Elizabeth Bryden

iii)	William Bryden (21 Nov 1767 - 8 Apr 1840)
	m.(2)	12 Apr 1801 Elizabeth C. (11 Oct 1769 - 21 Jan 1839)

Peter Kinnersley Dow has the Bryden family Bible. In it is the following inscription which I quote exactly:

William Bryden and Elizabeth Goodman was Married at london on the Twelveth Day of April Eighteen Hunderd and one and Arived at Baltimore on the first of September Eighteen Hundred & one.

Trish Ashurkoff has a photocopy of a letter addressed to Capt & Mrs William Bryden, Merland Coffey House, London, dated 3 Aug 1803. It is from R. E. Goodman, a resident of Great Coxwell. Great Coxwell is a village about 15 miles southwest of Oxford, England. By every indication, the letter is from Elizabeth Bryden's parents who are "both quite well at present." It mentions Mrs Smith, Mrs Hill, and little Thomas and his sister Betsey away at school. Mr Goodman wishes the Brydens a safe voyage, apparently not expecting to see them again.

From the Great Coxwell Parish Registers:

• 12 May 1740 – Elizabeth Orchard baptized, parents John Orchard and Mary Mills.
• 7 May 1753 – John Orchard buried.
• 13 Jun 1756 – Mary Green Orchard buried.
• Banns of marriage between Robert Goodman of the parish of Swindon, St Margaret's, Wilts and Elizabeth Orchard of this parish were published on the three Sundays underwritten: 4 Sep 1763, 11 Sep 1763, 18 Sep 1763.
• 19 Sep 1763 – Robert Goodman of the parish of Swindon, St Margaret's, Wilts and Elizabeth Orchard of this parish, married in this church by Banns.
• 20 Apr 1791 – John Smith of the parish of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, bachelor and Harriet Goodman of this parish, spinster were married in this church by License.
• 6 Sep 1809 – Robert Goodman buried, age 67.
• 7 Feb 1813 – Elizabeth Goodman buried, age 70.

This would indicate the ancestry:

The evidence for this lineage seems pretty solid. However there is a conflicting account which maintains that Elizabeth Bryden's maiden name was Read. From Bryden Hyde:

William Bryden remarried to Elizabeth Read, daughter of William and Anne. She had previously been married to John Goodman, who may have been an English Consul. Goodman was born about 1767 in St Clement Danes Parish in London, died in Baltimore 1 Aug 1799, and was buried in St Paul's Episcopal Church at Charles and Saratoga Streets. His brother William Goodman was also in Baltimore at this time. There was no issue from Elizabeth's first marriage.

I suspect that two different men named John Goodman are being confused here, and that Mrs Elizabeth (Read) Goodman was not the person who Capt William Bryden married.

Adding to the mystery, Bryden Hyde has in his possession an old prayer book dated 1715. Inside the back cover is the inscription "B_____ Harfield, her book". Elsewhere it says:

Elizabeth Harfield born y^e 14 of October and was baptised y^e 29 of y^e same monthe at St Georges Church 1769.

This may be the church by that name in Hanover Square, London. Inside the front cover:

William Read, d. 11 Mar 1717/8
John Read, d. 9 May 1737
Mary Baily, d. 21 Jan 1738/9, sister to William and John Read
John Harfield, b. 24 Nov 1765

Whoever they were, John and Elizabeth Harfield were contemporaries of James and William Bryden, and William, John and Mary Read preceded them by about two generations. Yet another cryptic reference to the Read ancestry is a tree drawn about 1920 by Bertie Kinnersley, which indicates a marriage between ____ Read and ____ Collins ca. 1750.