West Family Tree

He was born in Charleston South Carolina on March 5th, 1845. He had one sister, Georgiana. His father died in the Civil War when Grandpa was 12 yrs. old [note, dates do not match].
The family moved to Atlanta Georgia to be with his mother's sister.

After staying there awhile, they went by covered wagon with another family to Missouri to be with another aunt, aunt Eliza Jones. Her husband was a doctor and owned lots of land near Jefferson City and Independence. Grandpa and his mother lived near Jefferson City where Dr. Jones had a large apple orchard. They were given permission to pick up the fallen apples. Durin the summer they drive the apples and made $100.00 from their sales. This was quite a profit in those days.

There is no record of his sister. His mother died of cholera the year after they picked up the apples from the ground.

Dr. Jones was not a Catholic, but he required his family to join the Catholic Church. When Grandpa refused to do so, Dr. Jones told him he was welcome to live with them, but would inherit none of his wealth.

Dr. Jones was a rich man in those days and left many acres of land to his children. This land was located in Jackson County Mo. near where Independence is now located. His sons became indolent Souther Gentlemen and soon lived up what they had inherited.

Grandpa was not involved in the Civil War except for this incident: He and another worker in a lumber yard saw a gun-board coming down the river close to Vicksburg. For fun they slapped two large boards together. The men on the gunboat thought they were being fired at and returned the fire for some time. Grandpa hid behind stacks of lumber and was not hurt.

His first wife died in child birth and also the baby. Later he married Rosa Sharp. They were wed in north east Mo. near Shelbina and Edina. They moved on to a farm near Norborn. The small town is near Carrolton, north of the Mo. river.

There were four children 18 months apart. Marvin, May, Margaret Elizabeth (Bess, my mother) and Lee.

Later years they moved to Deepwater Mo. where Grandpa and Uncle Marvin worked in the W. S. Dickey Sewer Pipe factory.

Thru the years Grandpa worked for the American Bible Society and become an ordained minister in the Southern Methodist Church, Grandmother always saw that the church was neat and clean.

When my mother (Bess) was a small child in North Mo. their house burned. Grandpa hitched the horses to the wagon and when he returned he had a wagon load of supplies and furniture that the community had given him. He would always end this story with "The Lord will provide."

After grandmother Goodwin died, Grandpa divided his time between living with his three children. He was known in Deepwater as Uncle Ned. - Ruth Henry West

He (William Goodwin) often teased Grandmother (Rosa Sharp) about an experience she had during the war. Yankee soldiers discovered the Sharp family had some flour and demanded that they make biscuits for them. Grandmother had to do it but spit in the biscuit dough. She was a dainty refined lady and when he told this she would say "Oh shucks Daddy." - Ruth Henry West