Background
Goodwin was born on December 18, 1834, in Livingston County, New York, the second child of Simeon S. Goodwin and Elizabeth (Albright) Goodwin. His father was a blacksmith who latter went into carriagemaking on a large scale.
Goodwin was born on December 18, 1834, in Livingston County, New York, the second child of Simeon S. Goodwin and Elizabeth (Albright) Goodwin. His father was a blacksmith who latter went into carriagemaking on a large scale.
He attended common school in Mount Morris, New York, then after preparatory study entered Genesee College in the winter of 1851, and remained until 1854, when, owing to a clash within the faculty, he and several fellow students withdrew and entered the senior class at Williams College in Massachusetts, at that time run by Mark Hopkins.
At the end of one term, the trouble at Genessee College having been settled, he and some others returned and graduated in the fall of 1854. He taught at a district school at Cuylerville, New York for a year, then entered the Albany Law School, and in the winter of that year was admitted to practice. He helped organize the first Republican club of Menasha, and took an active part in the presidential election of 1856, stumping for John C. Fremont.
He was chairman of the standing committee on printing.
After the outbreak of the American Civil War, in 1862, he helped organize the 2nd Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, which eventually became the 41st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and served as a colonel in lieutenant After the war he moved to Milwaukee, where he was an assessor of internal revenue for the United States government.
He was a candidate for Congressman as the nominee of the Trades Assembly in 1882. He died from complications of diabetes on May 1, 1886 in Milwaukee.
