I used to think that William Henry Goodhue was born in 1845, as that's what his birth record says:
But the records that say "Copy Of An Old Record" at the top were just created from old town clerk records. For William, here's his original birth record from the town book:
I can see how someone would mistake 1843 for 1845. In search of a corroborating piece of evidence, we just need to look at his first census record from 1850 in the town of Albion, Maine. The image below shows that William (on line 38) was 7 years old in September of 1850:
In 1860, William was 17 and still living at home with his folks in Albion. Therefore, it is clear that the copier made a mistake and his birth year is indeed 1843. He's on line 30 in the image below:
William enlisted in the Army on 16 August 1863 and served with the 17th Maine Infantry, which was tasked with defending Washington D.C. during the Civil War. He was honorably discharged after serving just over 2 years. Full details in the image below:
I don't know when William married Mary Ann Raven, but their first child, Frederick Brown Goodhue, was born around 1869 in Washburn, Maine. The small family lived in Mapleton, Maine and appeared together on the 1870 census on lines 37–39:
William was farming and therefore also appeared on the Agricultural Schedule on line 9 (two lines below his father-in-law, William Neal Raven):
William and Mary Ann had a second child, Ida Jane Goodhue, on 20 November 1871 in Mapleton. There was a significant gap of nearly eight years between Ida and their next child, Aimee, who was born on 8 September 1879 in Castle Hill, Maine. It's possible that they had more children in that timespan, but I haven't seen any evidence of it. They had moved to Castle Hill and were living there at the time of the 1880 census. See lines 12–16 in the following image:
In 1885, William's firstborn and only son, Frederick, died in Presque Isle, Maine.
Although the 1890 US Census was almost completely lost in a fire, some parts of it were preserved. The 1890 Special Schedule for veterans shows us that the Goodhues were living in Presque Isle that year. See line 19 in the image below:
In either 1890 or 1891, the family moved south to Auburn, Maine. William would die on 17 March 1891 "walking the floor," which I presume to mean that he was working, possibly in one of the many mills in that area.
Elsewhere in the same paper, there was this, too:
Here's the Civil War Pension record that Mary Ann filed for after his death:
William was buried in Auburn, in the Oak Hill Cemetery. His wife, Mary Ann (Raven) Goodhue would follow him and be buried with him in 1899.
