James Goode and Sarah Peck

     According to these records, HBC's Governor and Committee sought to establish a farm in the Red River Settlement in order to provide tallow, wool hemp and flax for the English market. In the spring of 1836, a letter was sent to Governor George Simpson, detailing these plans and explaining that a Captain George Marcus Carey had been hired to head the endeavour. He was to be accompanied by "12 to 15 English Farm Servants" as well as the families of these men. On 5 June 1836, Cpt. Carey and 12 labourers (along with their families) began a voyage on the Prince Rupert IV (Captain J.C. Grave). They arrived at York Factory on 2 October.
    The Search File contains a list of the men who were hired to work at the Experimental Farm-James Goode is among those listed. According to some of the correspondence, James Goode came from the Parish of Tidd, St. Giles, in the Country of Cambridge and Isle of Ely. He signed a five-year contract with the HBC that is dated 22 Feb 1836 and affixed with a cross (in place of a signature). The records show that he brought along with him his wife Delilah (Dalilah) and their son George. They also mention that James Goode and his family were among the 7 families who chose to remain at Red River after the Experimental Farm was abandoned in 1841.
     In addition, the Search File contains information from the Register of Baptisms, Red River Settlement, 1820-1841. According to the Register, James and Dalilah had at least two more children while at Red River: a daughter, Sarah Ann, and a son, Joseph William. They were both baptised on 28 January 1838.

It is interesting that James Junior died in Manitoba in 1847, prior to John (1849) and Martha (1851) emigrating to Australia
Austin has supplied an extensive descendant tree for John and Lucy, a bit outside the scope of this page. Similarly he has information about James Good and Delilah Scarfe/Rix. However he has pointed to a burial in the Holy Sepulchre Cambridge of James Goode aged 13 on 18 Dec 1792. No parents given but Church Warden is Samuel Goode. This looks like Samuel and Hannah’s son (baptised at Holy Sepulchre Church, Cambridge on 5th March 1780), as his age at death ties in (i.e. 12 years, 9 months from baptism to burial and probably 13 years from the birth itself)’, and therefore scuppers that connection
Quoting Austin:
     "One wonders how much interaction the families of John/Lucy and Martha/James had. And wouldn’t it be great if a letter from Canada was preserved somewhere and just waiting to be found! You are probably aware that my John had a tragic end, drowning himself in a water-tank at the age of 76, much to the shock of his then wife (2nd marriage), Eliza, who found him. He had become depressed (despondent) through gradually losing his eyesight."
A later update from Austin is of interest:
    "Just as a teaser, its possible that our James Goode was the son of Richard Gowd of Tydd St Giles. The attached is my working up of Richard’s family but note there are lots of assumptions made and missing data. Essentially, what I have done is to assume that all the records from Tydd St Giles relate to the same family. In doing so, I’ve managed to place almost all the records I can find (FamilySearch and FreeReg) into a draft relationship. In this arrangement, it appears that Richard was married twice, given that the known birth dates of his children separate them into two groups (i.e. prior and post his marriage to Jane). I can’t find any details of his first wife. Richard's speculated children (i.e. those without birth records, including James), if truely his, may not be placed in the correct order. The arrangement also suggests that James‘ marriage to Sarah Peck was his second marriage and that he possibly lost his first wife soon after marriage (no children appear). Please note that this is a working document only. Maybe in time, further records may prove or disprove parts of what I’ve put together."
Austin's research has found three possible marriages for our James Goode (ie he could have married three times)
(1) Mary b 1773 d 1803 in Tydd St Giles
(2) Sarah Peck b 1781 d 1828 Tydd St Giles, parents John Peck and Elizabeth Cragg
         She is our Marha's mother. (Martha is born in 1810)
(3) Mary Hilliard (Gowler) married in 1835 (Widow and Widower)
Link to Austin's Tree for Richard Gowd

Tydd St Giles

An interesting name. Tydd is old english for hill. But wikepedia reports the average Tydd St Giles height above sealevel is 0 meters. Which tells us something about the Fens before they were drained. Austin found some Goodes in Tydd St Mary, which is in Linconshire one and a half miles NNE of Tydd St Giles. Tydd St Giles is the northernmost settlement in Cambridgeshire. One wonders what the Goodes thought of their first Austalian summer after cold damp Tydd St Giles. Tydd St Giles is a few hundred yards from the North Level Main Drain

Further comment from Austin re James Goode's death

I’m still baffled as to why we can’t find a death record for James - if my 3-marriages scenario is correct, then he died between 1835 (birth of Sarah Ann) and 1841 (cannot find him on the census) or, what seems more likely, given that his third wife remarried in 1835 to William Abbey (there are no other Mary Good/es for Tydd St Giles (where the marriage to William Abbey took place), then James died in 1834-1835. I’ve looked through each of the Tydd St Giles burial records (FamilySearch) Apr-Oct 1834, Jan-Dec 1835, Jan-Nov 1836, Jan-Oct 1837, Jan-Dec 1838, Jan-Oct 1839, Apr-Dec 1840, Feb-Dec 1841, which seem to be complete and I can’t find him. Burials of eligible age (FreeReg) over this period, throughout England, include James Good, 1834, Norton Disney, Lincolnshire (age 73, b.c1761); James Goodey, 1835, Bulmer, Essex (age 60, b.c1775); James Good, 1836, Mount Bures, Essex (age 66, b.c1770) and James Goode, 1837, Wroxall, Warwickshire (age 85, b.c1752). Of these, the Lincolnshire record would seem the most likely, even though Norton Disney is 51 miles away from Tydd St Giles. However, I’m not convinced that this is our James's burial. Just in case our James didn’t marry Mary Gowler and wasn’t recorded for the 1841 census, I’ve checked FreeReg from 1842-1851 but can’t find any records for him anywhere in Cambridgeshire. So the only thing I can think of is that James died elsewhere than Tydd St Giles (maybe in a hospice or asylum) and the records have ben lost or not transcribed.

Now it is Sarah Peck

I passed an Ancestry Tree suggestion that Sarah was a widow at marriage to Austin, producing the following response:

Now your note about Sarah being a widow at her marriage to James puts a whole new light on my investigations, as without a marriage record, I had assumed she was single. If she was a widow, then all my fiddling about with the Peck family is in vain, as they don't represent our family line. I had seen the entry concerning Sarah Hollibone ex Sussex on the web somewhere, but hadn’t paid it any attention as it seemed too remote from northern Cambridgeshire. What I have found however is the marriage of a Sarah Dowley to Michael Peck on 1.12.1802 at Wisbech. The only Michael Peck from the region that fits the bill is Michael Botton [Boulton] Peck chr.17.8.1777 Gedney Hill, Lincolnshire par. John Peck and Mary Boulton, making Michael 25 at marriage. I can’t find a death record for Michael anywhere in England, even up to 1880 (except for a 73 year old bd.20.4.1876 Morton by Bourne, Lincolnshire). Perhaps he was a soldier or mariner and died overseas. With respect to Sarah Dowley, I can’t find a birth for her (Sarah’s age at death, places her birth c1781). There is a Sarah Dooley chr.11.3.1781 in Watford, Herefordshire to Thomas and Mary and another Sarah Dooley chr.24.5.1782 in Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk to William and Sarah, but again they seem a fair way from home. A record for a bd.2.5.1804 at Sutton St Edmund, Lincolnshire, of 2 year old Charlotte Peck, the daughter of widow Sarah Peck could well be Michael and Sarah's child. I can’t find a birth for this Charlotte but interestingly (and probably supportive evidence), James and Sarah Goode’s first daughter was also Charlotte (again with a birth record missing). Maybe Sarah Dowley's mother was Charlotte. Another Charlotte Peck was chr.24.9.1802 at Leverington, Cambridgeshire but to a James Peck and Charlotte Newton. In my piecing together of Michael’s family, I’ve not found a Charlotte and I’ve not been able to connect James Peck of Leverington with Michael Peck of Gedney Hill (although a connection is bound to be there somewhere). Sarah Peck nee Dowley (if correct) would have been about 21 at her first marriage and 23 at her second marriage (if indeed b.c1781). So there you go Les, more to chew over.

Now trying for more information from the Ancestry source

James Goode and Sarah Peck

James Goode the son. b 1813

1841 Census

2021 Update after emails from Austin Brown (Descendant of John and Lucy)

Tydd St Giles

Further comment from Austin re James Goode's death

Now it is Sarah Peck

Wisbech

Acknowledgements

Research Notes