Founders Cemetery, Marker #27
(~1808-1896)
Epitaph: Gone but not forgotten
Margaret has one of the most fascinating stories of anyone buried in the Old Stones Cemeteries. She may have been born between 1807 (grave marker says she died age 87) and 1816 (the 1881 census says she was 65 when it was taken). Other records say she may have been born as early as 1801. According to her grave marker, Margaret died 7 April 1864.
It is possible that Margaret was born a Goodwin and her first husband shared the same surname. In any case, Margaret probably married about 1829, as her first husband, Aaron Goodwin, son of Nathan Goodwin and Abigail Morton. A Margaret or Peggy Goodwin was born in Argyle, Yarmouth County about 1807; the daughter of Jedediah or Jeremiah Goodwin and Bridget Welsh.
When Margaret married, probably before Oct 1839 (the birth of their first child, Ansel), as the second of her three husbands, Theophilus Crosby, she was described as Margaret Goodwin, widow.
Following the death of Theophilus and probably before June 1850 (birth of their daughter, Margaret) Margaret married, as his second wife, Daniel Batchelder Corning. Daniel and his first wife, Abigail Parry had a son Daniel who married Mary Crosby, daughter of Thelophilus Crosby and his first wife, Caroline Welch.
At the time of the 1881 Census Margaret Corning was the head of a household in the Ohio Sub-District, which probably included Beaver River. Also in the household were Leoma Goodwin, age 40, who was probably a daughter from her first marriage, and Frank G Corning, a son from her third marriage.
Margaret outlived three husbands, one of whom is buried next to her, Theophilus Crosby. We do not know the burial place of the the other two. She outlived three children by her marriage to Theophilus (2 sons named Ansel and Elizabeth Ann); two children by her marriage to Daniel (Ida May and Jesse Lee); and two step-children (John W and Abigail K) from Theophilus’s first marriage whom she obviously helped raise. They are all buried in the same row in Founders Cemetery.
More information about Margaret and her three families may be found in the Old Stones Family Group Sheet Index.
Please leave a comment if you have information about Margaret, particularly if you are able to identify her parents.
Hello I just came across your web sight Thank You I’M so pleased. I am a desendant of Daniel B Corning and M. Goodwin. Your records are wrong my great grand father is not Frank G. Corning but George Frank Corning and is in Pine Grove Cemetery Lynn Massachusetts son of D.B. Corning. Also in the same Lot is my great grand mother Florence N. Wyman Corning.
Frank & Blanche Corning in Yarmouth N.S. a good one to get in touch with.
My 2nd great grandmother is Catherine Goodwin who was born in Beaver River, Nova Scotia around 1832. I wonder if she could be the daughter of Aaron and Margaret Goodwin. Catherine Goodwin married Capt. Calvin Corning, also born in Beaver River. Catherine died at an early age (32) of yellow fever while at sea.
Looking at the research notes on the Family Group Sheet for Margaret Goodwin, there is a statement that reads “One source says Margaret and Aaron had two daughters: Naomi and Catherine.” Can anyone tell me the identity of this source? Catherine Goodwin is my 2nd great grandmother; she married Captain Calvin Valpy Corning 25 Nov 1853. According to their Eastport, Maine, marriage record, both Catherine and Calvin were born in Beaver River, Nova Scotia, and were living there at the time of their marriage. She died at sea, aboard the brig Emily Fisher, on 14 Dec 1864, as verified by her Eastport, Maine, death record and a death notice published in the Boston Herald. Her year of birth was 1832 based on her gravestone inscription or 1834 per the 1860 Federal Census. Margaret Goodwin’s third husband, Daniel Batchelder Corning, is Calvin Valpy Corning’s uncle. Catherine would have been about 17 years old when Margaret Goodwin-Crosby married Daniel B Corning, so it would not be surprising, assuming she is Margaret’s daughter, that she met and married Daniel B Corning’s nephew. It is interesting to note that when I added Margaret Goodwin, her husband Aaron Goodwin, and the parents of both of them into my family tree on Ancestry.com, my mother now has 34 DNA matches to descendants of presumed siblings of Margaret Goodwin (i.e., other children of her parents Jedediah Goodwin and Bridget Welch), and she has 76 DNA matches to descendants of presumed siblings of Aaron Goodwin (i.e., other children of his father Nathan Goodwin).