In this note Boston East covers East Boston, Winthrop and Revere (Massachusetts U.S.A).

This complements the note on Goodearl Chairmakers in the 19th century where George, the only one of ancestor William's sons who was not a chairmaker and who left High Wycombe before he emigrated to America, is not mentioned.

GEORGE lived in several places in England after leaving Wycombe in about 1857 to live in London where his daughter Ellen and his eldest son were born, then briefly to Kingston (Surrey presumably) in c.1862 and to Liverpool c.1864 where his other sons were born. The family went to Boston between 1871 and 1877 but no record of their arrival can be found in the Massachusetts Records or at Ellis Island.

English records give the following details :-

George was born on June 19th 1836 probably at Lane End near High Wycombe and christened on July 14th 1836 at St.Mary's St.Wesleyan Chapel in High Wycombe. In 1841 and 1851 he was living with his parents in Lane End and in 1851 he was a shoemaker. He married his first wife SARAH in 1857 in Bedford (40 miles from Wycombe and 50 miles from London) and they settled in Shoreditch in E.London where their daughter Ellen was born in 1858 and Sarah died in 1859.

He was married again in Shoreditch in1860 to SUSANNAH FARROW and George William was born there in 1861 just 8 days before the census when they were living at 34, York St. Shoreditch when George was a Journeyman Shoemaker. A son was born in Kingston in 1863 but he died in Liverpool in 1864 where they lived until at least 1871 and where Alfred and William Thomas were born. A daughter Deborah was born there in 1869 and died there in 1871. Their address is not known as the 1871 census is not available in alphabetical order and Liverpool is a big city to search reels of microfilm !

Between 1871 and 1877 the family emigrated to Boston where the first known reference is the birth of Ellen's illegitimate son Charles in Tewkesbury in January 1878.

From this point on details are rather sketchy as research from 3000 miles away is rather difficult. The only known facts about George are (i) that he travelled alone to England in 1887 and arrived back from Liverpool on the S.S.Pavonia on June 23rd 1887 when his occupation is given as grocer, and (ii) in his father's will of Dec.1887 George's address is given as Marginal St. Boston.

George and Susannah died within 4 days of each other in Boston in 1914 probably in the same neighbourhood as Marginal St.

2nd.Generation

ELLEN. Little is known about Ellen except that her son Charles' father was a teamster whose first name was Thomas. As she later married a mariner named Thomas Campbell in Boston in 1881 he was probably Charles' father. However, when she died in Boston in 1890 after a 4 years illness, her death certificate gave her as Ellen Goodearl-single. Nothing is known about Charles. Possibly he took the name of Campbell.

WILLIAM THOMAS. He was a farmer and probably moved out of Boston before he married CASSIE in Boxborough in 1894. Two of their children were born in Boxborough and two in Harvard. However, GERTRUDE IRENE was born in Boston in 1904.

ALFRED. The location of Alfred's marriage to JULIA in 1886 is not known but their 3 children were born in Boston between 1887 and 1891 and they both died there in 1938 and 1940. Their daughter died in Boston in 1911 at the East Boston Relief Station and their sons were married in Boston in 1912 and 1913 so it is likely that Alfred and Julia lived all their married life in Boston. Their only known address is 5 Jeffries St. E.Boston where they lived in 1887 when Alfred was a book-keeper, in 1889 when he was described as a clerk and in 1891 again a book-keeper.

GEORGE WILLIAM. In 1881 he married JENNY WRIGHT, who was born in E.Boston in 1863. He was then a grocer. 7 of their 8 children were definitely born in Boston but the birthplace of ALFRED BRADFORD in about 1890 is unknown: he was killed in France in 1918. (Alfred and photos of his memorial)

George's occupation and their address at the time of some of their children's births were:-

Clinton      1883 clerk  ---             (Clinton died at the age of 5 months)
George Henry 1886 clerk  ---
William H.   1888 clerk  47,Haynes St.   (William died at the age of 9 months)
Edward Ross  1889 grocer 28,Susannah St.
Charles L.   1894 grocer 59,Saratonga St.(Charles died at the age of 15 months)
Beatrice     1899 grocer 150,Leyden St.

3rd. Generation

(a) Alfred's sons

WILLIAM ALFRED. He married Susan in Boston in 1913 and Susan was born there. Their first child RALPH WILLIAM was born in Boston in 1916 but the other 4 were born in Dover N.H., so it appears that William and Susan moved to N.H. in about 1917.

HENRY ELMER. He married Esther in 1912 and Esther was born in Winthrop. Their two sons Elmer Alfred and Roy Harold were born in Revere in 1913 and Winthrop in 1915. However both sons were married in Wilmington in 1936 and Henry died in Lowell in 1947 so it appears that the family moved to the north-west of Boston in the 1920's or 30's.

(b) George William's sons
JOHN ARTHUR. He married Helen in Boston in 1909 when he was living at 178,Leyden St. when he was a superintendent. In 1921 they lived in Allston. He died in Boston in 1956 so they possibly had lived in Boston all their married lives. They had no children.

EDWARD ROSS. He married Alice in Boston in 1909 when he was a grocer living at 178, Leyden St. Alice was a telegraph operator living in Revere. 3 of their 4 children were born in Boston but Creighton was born in Marshfield in 1911. In 1921 they lived at 278,Winthrop St. The two sons were married in Boston and the two daughters died there so Edward and Alice probably lived most of their lives in Boston. Edward died in Marshfield in 1977.

GEORGE HENRY. He married Jane in Medford in 1914. 3 of their children were born in Winthrop between 1915 and 1921 but Alfred George was born in Medford in 1919. In 1921 they lived at 48,Winthrop St. All 4 children were married in Winthrop between 1935 and 1948 and George and Jane both died there and in 1948 he was a meat cutter at 25 Woodside Ave., so almost certainly they lived in Winthrop for most of their married lives.