Charles Goodwillie

[queenie3]

I am trying to find my greatgreatgreat grandfather -Charles Goodwillie.
All that is known about him is what was noted by Bishop Selwyn when he legalized the unions of whalers and Maori women and their children in the early 1840's in Stewart Island New Zealand. Charles Goodwillie -engineer/whaler  originally from Fife, Scotland - period residing in New Zealand approximately 4 years.
I am not at all sure that whaling ships had engineers as they were sailing ships but I was wondering whether Charles may have been in the ship building industry prior to going to sea. He was [possibly!] born about 1799 - 1810.
Any help gratefully received.

[diddymiller]

Hi & welcome to RC and the Fife board!!
The birth of Charles is on SP at :

www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

however there seem to be 2 of them!!
Charles Goodwillie born 22/3/1795  father: John ,   Collessie
Charles Goodwillie born 27/3/1796 father:  Robert,  Collessie

any ideas which??    you can download the certificates by buying credits.
may be able to find both of them on census to see what occupation??

Diddy

[queenie3]

Thanks Diddy
I must ask someone [anyone!] about Scotlands People - I have tried to register in the past but apparently I do not have the right plugins to read/receive information and being a tech no phobe I am not sure about what to do.
I have tried on Ancestry for information re Charles Goodwillie but census records start too late to be of help to me as Charles was not residing in Scotland in that period.
Not having any information does tend to stop a lot of investigation.
But perhaps Collesie is a starting point - and Parish Records might help me find parents or occupations etc.
Queenie

[davaar36]

The plugins you are liable to need with ScotlandsPeople site are viewers for the images. If you have a problem getting/installing those you can still choose the download option for any images you wish to view. The downloaded images will be in TIFF format and, especially if you use Microsoft Windows, you should have a viewer for those. If not the free viewer IrfanView can be recommended. To view images before download SP needs  either of 2 viewers, Prizm “ActiveX”, and the ViewONE Java™ applet. Once you register with SP you can use My Details menu to check your browser for compatibility. It is a long time since I registered and I can't remember if you are offered the option to install the SP compatible viewers from the SP site. Someone else will have a better memory. Persevere and Good luck. A quick check on the 1841 Census came up with only one Charles Goodwilie, in Strathmiglo, age (rounded) 40. Two others there ages 6 and 0. By 1851 there are 2 aged 55 in Kinghorn and Strathmiglo. However the 1841 Census records for Collessie were lost in transit to Edinburgh.
Dod

[diddymiller]

hi, you Can install the viewers from the site.

Diddy

[diddymiller]

I had a look on the fife FHS site - use the search facility and about 14 entries for Goodwillie come up.may be useful.

also looked on the fife death index  - there are quite a lot of goodwillies. interesting that a number went abroad - some to quebec - family lf Robert & Janet Dunn and others to USA. mention of a printed source 'The Goodwillies' searching the CD for further info.

Diddy

[diddymiller]

the Scottish genealogical society online also has this entry in their index:

GOODWILLIE FIF 1595-1940 T Many
A tree and a typescript history of the family.

go to the society page at:

http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/

Diddy

[queenie3]

Hi Diddy
Thanks for your sterling efforts! Re the history as written by John Ross Goodwillie from Canada - I have his book 'The Goodwillies -1590-1986- Four Hundred Years of Family History' and my great great great grandfather Charles isn't in it!
The Canadian and American branches of the Goodwillie family originates in the parish of Kinglassie.

I think that the Goodwillie tree and typescript mentioned in the Scottish family files may be that one. But I will follow up even if I duplicate information that I have already.
I am going to buy credits of Scotlands People and get a knowledgeable [read as computer savvy!] friend to help me annexe the plugin situation and make sure I do it right .....
I am nothing if not determined to succeed in finding the ellusive Charles Goodwillie. He disappeared [not surprisingly given the wild/transient colonial era he actually resided in New Zealand!] from New Zealand approx. 1850 - probably died but no record of such. He left two children Charles and Charlotte and Mary a child of his wife's from a previous relationship and  it was only Charles [junior] who went on to have issue.Hey ho! the lengths one goes to in the search [obsession] of the past.

[diddymiller]

Hi Queenie, yes the book source said 1986 so that will be the one.

SP is quite easy to use and the plug=in situation is not a problem - there are clear instructions on what to do!

I have checked the SP entries. only extra info is that both fathers came from Kinloch. think they were probably brothers!

Diddy