|
The Goundry Families of Early Yates County
by Amy Herendeen
| |
Many of the people in this photo taken at the Goundry home attended the first Goundry reunion almost 50 years earlier in 1887. |
| |
 |
| |
Back Row: Annie Schofield Maud Longwell (Castner's daughter, son of Matthew, son of George Goundry), Byron Mead, Maggie Buckelew, Joseph Caywood (mom is Hannah, daughter of Ralph the blacksmith, brother of Francis), Ralph Goundry, Willette Grimes (Joe Caywood's daughter), Nina Alexander (mom is Eudora, daughter of twin Francis, son of Ralph the blacksmith), Theodore VanGelder (Nina Alexander's dad)
Middle Row: Katherine Kipp, Nina Rapalee, Annie E. Goundry, Warren Goundry
Bottom Row: Albert Cornish (neighbor), Ora Goundry (brother of Maud, son of Castner), James Goundry |
| |
|
|
|
|
Beginning with the first Goundrys/Goundreys to come to this area, the first was George Goundry Jr., son of Elizabeth Heslop and George Goundry Sr. They came to Geneva, NY, shortly before his parents and family arrived in 1798. George Goundry, Sr. was from Wycliffe, North Yorkshire, England, and was hired to work at the mill in Hopeton (near Dresden). He brought along William Rane/Rain (not Bain - as misspelled in the Yates history by Stafford Cleveland) to help in the mill. Three Goundry relatives of George then came to this area in 1803. These were Francis Goundry and his two sisters, Julia, and Isabella (children of Ralph and Isabella Donison Goundry of Dalton, North Yorkshire, England).
Julia Goundry married William Rane, who worked for George Goundry in the mill. They had three children, two of whom survived. They were just a few years old at the time of Julia’s death in 1813, in Seneca, Ontario County. A famous descendant from this line was the actor, Tony Perkins.
Isabella Goundry married Thomas Pow who died in 1812, in Geneva. (Her second marriage was to Robert Robson). They had three children, two of whom survived. Their daughter Julia married Robert Simpson, who emigrated from Scotland and had a rather exciting shipwreck on the way (story by Rebeca Dodds found on his Find a Grave memorial). He and his brother William came over with their cousin John J. Johnstone’s wife Margaret, and their two children on the Thompson in 1822 to join their parents and siblings in Geneva. Their ship was damaged by terrible storms, and they ran aground off the island of Anticosti, north of New Brunswick. The ship was repaired with help from the natives, and six weeks later they arrived at their destination in Canada. After not hearing a word from them, concerns grew. When the ship arrived in Montreal, their father rushed to meet them. Robert Simpson’s daughter Isabella made a drawing of this shipwreck story when she was 18 years old. Robert’s cousin from his mother’s side of the family, John J. Johnstone, was the “Father of American Tile Drainage” in Ontario County. His house is now a museum.
Robert Simpson was a farmer, nurseryman, and druggist in Geneva. His home and nursery were located near the Lakefront Drive and Seneca Street area (per the Geneva Gazette, July 18, 1873). A descendant of Robert and Julia Pow Simpson was Marion Grace Simpson, the wife of an MLB player John Leonard Hopp of the Cardinals, Yankees, Pittsburg Pirates, and other teams (from 1939-1952).
Francis Goundry settled in Milo, next to George Goundry Sr. on the Pre-Emption Road, also known as Duka Street, and presently Chubb Hollow Road. North of their property is the Peter Brown/Goundry Cemetery (former Goundry property).
Francis, Isabella, and Julia left behind a few siblings in Yorkshire, including a brother Ralph Goundry and his wife Mary, with their children Ralph, John, and Francis. Of these children, Ralph’s son Francis was the first of the next generation of Goundrys to arrive in America and to live in Milo, Yates County. He came over in 1832 to live with his uncle Francis Goundry, who came in 1803 and died in 1839.
Francis married Rebecca Maiden, who was almost two years old when her mother died in 1818 in Merom, Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash River. Her father and brothers were building a road, courthouse, and jail there. After her mother’s death, they returned to Geneva (with help from the Native Americans on Bois Blanc Island, with whom they stayed 3 days and who helped them with their canoes to get to the steamboat “Walk-in-the-Water” in Black Rock near Buffalo, according to family history written by David Maiden, brother of Rebecca). Rebecca’s older and only sister Jemima was married to Robert Brown, son of Asa Brown (A grandson of Benjamin Brown, of the Friend’s Society) from Jerusalem, Yates County. Rebecca’s brothers, and eventually her sister Jemima and her father John all moved to Michigan.
Francis and Rebecca lived out their lives in Milo. Seven of their children lived to adulthood. Mary Jane married Walter Morris, Isabella married Josh Mead (great grandson of George Goundry, Sr.), Elizabeth married John Huie, Julia married William Butcher, Rebecca married Richard Buckelew, Frances married Charles Hobson, and the only surviving son Ralph married a dear girl, Anne Elizabeth Richardson (Anne kept a few diaries in her lifetime that have helped me to know what life was like in those days and to give me a laugh, like when she writes “Don’t feel first rate. This having babys is not what it’s cracked up to be”). They lived just down the road from Francis and Rebecca in a house they built across the road from her parents around 1875. That home, which hosted many Goundry Reunions, is still in the family today. Some of Ann and Ralph Goundry’s descendants were public servants or served in the community. Their son Ralph served as a police justice, their son-in-law Milton Rapalee was a Penn Yan Sheriff, and great grandson Jan Scofield was a Penn Yan Sheriff. Their grandson Allen Rapalee ran Rapalee Auto Parts & Rapalee Propane Gas Service for several years. Their granddaughter Irene Thomas drove bus for the Penn Yan School district for 25 years.
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
| Rebecca Maiden |
|
Francis Goundry |
|
| |
|
|
|
Letters (from Ralph to his brother Francis and son Francis) from the Goundry history were preserved from this time and one of the first things mentioned was “happy to hear that Francis got there safe.” It was also mentioned that Francis’ brother John was selling his mules for hauling coal and getting ready to come over. A few years later (about 1835) his brother John and family arrived. Francis and John had worked hauling coal with their dad, but in America they were farmers. John & Mary Heslop Goundry’s family settled in “Oak Hill,” 2 miles from Monterey, Schuyler County, where the Goundry Hill Road and Goundry Hill State Forest are. In fact it was written in the minutes of the 18th (1904) Goundry reunion at the home of John J Goundry, a grandson of John, that there was a remark noted by Rev. Mr. Peachell (He also said he would guarantee no one would die with consumption, who walked from “the foot of the hill to the place of reunion three times a week.”)
Finally, in 1854 Francis’ brother Ralph and his family came to America, where he continued his blacksmithing trade in Orange, NY. Ralph and Anne’s son Thomas Dixon Goundry was in the Civil War, and he wrote a very extensive poem about his travels, including being a prisoner at Libby Prison for stealing six hams, for which he was soon pardoned. He also was a historian for the “Goundry Reunions,” which began in 1887 and ended in 1953, minus the years 1944 & 1945 (WWII). It began with 80 or 90 present, and at times there were more or less. The year 1897 brought 230. The reunions included members of the George Goundry family, especially his youngest son Matthew, who was his only child born in America. Thomas Dixon Goundry wrote a history of what he knew of the Goundry family. His son John was a wagon manufacturer in Rock Stream.
Many times, in the letters to Francis from his brother Ralph Sr. in England there were inquiries about how his sister Isabella was doing and how his sister Julia’s family was. A letter dating 28 Feb 1837 mentioned “You must have the kindness to inform George Goundry Sr. that Ann Heslop of Gayles has departed this life, as report speaks a handsome sum of money will fall to his lot.” George was married to Elizabeth Heslop.
The letters also mentioned the black fever raging through the country in 1848, as well as changing times (the railway being at Richmond and coming to Barnard Castle). Many times, they mentioned the niece of Ralph Goundry Sr., Ann Goundry Mattison (daughter of his brother John Goundry), who was orphaned young. Ralph Goundry Sr.’s brother Francis Goundry, who came in 1803, helped with the payment for Ann and her family to come over. They finally did in 1839, as was said in the letter “Believe me dear brother that every nerve is strained to get them off and I will take them to Liverpool with our cart.” Ann was listed in the 1850 census in Barrington, Yates County. She and her 9-year-old daughter Julia are buried in the Peter Brown/Goundry Cemetery with her aunt, uncles, and other relatives.
Ann and Robert Mattison’s oldest son, John Stead Mattison, was a pioneer of Santa Cruz, California. He went in 1849 during the Gold Rush, first mining at Auburn, and then on to Soquel to make saddles for the settlers. He later settled in Soquel, Santa Cruz, where he voted for the first state constitution, served in the Justice court, farmed a 5-acre orchard, and belonged to the Santa Cruz Pioneer Society. His son Frank was grand president of the Native Sons of the Golden West and participated in the reception of President McKinley and his party when they visited.
The Goundry family is only one of the many families who helped build Yates County into a community.
|
