Goodwin Neck
York Co, VA

One of the most beautiful spots in the Tidewater area of Virginia is the ancestral home of the Goodwin Family.  Goodwin Neck encompasses the present village of Dandy located in York Co, VA, near historical Yorktown.  The view from the neck, which extended into the York River, is absolutely breathtaking. 

"This area, locally known as Dandy, was part of the land granted to John Chew July 6, 1636, and was sold by his heirs to James Goodwin, a member of the House of Burgesses from Jamestown August 27, 1668.  The area was strategically important both to British General Charles Cornwallis and to Confederate General John B. Magruder, who erected earth redoubts at the heads of several creeks on Goodwin Neck."

The late Dick Ivy, then editor of "The Dandy Citizen", was kind enough to send me an article on the history of Dandy he wrote in September 1983.  The article entitled "Goodwin First Dandy Settler" includes wonderful information about the family.  "James Goodwin, son of London salt merchant Peter Goodwin, came to Virginia in 1650 paying the way of eight others for which he was granted 400 acres in Westmoreland County (upper Chesapeake Bay).  Samuel Chew, an heir (of original property patentee John Chew) living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, assigned the property, except for some land in the Wormley Creek area given to the first York parish church, to James Goodwin in 1660.  Goodwin became a magistrate in York County, a speaker in the  House of Burgesses and a major in the militia.  He married, the story goes, a sickly and the last of the maidens brought to the colony to be taken as wives.  The Goodwin homestead was a two-story imposing structure facing Goodwin Island on the Thorofare (where Powell Beatty lives).  People still remember the house that was torn down shortly after 1900.  Goodwin and his wife Rachel raised five sons and two daughters before she died May 23, 1666 at age 36.  Goodwin remarried an Elizabeth who evidently inherited Goodwin's 1200 acres.  The rent rolls of England listed her in York in 1704 with Peter Goodwin owning 400 acres in York.  Rachel's tombstone was broken up when a roadway was built through the Goodwin burial plot in 1945 in connection with the construction of the Pan American Refining Corporation processing plant (today's AMOCO).  Peter Goodwin became heir to the property in 1731...."

Our family descends through James Goodwin's son Peter, who inherited the Goodwin Neck land.  Peter married Rebecca Tiplady 1696 in York Co, VA.  Their son James Goodwin, born August 1704, married Diana Chisman, whose family is listed in the "Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/5 and Their Families" published by the Order of First Families of Virginia, 1607 - 1624/5.  That book indicates Diana Chisman's family to have been living in  Elizabeth City as early as 16 February 1623/4.  The young couple had only one son, John Goodwin born November 15, 1735, before Diana died.  John Goodwin married the daughter of another York County family, Elizabeth Doswell, and made his home in Hanover Co, VA.   Female Descendants of John Goodwin qualify for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution based on his Patriotic Service.

John Goodwin's son Edmund Chisman Goodwin was the first member of our family to leave Virginia.  Edmund Chisman Goodwin had married first March 30, 1798 to Betsy Ann Dickerson.  The couple had two children:  Elizabeth Doswell Goodwin & John Washington Chisman Goodwin.  After her death he married April 12, 1810 Elizabeth Waddy, daughter of William Waddy (of Louisa Co, VA) and his wife Sarah Thompson.  That couple's issue was:  Sarah Thompson Goodwin, Mildred Waddy Goodwin, Mary Garland Goodwin, John Charles Goodwin, Edmond Chisman Goodwin, and Karrenhappock Rebecca Goodwin.  

Edmund C. Goodwin was listed in "Volunteer Soldiers 1784-1811" as a Captain in the Virginia Militia with Goodwin's Company, 33rd (Mayo) in 1807. He was obviously promoted to Major during his militia career as he is listed on  the estate settlement plat for his wife's  parents, William & Sarah Waddy, as Major Edmund C. Goodwin. He was also known as Major Goodwin in Haywood Co, TN.

We know that Edmund Chisman Goodwin had moved to Haywood Co, TN at least by 1837.  He died in that county in 1849.  Family records indicate his wife Elizabeth Waddy died May 1845 in Brownsville, TN.