General Notes

Pope indicates that Thomas came from "Shasbury," England ("Shaftesbury" in C.E. Banks's The Planters of the Commonwealth) with wife Jane, son Thomas and sister Ursula on the ship "Confidence" 11 April 1638. It's not indicated whether Ursula was sister of Thomas or of his wife, but since no different last name is listed, she was likely Ursula Goodnow, sister of Thomas. A current atlas of England does not list a town of Shasbury. There is a Shaftesbury in Dorsetshire and a Shawbury in Shropshire which may be possible alternate sites. Pope also indicates that Edmund, named as "brother" in the will of Thomas and a settler of Sudbury, who came on the same ship as Thomas, came from Dunhead, Wiltshire (also not listed in the English atlas) and that John Goodnow, the third brother, also on the ship "Confidence" and a settler at Sudbury, came from Semley, Wiltshire (listed in the atlas). Both these men were called brothers of Thomas in "The History of the Town of Marlborough."   Douglas Richardson, in "English Origins of the Goodenow Family," "The American Genealogist," Vol 52," 1976: pg. 208 has discovered the English roots of the family at Donhead St. Andrew, Wiltshire and concludes that Thomas was resident of Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire, near Donhead St. Andrew, at the time of his immigration.  Thomas Goodnow was a proprietor of Sudbury, MA in 1638 and made Freeman there in 1643. Edward and John Goodnow, also of Sudbury, were named Freeman in 1640 and 1641, respectively and are thought to have been brothers of Thomas.  Thomas was one of the petitioners for the establishment of Marlborough in 1656, was there at its incorporation and was Selectman in 1661, 1662 and 1664. His house lot was bounded on the north and west by the highway, on the south by the house lot of Joseph Rice and eastward by Indian Hill or the line of the Indian Plantation. His will, proved in 1664, names his brother Edmund and a John Ruddocke (from "The History of the Town of Marlborough," pg. 372).  Alternate year of death: 1664, per Charles Hudson, "History of the Town of Marlborough, MA," (Boston, 1862), pg. 372.