Background
Goeckingk was born in Gröningen (Landkreis Börde) and went to school in Halberstadt, where he became friends with Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim.
Goeckingk was born in Gröningen (Landkreis Börde) and went to school in Halberstadt, where he became friends with Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim.
He went to the university of that city and studied book-keeping and jurisprudence.
He continued his schooling at Halle, where he was a fellow pupil of Gottfried August Bürger. After finishing his studies in 1768 he became Referendar in the War and Territorial Chamber in Halberstadt. Between 1776 and 1779 he helped edit the Göttinger Musenalmanach, and in 1783 he founded the Journals von und für Deutschland.
In 1786 he became a councillor in the War and Territorial Chamber in Magdeburg, in 1788 an agricultural tax commissioner in Wernigerode and Prussian commissar, and in 1793 upper privy councillor of finance in Berlin.
Goeckingk was ennobled in 1789 as a reward for successfully putting the affairs of the Royal Abbey of Quedlinburg in order. From this point on he styled himself Goeckingk auf Daldorf und Günthersdorf.
After the General Directory in Berlin was dissolved following the Treaty of Tilsit (1807), he made his resignation in 1808 and turned back to poetry. He lived for several years in Wernigerode.
In 1814 he withdrew from his remaining official responsibilities and went into retirement.
Goeckingk belonged to the Halberstädter Dichterkreis ("Halberstadt Poets" Circle") and was one of its most outstanding representatives. He was the brother-in-law of the jurist and poet Johann Gottlob Benjamin Pfeil (1732–1800).
Illuminatis]
He was also a member of the Berliner Mittwochsgesellschaft ("Berlin Wednesdays Society"), and the Illuminati in Göttingen.