Hi Ruskie, thank you for the welcome!
To answer your question, I am researching my family of Goosney, but it is such an unusual name I tend to record any Goosney records I come across in case they match up later (for example in my reply to Stewart). I have traced the family using all available Newfoundland records, and worked the line back to a marriage in 1827, in Newfoundland. The records in Newfoundland are a bit scanty in this period and earlier, but as far as I can tell there are no other Goosneys in the Newfoundland parish records prior to this date. I have found a handful of earlier court documents with very minimal detail. Bascially I'm stuck in the 1820s in Newfoundland and have been for years. I think this must be when the family settled in Newfoundland (as many families did around in the early 19th century), and to go back further I have to look for a link overseas.
When I look in the UK, I have the same experience as you - Gosneys, but no Goosneys. There are Goosneys in the rest of North America, but mainly in places where Newfoundlanders moved, and I know for sure that many of them link back to Newfoundland. Hence my theory that the name Goosney is a corruption of something else. This of course complicates my search.
I have the advantage that my grandfather was also interested in genealogy. Sadly he is dead now, but I have his research notes, and the stories he told me about his family. My grandfather was the one who told me the family was from the Channel Islands - he used to say "We weren't French and we weren't English and didn't give a d*mn about either", which I think was a quote from his own father, born 1878.
Other than my Grandfather, the only other Channel Island link is a letter dated 1759 regarding a Sam Gasnoy (? Not exactly sure of the spelling, the letter is very hard to read), who was convicted in absentia by a court in Newfoundland while he was in Jersey. Not sure if Sam is related to my line or not.
My grandfather's story does fit with local immigration patterns, as the area the Goosney's were from in Newfoundland was a known area of Channel Island activity and settlement. However an origin in Devon or Dorset would be just as likely - more likely really, except for the family lore.
Ayway, I'm really stuck so I'm hoping RootsChat will be able to give me some new clues.
Jennifer.