Biographical Summary
John Goodman is a very difficult
individual to trace. William Bradford, in his 1651 passenger list
with his "Increasings and Decreasings", says John Goodman was one of
those who "died soon after their arrival in the general sickness that
befel", in other words during the first winter at Plymouth.
However, John Goodman appears in the 1623 Division of Land, with no
indication he is deceased. Either Bradford is mistaken, and John
Goodman survived a few years beyond the first winter; or John Goodman is
listed in the Division because there is a surviving heir at Plymouth.
In any case, Goodman is not listed in the 1627 Division of Cattle, so
was undoubtedly dead by this time.
A marriage record in Leiden, Holland,
indicates the marriage of a John "Codmoer", widower of Mary Backus,
marrying Sarah Hooper. The marriage was witnessed by Samuel
Fuller, so this John "Codmoer" was undoubtedly a member of the Pilgrims'
congregation. Henry Martyn Dexter in 1905 suggested in his England
and Holland of the Pilgrims that this man was John Goodman: the Dutch
records, after all, mangled most English names. Subsequent
researchers have suggested this is too much of a stretch. Is this
John Goodman of the Mayflower? Maybe, maybe not.
To further complicate matters, there is
an oft-published hoax, which claims John Goodman was really John Dunham
in disguise--i.e. a pseudonym. John Dunham, however, is well known
in the records: he was from Clophill and Henlow, Bedfordshire, and was
still living in Leiden after the Mayflower had left for America.
He came to Plymouth between 1628 and 1631. He is most obviously
not the same person as John Goodman of the Mayflower.
Peter Brown and John Goodman seem to
have been associated with one another in early Plymouth, as their names are frequently
entwined in the Plymouth records. On 12 January 1621, Peter Browne
and John Goodman had been cutting thatch for house roofing all morning.
They ate some meat and went for a short walk to refresh themselves, when
their two dogs (an English mastiff and a English spaniel) spied a great
deer and gave chance. Peter and John followed and quickly got
lost. They wandered around the entire afternoon in the rain and
snow, and
spent the night in a tree (and pacing back and forth under it) fearing
that they had heard lions roaring in the woods. The next day they
made their way up a hill, spotted the Bay, reoriented themselves, and
made it back home to an extremely worried Colony that had already sent
out two exploring parties in an attempt to find them. Goodman's
feet were so frozen with frostbite, he was put out of commission for
quite awhile. When he was finally able to walk again, he took his
spaniel out for a walk, and found himself being followed by a wolf.
After a long stare-down, he used a fence post to scare off the wolf.
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