Henry Goodman

1822 - 1852


Henry Goodman was born in 1822 in Redruth, Cornwall, England. His parents were William Goodman and Grace Williams. He was baptized at the church of St Uny on 20 May 1822. He was the second to youngest in the family and had nine brothers and sisters.

His brothers and sisters were William Williams Goodman, Sophia Goodman, Betsy Williams Goodman, Samuel Goodman, Louisa Williams Goodman, Elizabeth Goodman, John Williams Goodman, Joseph Goodman and Elizabeth Grace Williams Goodman.

Redruth was a mining centre. Henry was a qualified blacksmith. The 1841 Cornwall census describes his profession as a Journeyman Smith - which means he did not have his own business but was employed as a smith by various people from day to day.

At the age of 25 he left Cornwall from Plymouth on the ship Aboukir bound for Adelaide, South Australia. With him was his pregnant "wife", 17 year old Ann Nicholls. Ann Nicholls was possibly Irish. No record of their marriage can be found.

The ship arrived in Adelaide on the 4th of September 1847 after a voyage of 95 days. They moved to Worthing Mine, where on the 18th of October their son Henry (Harry) was born. Worthing Mine was a copper mine located at Hallett Cove, now a suburb of Adelaide.

Worthing Mine had employed Cornish miners to install machinery and get the mine operational. However, with the discovery of gold in 1851 in Victoria, almost the entire work force upped and left for the goldfields, and the mine never became functional until 1856.

However, Henry and his family had already moved, and he was employed as a blacksmith at Reedy Creek Mines at Tungkillo, South Australia. There on the 6th of January 1850 their second child, Sophia, was born.

On the 10th of March 1851 he bought two blocks of land 25 kilometers south of Adelaide with a business partner called James Tank. On the 1st of September 1851 he made his will, and left to go gold mining in Victoria.

While he was away, his third child, Ellen, was born in Adelaide on the 1st of May 1852. Her mother Ann registered the birth. Meanwhile the Post Office had advertised in the paper that there was uncollected mail waiting for Henry Goodman.

Henry's wife Ann then received the news that her husband had died outside the State of South Australia. The South Australian Government Gazette of September 23, 1852, reports:

In the matter of the administration of Henry Goodman, late of the Reedy Creek Mines, in the Province of South Australia, blacksmith, deceased, to the next of kin of the said Henry Goodman, and to all Christian people, greetings:-

You, and each of you, are hereby cited and warned to be and appear in the Supreme Court of the Province of South Australia on or before the eighth day of October next at eleven o'clock in the fore noon, and that you and each of you then and there shew cause to the Honorable Court, why administration of the goods and chattels, rights, credits, and effects within the Province of South Australia, of the same Henry Goodman, deceased, should not be granted to Ann Goodman, of Adelaide, in the said Province, widow of the deceased, or forever renounce the administration of the goods and chattels, rights, credits and effects of the said Henry Goodman, deceased, who died intestate, as is represented to us.

Apart from the above, there seems to be no record of Henry's death, or of a burial plot. He was 30 years old.

Here is a copy of Henry's will:

I Henry Goodman Blacksmith at the Reedy Creek Mine Tungkillo do hereby declare this to be my last Will and Testament and that I bequeath unto Ann Goodman my wife all my Earthly goods and chattels together with two parcels of land part of Section No. 593 in the provincial Survey B to be used by her in whatsoever manner the said Ann Goodman may think fit for the use and Education of my children providing the said Ann Goodman remains unmarried, but should the aforesaid Ann Goodman be remarried I declare the monies arising from the aforesaid parcels of land to be solely invested for the use of my children And which I Henry Goodman do hereby in the presence of two Witnesses affix my hand and Seal this 1st day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and fifty-one.


Henry's son Harry



Henry's daughter Sophia



Hallett Cove



Reedy Creek



Tungkillo



Henry's Extended Family
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