The history of the Goodsole family of Bedfordshire
My paternal Goodsole family sees my research stretching back to my 10x Great Grandfather, John Goodsole, who first appears in records in 1624 when he takes his son James Goodsole to be baptised at All Saint's Church, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
The 17th century Leighton Buzzard parish baptism records don't elaborate on the names of mothers, only the fathers, and therefore it's fairly difficult to identify the maternal lines that join the Goodsole tree. This is made more problematic by the small number of first names in use.
Despite scant details in the church records regarding the mothers, it does include dates of birth, and it would seem that James became a father at least twice, maybe three times. My 8x Great Grandmother, Eleanor Goodsole seems to have a missing christening, but this makes me believe that she may actually be the Helen Goodsole that appears in baptism records in 1648.
The names Helen and Eleanor are often interchangeable, perhaps aided by the name Helena, that when spoken might have been written down incorrectly. However, this might not be the case at all, so further research is needed.
In order to try to find out, I will order a copy of the Will of her father, James, in a bid to see who he mentions.
Therefore, my Goodsole family only actually reaches three generations so far.
Variants of the Goodsole surname
During my research, I have seen a few variants of the Goodsole surname. These include:
- Goodsall
- Goodsole
- Goodsoul
- Goodsoule
Goodsole family connections
I have identified only one ancestral family connected to the Goodsole family so far: