Errors Created in my Research of Goldens, Gouldmans & Keelings

Table of Contents

A Probable History of the Golden Family
of Newberry, South Carolina Since 1761
Updated 2022.12.18

There are many genealogies floating around online websites that reflect erroneous or undocumented information that was in part caused by me.

This is due to in large part to ignoring my warning or disclaimer that such information is unproven, undocumented or just conjecture.

Since 2013, I have marked much of this information with a warning sign that explained the information that I had and why I was pursuing a particular line of research. Unfortunately, many genealogies in 2022 have adopted my earlier offering of possibilities and probabilities and reflect them as factual.

That said, many of the conjectures that I have had in the past have proven to have basis in anecdotal or actual evidence, whether documentary or via DNA circumstantial connections via multiple paths.

Specific Questionable Info Found in Genealogies Traceable to Bill Golden 

~~~ Explanations for the errors will be added at a later date.

~~~ Golding, William Leftwich Golding … does not exist, and did not exist as a person before 1909 in Oklahoma. Yet, still in 2022 many trees on the internet contain what is a blended, fictional genealogy for a William Leftwich Golding supposedly born in 1598. I had this information in my own genealogy from 2012-2014 and then worked with another genealogist to discover how this widely shared Golding came to be. Short version of how this fiction came to be: Genealogy websites, such as Ancestry and Family Search digitized and added various paper and other informal databases into their own websites to provide content for you and I to search. In the blending of data there were errors created by the computer systems which attempted to crossreference what appeared to be commonalities. This error continues to be a popularly shared genealogy ^[1]https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/john-william-leftwich-golding-gouldinge-24-p5kvy even though I have written and provided extensive information since 2014 on how the actual William Leftwich Golding was born in 1909 in Oklahoma. Oddly enough, the real William Leftwich Golding of 1909 is a direct-male-line descendant of the Goldings of Virginia, the line in which he is described as a predecessor grandfather.

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~~~ Goulden, Barbara Goulden … my error here was in trying to make sense of who her actual parents were based upon the information of the time. Barbara definitely got the WARNING TRIANGLE explanation on various websites. Still, people took my guesswork (identified as such) and included it in their genealogies as gospel.

………. !! Barbara Goulden may never have existed AND YET almost every Gouldman and Golden can find DNA matches with a specific John Henry Rains/Raines family that include her in their tree. Barbara does very much exist in DNA, and her real name may be Ann Oliver, 1715–1793. Ann did exist and lived the same approximate years (1713-1793 vs 1920-1794) and places (born in Essex County Virginia region; died in Randolph County, North Carolina). Each had the same approximate children — there was no shortage of different Rains, Raines, Rainey, and Reyne families coexisting among one another. These many different descendants have become comingled across trees.

…….. Barbara Goulden DOES EXIST in a semi-official highly respected record:  … there is an approved 1942 DAR Application that claims that a Barbara A. Goulden c1720-1794 married a John Henry Rains 1715–1785 about 1735 in the Essex or Culpeper county area. This marriage is not recorded in any record but the lives of their children are. They seem to believe that their grandmother was named Barbara — which is a statistically very rare name for a woman in Virginia and the Carolinas of the 1700s. This is the original source of information, and the only known documentation, that she existed.

………. An error due to my research: Some genealogies claim that Barbara A. Goulden‘s parents were Thomas W Goulden Jr (1698–1776) and Ellen Goulden Walker (1700–), both are from Cheshire, England. THIS IS AN ERROR which I created back in 2013 while researching Barbara Goulden. The info that I had at the time is that she was associated with a John Rains as son and may have come from Cheshire, England. Lo and behold, they were a perfect set of parents for her so I included this information in my own genealogy for research purposes and some adopted it as being fact. ^[2]As of 2022, there are some 30+ genealogies just on Ancestry that reflect the Cheshire, England parentage. There is always the stray chance that it is correct but I sincerely doubt it now due to DNA testing and further research on the Rains family.

………. 2022 Update: There is one genealogy that claims our understanding of Barbara Goulden is backwards. Supposedly she was Barbara Jo Reins married to a Thomas Goulden, with a daughter named  Ellen Goulden  who married a Walker. ^[3]Source: GENI: https://www.geni.com/people/Ellen-Goulden/6000000092603685133#/tab/timeline   No documentation is provided for this claim. It would appear that this is just a computer misentry that scrambled the earlier info about Barbara Goulden — athough if true it could explain a few things. Alas, I can find no record of a Barbara Jo Reins in any online reseach database as of 18 Dec 2022.

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~~~ Gouldman, Edward Gouldman’s Third Son … this is not an error. He did exist. Errors came about in that discussing the evidence for this son (which exists in Essex County, Virginia court records, I have posed some scenarios as to this mysterious son which was never named in the court records, only acknowledged in Edward Gouldman’s last will and testament (that wife was with child) and in subsequent testimony by Edward’s wife Martha Tomlin that the child had been born and was a boy, and was still alive in 1615, born 1610. My thoughts and musings have subsequently been shared as fact.

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~~~ Gouldman, Thomas Gouldman-Keeling, c1640-1684 … Gouldmans and Keelings — Bad Info on GENI.com … Leonard Keeling and Naomi Ferguson are not the parents of Thomas Gouldman … for whatever reason, GENI will not let this error be corrected. The account is comanaged by myself and another individual … but GENI’s editing function is not fully functioning.

……… !! There is an unexplained kinship between Gouldmans and Keelings. If you have taken an Ancestry or MyHeritage DNA test you should find numerous DNA matches with Keeling lines that lead back to Sheriff George Keeling, son of Leonard Keeling and Naomi Ferguson. Why? Not really sure … but that is part of the mystery. Our Golden yDNA is an exact match with an R1b yDNA Keeling branch … Gouldmans and Keelings were incredibly close in the first two generations in Virginia. Relations between Thomas Gouldman and Edward Keeling were familial: inheriting property together, and Edward Keeling being godfather to Thomas Gouldman’s son Edward Gouldman – a role which Edward Keeling would eventually step into and fulfil after Thomas’s death, even setting aside a financial resource for Edward Gouldman’s future education upon Edward Keeling’s own death.

………. 2014: An exact 67 marker yDNA match (62 of 67 markers) prompted me to focus on my relationship with Keelings. Our own Golden origin appearing to be at a 1760 brick wall. atDNA matches via Ancestry and 23andMe indicated a kinship of some sort with Keelings — but atDNA is not good at indicating specific relationship structures ^[4]atDNA can be very useful for matching kinship relationships using chromosomal browsing. That tool was only partially implemented in Ancestry in 2022, which was years later after 2014. . The yDNA match indicated descent from a shared Keeling male line. My approach to genealogy is to study local history and to seek out records. Early records on who begat whom  for the Gouldmans and somewhat the Keelings was a brickwall. Legal records and some historical occurences however indicated a familial relationship, to include the common sharing of first names such as Francis, Thomas, and Edward. The arrival in Virginia of Leonard Keeling is a firm record: 1635. He settled in the Charles City area. Info about family life thereafter is rather sparse due to document destruction. Leonard’s arrival and the familial similarities and relationship with the two family lead me to believe that perhaps Thomas Gouldman was a son who used his (suspected) Welsh perogative to chose whatever surname he wished — there were already two well known Thomas Keelings in Virginia in 1640.

………. ACTION SUMMARY: I connected Leonard Keeling and Naomi Ferguson as possible parents of Thomas Gouldman to see what interest and information others had. Not once have I been contacted on this, not until 16 Dec 2022 when the question was asked by someone as to what I know about this kinship. Secondly, the search engines will look for relationship data whenever a relationship is indicated, else not. There remains a DNA relationship between Gouldman and Keelings but I no longer believe that it is a direct male-lineage relationship, OR there is for some lines to include my own. ^[5]This is a discussion to take up again once more Gouldmans and Keelings have taken yDNA tests. Only one male Gouldman has taken a yDNA test. His Gouldman family line has a brick wall proving direct … Continue reading

Note: The Keelings of male-line kinship are not descended from the Keelings of 1634/1635 that settled at Upper Norfolk/Princess Anne. We are U106/DF98 and the Princess Anne Keelings are J1.

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~~~ Nalle, Mary Elizabeth “Nellie” Nallie / Nalle (1755–c1817) — Our Goldens have recurring DNA matches with the Nalle (Nall) family. At some time between 2016-2019, I suggested that Elizabeth Nalle may be our grandmother Nellie Golden, married to William Golden (c1750-1709). Was looking for some way to explain our many DNA matches, reconcile that Nellie could have been a nickname or mispronunciation of ‘Nalle’. Mary Elizabeth was also a prime candidate as her parents lived very close to Thomas and William Golden in Newberry, South Carolina at the right time and place. … There remain open questions about where she could be our Nellie; will discuss in another section of our genealogy. However, Elizabeth Nalle carries Gouldman DNA and that too can explain why we are a DNA match.

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©2022 William Golden, Norfolk1956@gmail.com // Material may be shared without requesting permission and with appropriate attribution: A Probable History of the Golden Family of Newberry, South Carolina Since 1761, by William Golden ©2022