The surname Goodwin, meaning “God’s friend,” originated in medieval times in England. Thomas Putman Goodwin’s ancestors were spirited risk-takers: early planters, seafarers, fishermen, and entrepreneurs. Their story is one of determination, capability, and courage. Thomas is a Mayflower descendant of Stephen Hopkins through Elizabeth (Kenney) Goodwin, the sixth-generation daughter-in-law of Thomas’s immigrant ancestor, Daniel Goodwin of Yoxford, Suffolk, England. Stephen Hopkins of Hampshire County, England, another pioneer ancestor, was not only a planter of Plymouth, Massachusetts, but an adventurer who had years before sailed to Jamestown, Virginia, aboard the Sea Venture as a minister’s clerk. Daniel Goodwin was well-established in the town of Kittery, Province of Maine, by 1652. Daniel married Margaret Spencer, daughter and granddaughter of two of the earliest settlers there. Their descendants migrated from Maine to New Hampshire, then to Nova Scotia as original grantees, finally returning to New England and eventually settling in New Jersey and Massachusetts. The last section of this book includes the allied lines of Daniel Goodwin: the Kenney and Nickerson families were some of the oldest on Cape Cod, Massachusetts; the Nickerson immigrant ancestor was the first English settler of today’s town of Chatham. Daniel’s story begins with his English ancestors and continues to the present day, following one line of American descendants for fourteen generations. Surnames covered include Goodwin, Godbold, Derehaugh, Chadbourne, Spencer, Kenney, Nickerson, Hopkins.

By Nancy G. Bernard with Christopher C. Child

8-1/4 x 10 -1/4 hardcover, 276 pages, illustrated

Published by American Ancestors in March 2024