The Immigrant Family

Unfortunately we do not know definitely the head of the immigrant family and of whom the family consisted, except for Conrad, his sister, Catherine, and the husband of Mary, whom it is believed was Peter.  Conrad was born in Germany on Nov. 29th, 1756, and according to his own statement he was still living in Germany at the age of about six, which then would have been November 1762. Since the Revolutionary War started in 1776, which terminated all immigration until it ended on Nov. 30th, 1782, since all ports were blockaded by the British, and since the Goodners were living in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War period, then it is evident that their time of arrival in this country was between the years 1763 and 1776, an interval of 13 years.  If the eldest son and child of Mary Goodner was born in North Carolina in 1775, as evidence indicates–Walter was born in that year–it would mean that the family was residing there by then. Conrad states that his mother was living when he was twelve years of age, which would have been 1768, but he did not state where she was living.

Having established the approximate time of arrival of the family in America, the next question is whom did the family consist of, no record of which exists.  But from records found in Orange and Guilford Counties in North Carolina, and from information gathered from family papers, it has been possible to create the structure of the family which appears logical, and it is to be hoped correct.

We find among the records in Guilford County and in Orange County , North Carolina, two John Goodners, a Peter Goodner, Mary Goodner, two WaIters, Jacob, Henry and Conrad.

One of the John Goodners was deceased by 1784. We have but one reference to him, but this one reference sheds a great deal of light on the possible family structure and thus aids tremendously in creating a hypothetical chart of the immigrant family.  In the Minute Books for the August 1784 Term, Page 12, in Guilford County, there appears the following:

"Ordered that a bill of sale given by John Goodner, dec'd, to Daniel Gillespie remain in the hands of the clerk, as it is suggested the same was extorted in an unlawful manner."

The use of the expression "extorted in an unlawful manner" suggests that John Goodner may have been quite elderly and senile and not in full possession of his faculties, that his lack of reasoning was imposed upon by Daniel Gillespie. Possibly due to the complaint of his children, the above mentioned action was taken; it appears that the action of the Court was permanent, since further search of the Minute Books reveal no other reference to it. No earlier references to the family exist.  The Court records prior to the Battle of Guilford Court House in 1781 were destroyed, which is to be regretted since they may have revealed valuable data on the family.

The implication of old age and senility, and the fact that he was deceased by 1784, lends great support to the supposition that this John Goodner was the head of the immigrant family, and the father of John, Jr., Peter, Conrad, and Catherine.  In order to distinguish between the two Johns we will call him "senior."

The John Goodner whose name appears on the 1779 Tax list of Orange County, North Carolina, may have been John, Senior, and most likely was. These tax lists are on file in the Hall of Records of the State of North Carolina in Raleigh.  They are very incomplete, both in the annual returns and in the record of the individual property owners.  The history of the county reveals that as early as 1768, and perhaps earlier, many of the inhabitants refused to make tax returns, and absented themselves from home when the tax assessor made his rounds.  There was strong objections to paying taxes because of the feeling that they were unjustly high and that some of the County officers were collecting them unlawfully.  In 1771 Edmund Fanning was Register of Deeds and he was widely hated.  Out of all this grew the "Regulator" movement, which culminated in a pitched battle between the Regulators and the troops of Gov. Tryon on May 16, 1771, along the Great Alamance Creek, in which the Regulators were defeated.  Some of them were tried and hanged.  We do not know if any of the Goodners were involved in this movement or not, or even if they were in sympathy with them.  One of the leaders in this battle and who was afterwards hanged was -Peter Goertner.  His family is not to be confused with the Goodners.

There are two deeds on file in Guilford County, copies of which will be produced later, which show a "second" John Goodner, with wife Annie, and whose "son and heir" was Walter Goodner.  Both John and Annie were deceased by 1796, the year in which Walter sold what apparently was the home place to a Peter Tickle, whose son, John, was witness to the deed.  John and Annie were still living in 1787 when they sold a 400 acre tract of land to Andrew Smith, two of whose daughters by the way marrying sons of Jacob Daniel Scherrer, thus becoming sisters-in-law to the wife of Conrad Goodner, whose wife was Elizabeth Scherrer.  This John, whom we shall term "junior", died then sometime between the years 1787 and 1796, and since his name does not appear in the 1790 census it would appear that he was deceased prior to the time the census was taken.  It is felt he was the eldest son of John, Sr., it being the usual custom of the times to name the first born son, John.

Peter Goodner, whose name appears on the scene but once and that in the Revolutionary War records of North Carolina and who was deceased by 1788, and perhaps as early as 1783 or 1784, was apparently the husband of Mary Goodner, whose name appears as head of a household in the 1790 census. Since it is known that the children of Mary were first cousins to those of Conrad, it then follows that the husband of Mary, whom we assume to have been Peter, were brothers.  Judging from the fact that the sons of Peter and Mary were born quite early, Walter being born in 1775, it is evident that Peter was some years older than Conrad.  It is felt therefore that he was the second son of John, Senior.

Conrad Goodner, born November 29^th, 1756, apparently came next in line, with Catherine, the only known daughter, coming next.

Based on the above suppositions, and it is well to remember that they are strictly suppositions, since no proof exists, the following hypothetical chart has been developed of what the family structure appears to have been.

1a    John Goodner, Sr, (Johann Gűttener) born Germany about 1720.  Deceased, Guilford County, North Carolina, about 1783/4.  Wife (living at least as late as 1768) from Germany to America, 1762–1774, and to North Carolina by 1774.

1b    John Goodner, Jr, born Germany about 1745.  Deceased by 1796.  Married Annie.

1c    Walter Goodner.

2b      Peter Goodner, born about 1747–1750, Germany; deceased by 1783/8.  Married Mary; died 1796.

1c     Walter Goodner (1775–1864).

2c    Jacob Goodner (1776–1839).

3c    Henry Goodner (1777– [date unknown]).

4c    Elizabeth Goodner (1778– [date unknown]).

5c    Mary (Polly) Goodner.

3b    Conrad Goodner (1756-1837) born Germany.  Married Elizabeth Scherrer (1765-1839).

1c    John Goodner (1783–1861).

2c    Sarah Goodner (1786–1872).

3c    David Goodner (1788–1848).

4c    Jacob Goodner (1790–1859}.

5c    James Goodner (1792–1883).

6c    Jane Ann Goodner (1794– [date unknown]).

7c    Benjamin Goodner (1795–1863).

8c    Hannah Grinade Goodner (1796–1814).

9c    Godfrey Goodner (1798–1860).

10c    Francis Acuff Goodner (1799–1853).

11c    Elijah Goodner (1804–1892).

12c    Elizabeth Goodner (1806–1839).

4b    Catherine Goodner (about 1758– [date unknown]).  Married William Jackson.

1c    Andrew Jackson, (about 1790–1800).

2c    Mary Jackson (1795 -1879).

3c    Nancy Jackson (1798–1845).

4c    George Jackson (about 1799).

5c    John Jackson (about 1800– [date unknown]).

6c    Elizabeth Jackson (1802/3–1863).

Each of the above branches will be taken up under their separate headings, but before proceeding to that, it will be of interest to the reader to know something of the causes of the great German emigration from Germany to America, to have some knowledge of the terrible hardships and suffering incidental to their journey, and of the conditions as they found them on their arrival in America.

As far as Germany was concerned, the causes of the emigration were several, some of which applied to the Palatinate in greater degree than to other sections of the country.  Probably the most compelling of all was economic.  The great majority of those who left the Palatinate were farmers.  Most of the farms were small, taxes extremely high, and enforced labor was demanded by the ruling princes, as much as two days a week, for such purposes as aiding in the chase or in the hunt.  Thus it was most difficult to make a living, and in fact many were reduced to the point of almost serfdom.  In this connection, please read the letter of George Theobold Scherrer in Ober-bets-bach, Germany, written in the year 1764, to his brother, Jacob Daniel Scherrer, in America, shown in the Appendix under the heading of the Scherrer family.

Another cause of primary importance was distaste of military duty, which apparently was the lot of all in their youth, later being subject to call at any time as long as they were able bodied.  The Palatinate, being in the natural pathway between France and Germany, was for a thousand years the scene of strife, pillage, and devastation, the latest period of devastation prior to the great emigration to America, was in 1680–1690 by the French King, Louis, who claimed the territory.  In 1697 for a sum of one million Francs he abandoned his claim, and for a period of years the Palatinate was to see peace, and there was peace except for religious trouble.

The great majority of the inhabitants of the Palatinate were Protestants, but the governing family in 1685 were Roman Catholics.  The ruler, Philip William, gave equal rights to all, but under his son and successor, John William, the Protestants were oppressed and deprived of many off their civil rights.  It was only by the intervention of Prussia and Brunswick later that they received redress.  In 1742 the ruling prince was Charles Theodore, Count palatine of Sulzbach, a cadet of the house of Zweibrűcken-Newburg.  He was considered a man of culture and educated tastes and under his reign the country again became prosperous.  But the seed of discontent had been sown, and the harvest was the great desire for the religious freedom that the new world offered.

So the causes of the emigration from Germany to America can be summed up in one large package, the great hunger to improve one's lot in the world economically, physically, mentally and in freedom to worship God without hindrance.

Interest in the new world became so intense and the emigration so heavy that the ruling princes became alarmed and instituted measures to reduce it as much as possible, in many cases threatening to confiscate the property of all who left, leaving them destitute. land in the new country could almost be had for the asking, and for land starved people that appeal was tremendous.

Earlier, in the latter part of the 17th century and the early part of the 18th century, Penn's agents were active in Germany, telling the people of the cheap lands across the sea. They were told that 500 Pounds would buy 5000 acres in "Penn's Sylvania" subject to only an annual quit rent of one shilling per acre, and that smaller tracts of 200 acres were available, and that land could be rented also.

The first Germans to go to America was a group led by Francis Daniel Pasotrius in 1683.  They landed in Philadelphia that year. later came German Quakers, Mennonites, German Baptist Brethren, called Dunkers, and other sects as New Moaners, Members of the Society of the Women of the Wilderness, the Mountain Men, River Brethren, etc.  In the early 18th century there arrived members of the German Reformed Church, Brethrens, often called "Church People", these it is said to have been mostly of peasant stock.  Some who did not have passage came over as "Redemptioners", and indentured servants.  The Moravians under Count Zinzendorf arrived in 1740.

Practically all of these Germans arrived at the port of Philadelphia, which by the way was the only port of entry where the immigrants were required to take the Oath of Allegiance, after first submitting to a medical examination. From the years 1727 to 1775 inclusive, there arrived in Philadelphia a total of 324 ships bringing immigrants.  Of these the Captain's lists of only 138 are in existence, leaving the lists of 186 ships missing.  The most complete record of the 138 ships is in Diffenberger's German Immigration, in list C.  In many cases this list shows the signature of the immigrant.

After taking the Oath of Allegiance or Oath of Abjuration, the immigrants moved on to the so-called German counties in Pennsylvania,–Lancaster, Berks, York, and Adams.  Some probably stayed in Philadelphia briefly, some stayed in Chester County, and probably some moved to the State of Delaware.  Those who moved to Pennsylvania after 1750 found all the better land taken, some of which could be bought at a high price.  These people were not one to try and eke out an existence on hilly lands; they wanted good bottomland with its rich soil.  That being already taken and not having the money to purchase what to them was high priced land, with the Allegheny Mountains preventing travel westward, that being excluded anyway by the constant danger of Indian warfare, they looked south for their future home and there went many thousands of German families, through Virginia, where some remained, and on to northern North Carolina, many settling in the counties of Orange and Rowan, which at that time included a considerably greater territory than at present.  Travel was by wagons and oxen.

It is thought that the Goodners were among these Germans, or Pennsylvania Dutch, but we are not sure.  There were other ports of entry besides Philadelphia, and many Germans landed in New York, possibly Boston, also Baltimore, Charleston, and Savannah.  There are some in the family who feel that the Goodners landed at Charleston.  At any rate we find them in Orange County, North Carolina, prior to the Revolutionary War, among those of German birth who did migrate there from Pennsylvania.

As an additional matter of interest and information, the reader might like to know something of the terrible hardships, suffering, disease, and death that accompanied the voyage to America from the borne place in Germany.  A good description of this is contained in Gottlieb Mittleberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750, translated from the German by Carl Theo. Bien. (Philadelphia, John James McVey, 1888).  The following excerpts and quotations are from VoI. 1.

"The journey to Pennsylvania fell naturally into three parts.  The first part, and by no means the easiest, was the journey down the Rhine to Rotterdam, or to some other port.  This journey lasts from the beginning of May to the end of October, fully half a year, amid such hardships as no one is able to describe adequately with their misery.  (Note: The time required–six months–covers the complete journey to America. Author.)  The cause is because the Rhine boats from Heilbronn to Holland have to pass by 26 custom houses, at all of which the ships are examined, which is done when it suits the convenience of the custom-house officials.  In the meantime the ships with their people are detained so long, so that the passengers have to spend much money.  The trip down the Rhine lasts therefore, four, five or even six weeks.  Because things are very dear there, the poor people have to spend nearly all they have during that time.”

The second stage of the journey was from Rotterdam to one of the English ports.  Most of the ships called at Cowes on the Isle of Wight.  In England, there was a delay of one or two weeks, when the ships were waiting either to be passed or for favorable winds.  When the ships for the last time had weighed their anchors at Cowes or some other port in England, then writes Mittleberger, the real misery begins with the long voyage.  For from there the ships, unless they have good winds, must often sail eight, nine, ten to twelve weeks before they reach Philadelphia.  But even with the best winds the voyage lasts seven weeks.

The third stage of the journey, or the ocean voyage proper, was marked by much suffering and hardships.  The passengers, being packed densely like herrings, as Mittleberger describes it, without proper food or water, were soon subject to all sorts of disease, such as dysentery, scurvy, typhoid, and small pox.  Children were the first to be attacked and died in great numbers.  Mittleberger reports the deaths of 32 children on his ship; of the heartless cruelty practiced he gives the following example: “One day, just as we had a heavy gale, a woman in our ship, who was to give birth and could not under the circumstances of the storm, was pushed through the porthole and dropped into the sea, because she was far in the rear of the ship and could not be brought forward."

Rupp, in his History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, page 273 states:

"About this year (1738), many immigrants from the Palatinate settled in Brecknock Township.  In the Pennsylvania Gazette of October 26, 1738, this item appeared: 'Last Saturday arrived here the ship Davy from Holland with Palatinates.  The Captain with both mates and 160 passengers died on the passage, and the Carpenter brought in the vessel.  Most of the ships which bring Dutch passengers this year have been visited with a sickness that has carried away a great number of Swiss'. Turning to Vol. 17, 2^nd Series of the Pennsylvania Archives, page 169 we find that this ship, Davy, was not Dutch but German, and that it came from Amsterdam.  The number of passengers was given as 94, indicating that two-thirds of the passengers died en route.”

It is difficult, if not impossible, for us of this age to comprehend and appreciate the suffering and misery these people endured in making the voyage to America.  Great indeed must have been their desire, and determination, to go to this new land to surmount the fears of illness and doubtful chances of survival of which they must have been fully aware.  Their hearts must have been stout, their will great, and their belief in God supreme.  Such were our forebears.

In the publication The Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, a copy of which was found in the Court House in Hillsboro, North Carolina, appeared the following, which was copied by Mrs. Lenna Goodner Goit, and to whom I am greatly indebted for it:

"In the civil and political history of North Carolina, the Germans have not been prominent in the past, and are only now, 1769–1771, looking up in this respect, as the entire German population have outgrown the use of the German tongue,–in their pulpits no longer is it heard, nor have they German schools. With their use of the English language they are taking a more important part in the affairs of the State.  Nothing better shows the character and patriotism of the Germans of the Reformed Church than their conduct when the rally to arms was made by the Continental Congress.  In all the colonies a full proportion of this people swelled the ranks of the patriot army.  This spirit of liberty was characteristic with the Germans, who in Switzerland, the Palatinate or in France, had suffered for conscience sake, wherever they settled in the new world.  The instinct of freedom was an inheritance with them . . . a people that had forsaken all and fled to the wilderness, with the hope to enjoy freedom to worship God, could not be made the creatures of tyrannical government such as that of George Ill of England.  At this day the descendants of these are asserting themselves in all wakes of life in their native state; thousands of this race are today scattered South and West over this great country, and whenever they go their honesty, industry, and law abiding character tell on the character of the community.  It has been mentioned that the Reformed (German) churches in North Carolina are, owing to their number, weakness and the paucity of ministers, divided into several post-charges, and of these we propose to gather what we can of their ventures and history.”