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 Switzer