Caledonia

GOODWILLIE, David, David H., Mary, Mildred & Thomas

Historical note on David GOODWILLIE

Vermont Historical Magazine, No. XI, October 1867, p 281

(extracted from a section on the history of Barnet, Caledonia County)
In the collection of papers belonging to Rev. David GOODWILLIE, was found an 
accurately drawn map of the town, made by him about the time he came to 
settle, in September 1790. In this chart all the names of the actual 
settlers, about ninety, are inserted in the lots on which they settled." 
[Prior to this note the text values the map of Rev. GOODWILLIE by explaining 
"in all Whitelaw's charts, the names of the grantees are inserted in the lots 
they drew, but few of the original proprietors ever settled the lands granted 
to them by the charter."

Mr. & Mrs. [David] GOODWILLIE's Family

Vermont Historical Magazine, No. XI, October 1867, pp 296-299
(extracted from a section on the history of Barnet, Caledonia County; 
authored by Rev. Andrew HERON, D. D.)

[The author begins by citing his sources: "town and church records and 
papers; extensive collections of letters, papers, journals, and charts 
belonging to the late Rev. David GOODWILLIE"; from Hon. Walter HARVEY, 
"letters, papers, journal, and chart of his father, Col. HARVEY", from Henry 
STEVENS, Esq, "important maps and documents"; from Willard STEVENS, Esq., 
"papers, letters, lists, journal, and charts of his father, Enos STEVENS, 
Esq." The acknowledgement was dated 04 April 1861, in Barnet. Bracketed 
inclusions added by submitter, who is not researching this family, for 
clarification.]

They [Rev. and Mrs. David GOODWILLIE] had eight children, four sons and four 
daughters, of whom one daughter and three sons are now [1861] living. One of 
the sons [Rev. Thomas GOODWILLIE] has been long and intimately connected with 
the church and town of Barnet. [David GOODWILLIE was pastor of the Barnet 
Center Church for forty years. His son Thomas succeeded him, and also 
preached there as pastor for forty years.]

Mary GOODWILLIE [a daughter of Rev. David GOODWILLIE] was born 02 October 
1792. She was dangerously sick when her brother [name?] and sister [name?] 
died, and Mr. BEVERIDGE joined in prayer with the elders that she might be 
recovered. She lived to become the wife of his successor in his 
congregation. She was educated at the Caledonia County Academy, and married 
by her father [Rev. David GOODWILLIE] 28 September 1810, to Rev. Alexander 
BULLIONS, D. D., pastor of the Associate Congregation of Cambridge [Lamoille 
County, Vermont]. Rev. P. BULLIONS, D. D., in the life of her eminent and 
excellent husband [Rev. Alexander BULLIONS] says, "she was a woman of 
uncommon worth and loveliness; meek, unassuming, patient under many 
afflictions, of sincere, unaffected piety, and beloved by all who knew her. 
She was the mother of six children, whom she endeavored to train up to fear 
and serve the Lord, commending them with much and fervent prayer to Him who 
gave them. She [Mary (GOODWILLIE) BULLIONS, wife of Alexander BULLIONS] died 
in the full assurance of faith, 04 January 1830." Her eldest daughter, a 
superior woman [name?], was married to the Rev. William PRINGLE, pastor of 
the Associate Congregation of Ryegate [Caledonia County, Vermont]. Her 
eldest son, Rev. David G. BULLIONS, graduated at Union College, and became a 
celebrated physician, having studied his profession in Europe and America.

Mildred GOODWILLIE [sister of Mary (GOODWILLIE) BULLIONS] was born 01 August 
1798, was educated in Caledonia County Academy, and married by her father 
[Rev. David GOODWILLIE] on 11 July 1817 to Rev. John DONALDSON, pastor of the 
Associate Congregation of Florida [Orange County], New York, but afterwards 
settled in Scroggsfield [Carroll County], Ohio, where she [Mildred 
(GOODWILLIE) DONALDSON] died in 183-, greatly lamented. She deserves the 
good character given to Mrs. BULLION, whom she greatly resembled. She 
[Mildred (GOODWILLIE) DONALDSON, wife of Rev. John DONALDSON] had seven 
children, five of whom are now living.]

Thomas GOODWILLIE, born 27 September 1800; and David GOODWILLIE, born 28 
August 1802: These two sons [of David GOODWILLIE] in 1813 went to Cambridge 
[Washington County], New York, and studied under Dr. CHASSELL. Returning 
home in the spring of 1817, they attended the Caledonia County Academy for a 
short time; entered Dartmouth College, and graduated August 1820. Having 
become members of the Associate Church a few years before, they were admitted 
by the Associate Presbytery of Cambridge, and commenced the study of theology 
in the beginning of 1821, at the Eastern Theological Seminary of the 
Associate Church in Philadelphia. Dr. BANKS, the professor under whom they 
studied, was eminent for his knowledge of theology and Greek, but especially 
Hebrew, which made him an able critic and expositor of the Scriptures. He 
represented them to their parents as "bearing a good character, and making 
excellent progress," and the Presbytery of Cambridge, before the appointed 
time for the study of theology had elapsed, recommended them to the Synod to 
be licensed, and the Synod suspended the rule, and ordered this Presbytery to 
take them on trials for this end. These trials having proved satisfactory, 
the Associate Presbytery of Cambridge licensed them [Thomas and David 
GOODWILLIE] at Ryegate, 29 September 1823. Their hoary-headed father was the 
moderator of the Presbytery at that time, and from his great knowledge and 
experience, with tears flowing fast, gave them suitable and sage council with 
respect to the duties and difficulties of the "good work" in which they were 
engaging. Claiming their right which was accorded to them by the Synod, they 
returned to the Theological Seminary, and studied another term.

Leaving Philadelphia early in the spring of 1824, in fulfilling the Synod's 
appointments to preach, they went to South Carolina, then into Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, and returned to Philadelphia the next spring. 
On their way South, their first interview with their uncle, who had so long 
and liberally supported them in prosecuting their studies, was very 
gratifying, and he was highly pleased with their company and conversation, 
but his greatest pleasure was to hear his nephews preach the gospel. Dr. 
BANKS writes to their "venerable father" with "much satisfaction," that his 
two sons were "excellent young men, who gave great attention to their 
studies, in which they made excellent progress," that they preached several 
times in Philadelphia, and "were very acceptable to the people, among whom 
they left a savory remembrance of their character and abilities." The aged 
and venerable Dr. ANDERSON writes to their father, 18 February 1825, "I have 
had much satisfaction in being visited by your two sons. They both preached 
to our people with much acceptance."

They [Thomas and David GOODWILLIE] returned home to Barnet, and assisted 
their father in July 1825, in dispensing the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. 
So well pleased and profited were the people of their father's congregation 
with their ministrations that they immediately applied to the Presbytery for 
a moderation of a call, and on 26 October 1825, they gave Rev. Thomas 
GOODWILLIE a unanimous call to be assistant pastor and successor to his 
father. The aged pastor still being able to officiate, and preachers being 
few and the vacant congregations many, his son continued to fulfil the 
appointments of Synod. Having passed satisfactory trials for ordination, he 
was ordained and settled as pastor of the Associate Congregation at Barnet 
[Caledonia County, Vermont] by the Associate Presbytery of Cambridge, 27 
September 1826, before a large audience, many of whom came from surrounding 
towns. The aged father, with many tears, gave the pastoral charge to his son.

Soon after his [Thomas GOODWILLIE's] settlement, the Legislature elected him 
to preach before the Governor, Council, and General Assembly, at the opening 
of the Legislature the next year. Accordingly he preached at Montpelier, 11 
October 1827, before the Legislature, and a vast audience of attentive 
listeners, and gave appropriate addresses to the Governor, Council, and 
General Assembly. The Legislature voted him thanks for the "eloquent and 
able" sermon, and requested a copy for publication, and elected him their 
chaplain for the session. His sermon was immediately published at the 
expense of the State, and gratuitously distributed to all its towns. Rev. 
Ashbel GREEN, D. D., of Philadelphia, editor of "The Christian Advocate," in 
noticing its publication says, "It is a sensible and faithful sermon, on a 
text manifestly appropriate to the occasion, Proverbs 14:34, "Righteousness 
exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." We know not whether 
it be more creditable to the author of this discourse that he had the 
fidelity to deliver it, or to the Legislature of the State of Vermont, that 
they had the good sense and piety to request its publication. We wish that 
such a sermon were addressed to every State Legislature and to our Congress 
too, at the commencement of each of their sessions." The sermon was 
afterward reprinted.

By appointment of the Presbytery to which he belonged, he went on a mission 
to Upper Canada in 1827. In consequence of a petition from Lower Canada, he 
went and preached in several towns on the St. Francis River, in 1829. While 
he was officiating as chaplain to the Legislature, and absent on these 
missions, his father officiated in the congregation at Barnet. A few weeks 
after his father died, he [Rev. Thomas GOODWILLIE] left Barnet on account of 
ill-health; for a year traveled in the Southern and Western States; in 1831 
he went to the south of France; to Sicily; as far as Syracuse; to Naples; 
visited Herculaneum and Pompeii; ascended Mt. Vesuvius, and entered the 
crater; then journeyed to Rome, and saw the vast remains of antiquity, and 
the works of fine arts; Florence and Milan; went over the Alps by the Mt. 
Simplon road to Geneva; saw the library of Calvin; traveled to the north of 
Europe; visited Scotland, and returned in 1833, with his health so far 
recovered as to resume his labors in the congregation at Barnet, where he has 
continued to the present time. His congregation has expressed their high 
appreciation of his service, and their sympathy in his trials, both public 
and domestic.

He was clerk of the Associate Synod (of the North) from 1841 to 1854, when 
the Synods united, except in 1852, when he was chosen moderator. After 
preaching at the opening of the Synod the next year, which is the duty of the 
moderator, the Synod, without precedent, voted him "thanks for his very 
excellent sermon;" was again chosen moderator of the Associate Synod in 1859; 
and has long been a life member of the American Bible Society. In 1827, when 
his father resigned his seat on the board of trustees of the Caledonia County 
Academy, he was immediately chosen to fill his place, which he still 
continues to occupy; and has been one of the examiners, and most of the time 
president of the board. Also in 1827, when his father declined a re-election 
as town clerk, he was chosen; declined; but in 1859 re-elected to the office, 
which was urged upon him; accepted, and has since been annually re-elected.

On 11 April 1833 he [Rev. Thomas GOODWILLIE] was married [name of his wife 
not given], and has four children living, three sons and a daughter, besides 
a daughter to died in 1850 in the thirteenth year of her age, remarkable for 
her intelligence and piety. The two oldest sons have graduated at the 
Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, and settled in their profession in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The eldest son is one of the faculty of that 
college, and for some years has given great satisfaction in discharging the 
duties of his office, and has also become a good writer on some parts of his 
profession. The youngest son, who bears his father's name [Thomas 
GOODWILLIE], is a student at Dartmouth College, preparing for the Christian 
ministry. [One of the older sons may be James GOODWILLIE, who was enumerated 
in the 1880 census of New York (Manhattan): James GOODWILLIE, dentist, age 
forty-four, born in Vermont, about 1836 by his census age, to a father born 
in Vermont and a mother born in Scotland; his wife, Sarah A., age forty-two, 
born in New York about 1838, whose father was born in Massachusetts and 
mother in New Hampshire.]

Rev. David GOODWILLIE, Jr. [David Henderson GOODWILLIE, Jr., born 28 August 
1802 in Barnet, Caledonia County, Vermont], received a call from Xenia 
[Greene County] and Sugar Creek [Tuscarawas County], Ohio, but accepted one 
from the united congregations of Poland [Mahoning County, Ohio, south of and 
adjacent to Trumbull County, Ohio], Liberty [although Mercer County, 
Pennsylvania, has a Liberty Township, this is more likely Liberty, Trumbull 
County, Ohio], and Deer Creek [Mercer County, Pennsylvania?], and was 
ordained and settled by the Associate Presbytery of Ohio at Deer Creek, 
Lawrence County [Mercer County?], Pennsylvania, 26 April 1826, and ever since 
has been a laborious minister, and his ministry has been blessed with great 
success. [There was a Deer Creek post office in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, 
the name of which was changed to Milledgeville in 1852.] His congregations 
increased so much that each one desired to have a greater share of his 
labors, but feared the loss of the valued labors of their highly-esteemed 
pastor, in a division of his pastoral charge. But his labors still increased 
to such a degree that he was at length constrained to ask the Presbytery for 
a division, which was granted, and Deer Creek was disjoined in the beginning 
of 1833. After the union of the Associate and Associate Reformed churches, 
he was disjoined from Poland in April 1859, that it might unite with another 
congregation in the vicinity, and he now continues his ministrations in 
Liberty, Trumbull County, Pennsylvania [should be Ohio?]. The number of 
church members enrolled under his pastoral care in Deer Creek in seven years 
was 104; in Poland in thirty-three years, 303; and in Liberty in thirty-five 
years, extending to the present time (1861), 253, a total of 660. For a 
number of years he was president of the board of trustees of Westminster 
College, Pennsylvania.

On 20 April 1826 he [David Henderson GOODWILLIE, Jr.], was married [to 
Frances HAMILL]. His children were three sons and three daughters, of whom 
two sons and two daughters survive. His firstborn, Rev. David Henderson 
GOODWILLIE, graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania; studied theology in 
the seminary of the Associate Church, and was licensed to preach by the 
Associate Presbytery of Shenango [Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, east of and 
adjacent to Trumbull County, Ohio], 02 September 1853, and about the same 
time he was elected by the board of trustees of Westminster College, the 
professor of natural philosophy and chemistry, and continued to fill that 
office successful until he resigned in December 1854. [The Presbytery of 
Shenango served Mercer and Lawrence Counties in Pennsylvania, and contained 
Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.] He was ordained and 
settled in the Associate congregation of Stamford in Canada, four miles from 
Niagara Falls, 27 September 1853, where he still continues. [A Rev. David 
and Frances GOODWILLIE were enumerated in the 1880 census of Liberty, 
Trumbull County, Ohio: David GOODWILLIE, minister, age seventy-seven, born 
in Vermont about 1803, to parents born in Scotland; his wife, Frances, age 
seventy-seven, born in Pennsylvania about 1803 to parents also born there.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly