Elizabeth Goudie

Elizabeth Goudie was enslaved and owned by Robert Heron. In his will she is referenced as his 'housekeeper' (meaning mistress) and mother of his three children: Robert Heron, Margaret Martin Heron (q.v.), and Anna Maria Heron. She was baptized March 22, 1801, recorded as 'a mulatto belonging to Robert (Thomas crossed out) Heron'. Robert Heron subsequently manumitted Elizabeth and their two eldest children (who had both been born into slavery) on the 1st August 1808. The third child Anna Maria was born free later that year.

The will of Robert Heron bequeathed Elizabeth an annual annuity of £15 currency and ordered that a house be built for her on an acre of land at Alligator Bay. She was also left an enslaved woman named Martha and 'all her future offspring' for her use for ever. Elizabeth died in 1811.

Will of Robert Heron, transcribed by Richard Mitchell: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~heron1/HERON_Robert_1766/scrapbook.htm

Robert Heron genealogy page. Sources not specified by information appears reliable: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~heron1/fam1422.html

We are grateful to Cynthia Gentles for her help compiling this entry.