his name to William John Goudie because in my grandparents’ marriage record, he is shown as “Wm. Goudie (deceased).” He lived from December 14, 1859 to February 19, 1908, dying from tuberculosis in Pilley’s Island.
When my grandfather, John and Eliza’s son, James William Goudie, enlisted into WWI, correspondence was being sent to Eliza in Grand Falls, where my mother is from. My mother was born in 1928, so she knew her grandmother, as did her cousin’s family, as Eliza lived until April 2, 1956, dying in Grand Falls. My grandfather worked at the mill there. Eliza Coombs was born on February 16, 1860 in Round Harbour, NL.
I have spent a great deal of time trying to track down my great-grandfather John’s (I’ll call him John) birth record, and birthplace. I have a crazy new hypothesis that I’m working on. In the 1990s, I was contacted by Herb Goudie, who had at first thought that his John Blundon Goudie was the same man as my John Goudie. But, we came to realize that we were not connected and so we let that go. My family was a separate line of Notre Dame Bay Goudies. Herb did send me a Family Group Record, also noting that his family may have originated in Scotland. He thought perhaps near Glasgow. And I guess Neal Wells told him that John Goudie was born in Ayr, but he had also crossed that out on the Family Group Sheet that he had sent to me.
However, my mother is now 98 years old and I finally got her to let me submit her DNA to Ancestry.ca. I think she must have inherited Eliza’s longevity gene. Much to my surprise, I found Herb Goudie on my mother’s one-to-many list on GEDmatch. I searched through my own list, and he was on it as well. So, about 4.6 generations back from my mother, Herb and my family share an ancestor. I concluded that my family must have originated in Lower Island Cove, and then at some point moved north.
My mother, myself and Herb all have a small amount of Native American and Arctic DNA, but it is nowhere near being strong enough for us to be a part of the Labrador Goudies. Herb’s is even smaller than that of myself and my mother. Our indigenous DNA didn’t even show up on Ancestry.ca, but I finally found it on GEDmatch.
So, here comes my crazy theory. I found a George Goudy, dying at about the age of 73 in 1819 in Lower Island Cove, so I wondered if he could be the common ancestor of my family and Herb Goudie’s family. I went looking in Ayr, and found a George Goudie, who was born in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland on April 24, 1707. Depending on his actual death date, in 1819, he would have been 73 years old. And, I could not find a marriage record, or a death record for George Goudie in Scotland. Maybe my family did originate in Scotland after all, and maybe so did Herb’s.
It’s a pretty raw theory at the moment, but I’m working on it. The problem is that I cannot locate the parents of my family’s William John / John William Goudie anywhere, so there’s a hole in there that I can’t seem to fill. We could be descended from a different Goudie, but all I know is that if we share an ancestor with Herb Goudie, before his family married into the Blundon family, then it is very likely that my Notre Dame Bay Goudies first landed in Newfoundland in Lower Island Cove. Our John Goudie could have been the one to have moved north. He could not have been born in Pilley’s Island, as it wasn’t a community yet when he was born in 1859. I’m still working on it, but at the moment, it looks like this:
William Goudy, born abt. 1685 in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, died in Newtonards, Down, Ireland. Spouse: Elizabath Shaw, born 1662 in Ayrshire, Strathclyde, Scotland.
John Goudy, born on April 24, 1707 in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, died in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. Spouse: Elspa Bredding, born May 1708 in Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland, died in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland.
George Goudie, born in 1730 in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, died in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. Spouse: Janet Smith, born in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, and died in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland.
George Goudie, possibly born on April 6, 1745 in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, died in 1819 at the age of 73, in Lower Island Cove, NL. His spouse is unknown.
George Goudie, born on March 1, 1773 in Lower Island Cove, NL, died on November 16, 1836 in Lower Island Cove, NL. Spouse: Ann, born in 1775.
George Goudie, born in 1808 in Lower Island Cove, NL, died in 1874 in Lower Island Cove, NL. His spouse is unknown.
Unknown Goudie – parents of William John / John William Goudie.
William “John” Goudie, born on December 15, 1859, perhaps in Lower Island Cove, NL, died on February 19, 1908 in Pilley’s Island, NL. Spouse: Eliza Coombs, born on February 15, 1860 in Round Harbour, NL, died on April 2, 1956 in Grand Falls, NL. She married Robert Oldford on September 11, 1919 in Grand Falls, and she is buried as Eliza Olford in Grand Falls.
James William Goudie, born on March 5, 1890 in Little Bay, NL, died on July 13, 1957 in North Sydney, NS. Spouse: Sarah Leach, born on August 5, 1896 in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, died on November 26, 1961 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
What do you think? In case you’re wondering what my grandfather was doing in Sydney, Nova Scotia when he passed away, and was buried there in the Field of Honour, he and my grandmother, Sarah Leach Goudie, were living with my parents in Toronto. They were on their way back home to Grand Falls when my grandfather had a heart attack. North Sydney is where you get the ferry back to the island. The poor man never made it home.
Best regards,
Leslie SwitzerWell, never mind my list of people. It has been tweaked quite a bit at this point. However, the bottom line is that my Goudie line must not come from Labrador. If I share a common ancestor with Herb, right around the time that the Goudies landed in Lower Island Cove, then my line must come from there as well. My family does not have enough indigenous Arctic DNA to indicate a line from Labrador. They have the DNA to indicate a Newfoundland indigenous ancestor – the wife of a Goudie in Lower Cove. Or even two wives. But not the high numbers that a beginning in Labrador would indicate.
My family’s oral history is that we originated in Ayr. So these possible ancestors still make sense:
George Goudie, born February 3, 1712 in Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Scotland. Died in 1781 in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. Spouse: Jonet Goudie – married Oct. 8 1738 in Ayr. George’s father’s name was William Goudie.
George’s Son:
George Goudie, born on September 6, 1745 in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland. Possibly emigrated to Newfoundland and died on March 17, 1819 in Lower Island Cove, Conception Bay, NL. His wife is unknown. This is who I think might be the common ancestor that my line shares with Herb. He sits in the appropriate number of generations back.The problem lies in trying to identify the generations between George 1745-1819 and my great grandfather, William John Goudie, known as John Goudie, who died in Pilley’s Island in 1908. There are probably other sons of George that could lead to my line. But at least I finally have a possible starting point.
If it wasn’t for the DNA, I would be looking in Labrador again, but the DNA keeps me in Newfoundland.
After doing a lot of research on my Goudie family lately, I am taking a break from trying to find people who may not be findable. This is my final list that I have been researching as if it is a full-time job, with overtime.
William Goudie — spouse Agnes Slowan (m. 11 Nov 1710, Dalrymple; b. Ochiltree, Scotland; father William Slowan).
George Goudie (b. 3 Feb 1712 Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Scotland; d. 20 Mar 1781 Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland) — spouse Jonet Goudie (m. 8 Oct 1738 Ayr; father listed as John Muir; b. ~1718).
George Goudie (b. 6 Sep 1745 Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland; d. 17 Mar 1819 Lower Island Cove, Conception Bay, NL) — spouse is unknown.
Goudie (b. 1770–1780 Newfoundland & Labrador)
Goudie (b. 1805–1810 Newfoundland & Labrador)
Goudie (b. 1825–1838 Newfoundland & Labrador)
William John Goudie “John” (b. 14 Dec 1859 NL; d. 19 Feb 1908 Pilley’s Island, NL) — spouse Eliza Coombs (b. 15 Feb 1860 Round Harbour, NL; d. 2 Apr 1956 Grand Falls, NL)
James William Goudie “Jim” (b. 5 Mar 1890 Pilley’s Island, NL; d. 13 Jul 1957 North Sydney, Cape Breton, NS) — spouse Sarah “Sadie” Leach (b. 5 Aug 1896 Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland; d. 26 Nov 1961 Toronto, ON). Note: James and Sarah did not live in North Sydney. They had been living with my mother, their daughter Stella, in Toronto and were on their way back home to Newfoundland. James had a heart attack in North Sydney and never made it back home. He is buried in North Sydney in a Field of Honour, with others who served.There has been a lot of confusion over the years about the Goudie family, especially because there are two completely separate Goudie lines in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This post explains my own Goudie line, who we are, and who we are not, in simple language.
1. My Goudie Family Comes From the Newfoundland Line (1745):
My Goudie ancestors descend from:
George Goudie (1745–1819)
Born in Ayrshire, Scotland Settled in Lower Island Cove, Conception Bay, Newfoundland
His descendants later moved into:
Lower Island Cove
Western Bay / Northern Bay
Salmon Cove
Bay de Verde
Bonavista Bay
Notre Dame Bay
Exploits / Pilley’s Island
This is the line my family belongs to.2. DNA Evidence Confirms This Line Clearly:
Doing research via DNA has changed everything for my family research. My DNA matches form a large, consistent cluster of Newfoundland coastal families, including:
Young, Bernard, Coombs, Drover, Gosse, Moores, Parsons, Snow, Butt, King, Morgan, Tucker, Hibbs, Garland, Sparkes, Crocker, Davis, Russell, Campbell, Penney, and others.
These matches all fall in the early–mid 1800s generation, which is exactly where the Newfoundland Goudies lived.
This is the same cluster seen in other descendants of the Newfoundland Goudie line.
3. My Family Also Matches Herb Goudie:
My mother matches Herb Goudie at an estimated 4.6 generations to our shared ancestor.
This is exactly the right distance for two descendants of George Goudie (1745).
Our DNA confirms that, except for our shared ancestor, my line is not part of the Labrador Goudies, or the Blundon Goudie line.
4. Who We Are Not: We Do NOT Belong to the Blundon Goudie Line, or the Labrador
Goudie Line:
The Blundon line descends from:
George Goudie Jr. (born 1773)My DNA shows:
No matches to Blundon
No matches to Blunden
No matches to Kelloway, Pynn, Efford, Mugford
No matches to Labrador surnames like Michelin, Voisey, Shiwak, Baikie, etc.This proves my family is not part of the Labrador Goudie or the Blundon Goudie lines.
We are not related to Joseph Goudie of Labrador. Although John Goudie and Eliza Coomb’s daughter, Lily Ann, did marry the son of Joseph Goudie. But they were not cousins, unless Joseph Goudie was not actually from Labrador and was also from Newfoundland.We are not connected to Labrador Inuit or Innu ancestry.
5. The Simple Takeaway:
My Goudie family belongs to the Newfoundland line founded by George Goudie (1745).
We do not belong to the Labrador Goudies, or the Blundon Goudie line founded by George Goudie Jr. (1773).
DNA confirms this clearly, including the 4.6 generation match to Herb Goudie.
My Goudie family comes from the Newfoundland Goudie line, founded by George Goudie (1745–1819) of Lower Island Cove. DNA shows strong matches to many Newfoundland coastal families (Young, Gosse, Moores, Snow, King, Morgan, Penney, etc.).
I also match Herb Goudie at 4.6 generations, which confirms we share the same Newfoundland ancestor.
My family does not belong to the Blundon line, founded by George Goudie Jr. (1773). I have no DNA matches to Blundon, Blunden, Kelloway, Pynn, Efford, Mugford, or any Labrador Inuit/Innu surnames on the Labrador Goudie line.
This proves that the Newfoundland Goudies and Labrador Goudies are two separate families, and my line belongs to the Newfoundland branch. And then my Goudie line branched off after George 1745, with Herb’s line descending from George 1773.
I may not be able to find my missing family members at this time, or maybe never, but I hope that this clears up the confusion and shows exactly where my Goudie family fits. My Indigenous ancestry is Newfoundland Mi’kmaq-linked, and not Labrador Inuit/Innu. Maybe I can finally show who my family is, and who they are not, even if I can’t know their names. And I hope this helps other people researching John Goudie and Eliza Coombs when the internet tries to tell them that “John had a brother named Joseph, who was from Labrador.” This seems to be a very persistent myth, as it happens every time I’m trying to do research.
Additional Family Note: I’ve noticed that there is an online notation that in the 1921 Grand Falls Census, two boys named John – 8, and Genge – 6, were living with the family. These two boys are actually my uncles John Goudie and George Goudie. The census taker recorded their ages as 8 and 6, instead of their actual ages of 2 and about 3 months. This is a major error, and has caused a lot of confusion. If these boys were real, then where are my uncles? It would have read: John – 8, Genge (or Benge) – 6, John – 2, and George – 3 months. But they’re not there. There is only John – 8 and George (not Genge) – 6. By the 1935 Census, they appear with their correct ages. I hope that clears this error up as well. There are no phantom extra boys named John and Genge. Thank you for listening.
Best regards,
Leslie Switzer
Just one last little family tidbit.
Over the years, when I’ve asked my mother to tell me stories about her family, she has always said that they really didn’t talk much about the past. So, while I can still ask one of the last people who remembers Eliza Coombs, if not the last person, I asked my mom was Eliza was like. She said, “I don’t remember the older generation addressing us children much. We were to be seen and not heard.” I said, “Oh. Okay, then.”
It was a different time. They didn’t dwell on the past. They just got on with things that needed to be done.
I keep thinking about how much I wish I could talk to Herb about all of this. He would have loved it. I can picture him saying, “Ha! I knew we were related.” In the 1990s, we had given up any idea of being related at all. We didn’t realize that we are, but that it was just much farther back than we thought. We descend from a man from Scotland, born 281 years ago. Not someone more recent. It’s exciting, but I just wish I could have shared it with him.
I thought I was done here, but a new discovery has me pivoting somewhat. I went through my old genealogy binders from many years ago and discovered that I actually had the sibling list for John Goudie all along. It looks like I gave myself a big clue when I said, “… unless Joseph Goudie was not actually from Labrador and was also from Newfoundland.”
It appears that poor Joseph Goudie was indeed my great grand uncle. If he had a home in Labrador, it was only for seasonal work. My family was never in Labrador long enough to mix with the Labrador lines, if they were there at all, or if that had simply been an assumption. I cannot discount that my DNA shows that I am absolutely not a member of the famous Labrador Goudies.
Closely investigating DNA matches on Ancestry shows that every match from my Goudie line stems from George Goudie, born in 1745 and died in Lower Island Cove in 1819. The DNA matches that I have all stem from George Goudie Jr. born in 1773, but I show as a side match from another son of George Goudie 1745, with George Sr. being the common ancestor of us all. I cannot dispute that now. DNA has proven it to me over and over again, every time I have investigated it. So that much is clear now. My Goudies originate in Ayr, Scotland, as has always been my family’s oral history. The information most-likely came from Eliza Coombs herself.
So, the sibling list that I have from years ago comes from my mother, and two of my mother’s cousins, one in St. John’s, and one in Grand Falls, whose family Eliza Coombs lived with until her death in 1956. They are all grand children of John and Eliza, so I deem it to be trustworthy. They corroborate one another. These are the actual siblings of John Goudie, born 1859. I still don’t know exactly where he was born. My original Family Group sheet says Ayr, which is not accurate. He was not from Ayr himself, but his family originated there. I still believe it likely that his birth may have been in the missing pages from the Twillingate records, from 1853 through 1861.
Unknown Goudie and Unknown wife (may have been a Young, given the number of Young DNA matches that I have and how close the DNA matches point to this generation). Their children:
Joseph Goudie, born Abt. 1853 – 19 Feb 1886. Wife Esther, born about 1853. Died sometime between 1911 and 1921. She was in the 1911 Census, but by the 1921 Census, her second husband had re-married. I have not found her maiden name.
William John Goudie, born 14 Dec 1859 – 19 Feb 1908. Wife, Eliza Coombs, born 15 Feb 1860 – 2 Apr 1956.
Hannah Goudie, born about 1861 – 4 Apr 1920, Tilt Cove. I’m not sure yet if this is my Hannah, but so far I have not found another Hannah belonging to a different Goudie family. But I found a Hannah Goudie, who married Michael Viccars on 18 Dec 1892 in Tilt Cove. Michael died 28 Sep 1917 in a mining accident. He was Catholic and my family were Methodists, but that doesn’t discount him. I couldn’t find any children for them. If anyone knows if this Hannah belongs to the Blundon line, please let me know. Otherwise, for now, I’m tentatively counting her as my family’s Hannah.
Lilly Goudie – I can find no other information for her. John and Eliza’s daughter Lily Ann seems to have been named after her Aunt Lilly.
Mary Goudie – I can find no other information about her. I did find a Mary Goudie working as a servant in Albany, New York in 1880, putting her birth at about 1855, which would fit our family. But I can find no other information to confirm whether or not this is her.
George Goudie – I can no information about him at all. All George Goudies seem to belong to the Blundon line, none of which fit my family’s George Goudie.
Additional Note: I have 43 DNA matches on Ancestry, where my family has George Goudie (1745-1819) from Lower Island Cove as a common ancestor with the person, but I descend from an unknown brother of the guy everyone else descends from, who would be George Goudie Jr, born in 1773. My ancestor is showing as an unknown brother.
I’ve noticed that in the 1911 Census for North West River, Labrador, there is a family with very similar names to my family. The members of the Labrador family are a little younger than mine and their Joseph was still alive in 1911, having a wife named Sarah and children. Since my family’s Joseph had a wife named Esther, whose maiden name was probably Williams, and she was from Table Bay, Labrador, I can see where a lot of the Labrador confusion happened. It’s quite possible that my family’s Joseph was indeed a floater fisherman, fishing seasonally in Labrador and he met Esther there. Or her family may have moved to Newfoundland’s Twillingate region for work.
One name has really caught my attention. In the 1871 Lovell’s Directory of Stocking Harbour, there is a man recorded as Thomas Goudie. I’ve found that some researchers believe that Thomas didn’t exist and that it was actually Amos Goudie who was recorded in Stocking Harbour. That’s one of my biggest concerns – that my family members often seem to appear out of nowhere in a marriage record, or a recorded death, and when people find a Goudie that they don’t recognize they tend to want to place them into the more well-known lines. I fear my family’s line disappearing from history simply because people can’t figure out who they are. But we do exist and we were in that same region as well.
So, this is what very much caught my attention about Thomas Goudie of Stocking Harbour. Records state that there was a population of 100 people. But, there on the list of names, appears Gilbert Noble. Gilbert’s son, John Thomas Noble, just happens to have married Joseph Goudie’s widow, Esther Goudie. I find it to be very interesting that Thomas Goudie and Gilbert Noble were fishing together in Stocking Harbour.
Also, Hannah Goudie married in Tilt Cove, which is not far from Stocking Harbour. What if this Thomas Goudie is actually the elusive great, great grandfather that I have searched for, for so long? My family members would have been between about 10 years old to 18 years old at that time. Could it be? Maybe my great grandfather, John Goudie, was from Stocking Harbour, or around that area.
There is also a young girl who has caught my attention named Annie Goudie, who would have been born about 1885, and she died of consumption in 1899 in Little Bay at the age of 14. That’s exactly when my family were in Little Bay and when John and Eliza, and Joseph and Esther were having children. I don’t have that name in my records, but it has certainly caught my attention because of her age and the location that she lived in.
These are Goudies who seem to appear out of nowhere, as my family members often tend to do. It’s frustrating and yet fascinating at the same time. I always hope that one little extra nugget of information will come to light to provide answers to these mysteries. If not for me, then for future generations. But I hope that I have provided some food for thought.
There’s one thing that I forgot to mention. I also found recorded in the Pilley’s Island McAlpine’s Directory of 1904, John Goudy (Goudie), William Goudy (Goudie) and Robert Hacket (Haggett).
That would be my great grandfather William “John” Goudie, his nephew William Goudie – Joseph’s son – who was also John’s son-in-law, and Captain Robert Haggett, who is Eliza Coombs’ step-father and John’s step father-in-law. I love how you often find family members in clusters like that, working side-by-side. After working in the mines, John moved to Pilley’s Island and went back to his family’s profession of fishing. In his death record, he’s recorded as being a fisherman.
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