Goodwill House - 811 E. Derby Street
Originally built in 1702 by Hesper Goodwill the first Goodwill house was destroyed by fire in 1802. The current mansion was built in 1828 by Venesa Goodwill-Bishop. The lot has been the historic location of the Goodwill women and their husbands for the last 253 years.
Remodeled, repaired, expanded, and altered for the needs of the time, the current house is a large three story (including attic level) house with basement, it sits on a large and semi-wooded lot with a good sized fish pond. On the lot is also the old well cistern, and the fieldstone foundation walls of the original 1702 house - now used to border the house's garden.
The Goodwill women are well known and held in some notoriety that they hyphenate their last name (Goodwill) with the name of their husbands and keep such their whole lives unless they should survive the husband in which case they go back to simply using Goodwill. The Goodwill men traditional keep their father's last name and many simply drop the hyphenated Goodwill. This is a constant matter of light humor and professional aggravation to local and New England genealogists.
The current owner is Edith 'Mam' Goodwill (formerly Edith Goodwill-Whipple) who lives here with her daughter Abigail Goodwill-O'Bannon, son-in-law Daniel Thomas O'Bannon, and granddaughter Prudence Katherine Goodwill-O'Bannon.
Maps
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Goodwill House Lot
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Goodwill House Basement
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Goodwill House Ground Floor
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Goodwill House 1st Floor
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Goodwill House Attic Floor
Founding Date
1702
Alternative Names
The Goodwitch House
Type
House, Large
Parent Location
Owner
Comments