Rev. William Goulding, a minister of Bermuda, "who attended the Thursday lecture in Boston, November 5, 1646" played an instrumental part in the establishment of a church separate from the Church of England in the colony and was closely connected with Richard Norwood and also with the Rev. Patrick Copeland and Captain Nathaniel White. Letters written by Patrick Copeland to John Winthrop are recorded in the Winthrop Papers. I began to see a connection to this Congregationalist preacher from the mid seventeenth century back in 2009 when I was doing research on the Suffolk and Essex branches of the Golding family in England and also reviewing the list of immigrants to Virginia as published in several resources including Cavaliers & Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents & Grants by Nell Marion Nugent.
I have been researching my family tree in America since the mid 1980's and my direct ancestor in Virginia was a man named John Gaulding who was living in New Kent, Virginia in the latter part of the 17th century. He was married to Anne Stuart and they left descendants, including my own line, the majority of which settled first in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and later moved to North Carolina. One point of difficulty has always been that there were two John Goldings living in that part of Virginia at almost the same time.
Another man named John Golding immigrated in 1651 and was brought over by Richard Ripley. He was married to Elizabeth Ripley and she may have been Richard Ripley's half-sister. That Golding line settled in a place called "Occupacia" in Essex, Virginia. I have no information to prove that the two men named John Golding had any family connection. The information that would help to document their various ancestral lineages more than likely disappeared a long time ago with the destruction over the years of the archives and records in Virginia. Very little has survived of the Colonial records in New Kent County because of the act of an arsonist in 1787 who destroyed the Clerk's office and again when more records were destroyed along with the destruction of Richmond in the aftermath of the Civil War, but enough has come down to us through the centuries for us to know that there were several people named Goulding and Golding in Virginia from the earliest days of the colony. It is reasonable to assume that the various names William, Thomas and John refer to different people and that the routes between England, New England, Bermuda and Virginia were well travelled and people went back and forth frequently, especially if they had business or other interests abroad.
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Thomas "of Jamestown" Goulding
Among the earliest inhabitants in Virginia was Thomas Goulding, named in the Jamestown census of 1624 who was living in the household of Ellis Emerson in Martin's Hundred. Ellis Emerson was known to have offered accommodations to those involved in the establishment of a school on the "college lands" for the instruction of the Indians. This school was called the "East India School" and it was disbanded after the massacre of 1624.
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"Ellis Emerson and his family came to Virginia on the George in 1623 and immediately seated at Martin's Hundred. He reportedly was instrumental in persuading Robert Adams to stay on the plantation, despite difficult living conditions. On February 4, 1625 Ellis Emerson was living at Martin's Hundred with his wife Ann and 11-year old son, Thomas. Ellis was household head and was relatively well supplied with provisions and defensive weaponry. The Emersons had two servants, one of whom Thomas Goulding came with them on the George in 1623. On April 11, 1625 Ellis Emerson testified that he had put Elias Gail, a young male servant and one of the East India School's apprentices to work on the Rev. Patrick Copeland's behalf. On June 15, 1625 Mr. Emerson and Martin's Hundred's leader William Harwood offered accommodations to the people who came to Virginia to establish the East India School. Ellis Emerson died sometime prior to October 31, 1626 at which time Robert Scotchmore of Martin's Hundred presented his will to the justices of the General Court. He may have been the father of Alice Emerson who died in 1624-5."
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Thomas Goulding had a lot in James City in 1638 and after that I lose track of him. He is listed as a qualifying ancestor in the Jamestown Society, but unfortunately there is a 20 to 30 year gap between him and my ancestor John of New Kent Gaulding who settled in New Kent, Virginia. To further confuse the issue there was another man named John Gaulding who came from Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, England and he was 'brought over' by William Hallam to act as overseer on the Hallam lands in New Kent. The first mention I've been able to find about John "of New Kent" is found in Men of Matadequin: Three Hundred Years from New Kent, Virginia by June B. Evans. The reference states that John Gaulding probably came from England. Several of John and Anne Stuart's children were christened at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in New Kent County and in the same registry are the names Bacon, Lyddall and other surnames that are familiar to me. I have traced the family line of Captain John Bacon of New Kent, Virginia directly to to Suffolk County, England.
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The information presented here is compelling in that the more I research the family connections and historical similarities between the known Goulding immigrants to Virginia and people they were associated with, the more I have the impression that there are multiple connections in England. Nothing has been proven, but I will continue to assemble pieces of the puzzle in the hope that one day a clear picture will emerge.
Catherine Gauldin, 2022