Biography - John Goddard
JOHN S. GODDARD makes his abode in Burnside Township, Johnson County. He was born in Williamson County, May 10, 1837. His father, John C. Goddard, was born in Buncombe County, N. C., September 30, 1797. He was a son of William Goddard, who was a farmer of North Carolina, and his wife was Nancy Cooper, who died young, leaving this one child, John C. William Goddard was married the second time, to Miss Ellen Cochrane. They then removed to Tennessee, and from Tennessee they came to Illinois at an early day, squatted on Government land, and died in middle age, John C. Goddard married Susan Casey, daughter of Levi and Mary (Sherrel) Casey. They were farmers in Johnson County on Government land, and had eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom John S. was the seventh child and fifth son in order of birth. The father died in 1855, at the age of fifty-eight, and his widow died in 1872, at the age of sixty-eight years. They rest in the little graveyard west of Creal Springs. Grandfather Casey and his family were among the early settlers in Bloomfield Township.
John S. Goddard was reared at home and to hard work, and received but limited education. He lived at home until his marriage. In the summer of 1862 he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Illinois Infantry, under Capt. M. R. Allen. He was in the service nearly three years, and was mustered out at the close of the war as a member of the Ninth Illinois, with which regiment his was early consolidated. He served in Companies K and B of the Ninth, and when mustered out was a Sergeant. He was captured near Rome, Ga., and was a prisoner six months, during which time he was a prisoner at Cahaba, Milan and Andersonville. Those six months were worse than all his active service put together. He was in over sixty battles and skirmishes, and upon returning home was in very poor health. He lived a few years upon his mother's farm after his marriage to Mary E. Wood, of Pennsylvania, daughter of William C. and Phebe C. (Frost) Wood, who came to Illinois, settling in Pope County, in 1855, and soon afterward to Johnson County. Her father died on his farm in Burnside Township in 1870, at the age of fifty-five years. His widow is still living with Mr. and Mrs. Goddard, now seventy years old. She has buried ten children, three sons and seven daughters, and Mrs. Goddard is the only surviving child.
Mr. and Mrs. Goddard have lived in Williamson County most of their married lives, but in 1880 they removed from their present home to a forty-acre tract of land near their present home. They have now two forty-acre farms. They built their large frame house in 1887. They have buried three small children, and have eight living, four sons and four daughters, viz.: William A., twenty-three years old; Thomas H., twenty-one; Susan M., nineteen; Albert C., fourteen; Frank C, eleven; Phebe A., nine; Rachael G., seven; and Ethel May, five. These children are all at home and most of them in school. Mr. Goddard has been a Democrat most of his life. He has served as School Director several years. He carries on a general fanning business, and has a fine young orchard partially surrounded by timber, and promising an abundance of fruit in the near future.
Altogether, our subject is a man of good business qualifications, possessing a knowledge of the mode of conducting a farm successfully, and is respected by all who know him.
Extracted 29 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from 1893 Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, pages 523-524.
