By Jessica Gorman

Ten years ago, in July 2015, the season premiere of the genealogy show “Who Do You Think You Are?” featured actress Ginnifer Goodwin. Her quest to learn more about her great-grandparents led her to Minden.

The story begins with her grandfather, John Barton Goodwin. All the family really knew was that he left home at age eleven to get away from his parents, but they never knew why. His parents were John “Al” Goodwin and Nellie Haynes. John Barton Goodwin was born 14 October 1905, and his parents married in April of the following year. Nellie already had a daughter, Pearl, from a previous marriage, a very short-lived marriage. Her first husband, J.D. “Duff” Williams, abandoned her only months after they were married in October 1900. Nellie filed for divorce. On Christmas Eve 1905, Duff Williams was killed by his cousin after a fight broke out between the two over a card game.

By then, Nellie had already given birth to John Barton Goodwin and was soon married to Al Goodwin. Al was a bootlegger. Records revealed a long string of arrests which eventually resulted in him serving time in federal prison. Nellie filed for divorce.

Nellie married a third time. This time to Hugh Wyllie. They end up in Shreveport, likely due to Nellie’s addiction to morphine which she had developed as part of her treatment for syphilis and a heart condition. She probably contracted syphilis from Al Goodwin as it had been noted on his prison records that he had been treated for the disease in the past. Shreveport was the site of a well-known clinic that provided treatment for morphine addiction. A new treatment for syphilis was also being offered. Many of those seeking treatment at the clinic suffered from both. Nellie and her daughter Pearl both entered treatment, but the clinic soon closed. Nellie’s addiction continued. In 1926, both she and her husband Hugh faced narcotics charges. Her sentence was suspended, but he was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. Nellie later faces her own two-year sentence and, in 1934, Hugh is sentenced to three years at Leavenworth.

In the 1940s, the Wyllies moved from Shreveport to Minden. It was here that Nellie May Haynes Williams Goodwin Wyllie died in 1963 at the age of 81. She is buried in the Minden cemetery along with her husband, Hugh, and their son, James Patrick Wyllie. At the end of the episode, Ginnifer Goodwin comes to Minden to visit her great-grandmother’s grave.

Nellie’s story is not a happy one. If we look close enough, we probably all have unpleasant stories within our own family history. We may not like what we find, but I think that it’s important to know, to be reminded of the complexity and imperfection of human life. And, to remember that our history is the story of all those complex, imperfect human lives.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)