Goodenow Family Association

03/24/2026

Robert William Goodenow was born in Dearborn, Michigan, and he graduated from Harvard University (AB) in 1974, where he had studied government, and from the University of Detroit Law School (JD) in 1979. He played ice hockey for Harvard University and for the United States men's national team in the mid-1970s. Bob (October 29, 1952 – September 13, 2025) was an American lawyer who served as the second executive director of the NHL Players Association from 1992 until his resignation in 2005.

The NHL Alumni Association joins the Goodenow family in celebrating Bob's life today and every day. Bob was a passionate advocate for all players, and our team at the NHL Alumni Association will ensure his legacy lives on through our goal of making tomorrow better than today for all NHL Alumni and their families.

Our thoughts, love, and support are with Wendy, Joe, Katherine (Katie), Kerry, and family at this difficult time.

03/04/2026

The February issue of the Goodenow's Ghosts has been distributed, and among other announcements, officer's reports, and updates are the following summarized FEATURE ARTICLES:

C.C. Goodnow (1845-1905), Mayor (and Scofflaw)
Charles Chapman Goodnow was born in Massachusetts but eventually settled in the town of Pipestone, Minnesota. In 1883, while Mayor of Pipestone, he broke federal law by squatting on land in a nearby Indian Reservation, and several other Pipestone citizens joined him. In 1887, federal troops arrived in town to enforce the laws. C.C. Goodnow was a descendant of the Immigrant Capt. Edmund Goodenow.

William R. Goodnough, Civil War Veteran
Born in Hartford, CT, on Leap Year Day (February 29) in 1832, he undertook a treacherous journey at the onset of the Civil War, making his way from New Orleans to Cincinnati. There he joined the 6th Ohio Voluntary Infantry and served until June 1864 (the Confederacy had surrendered on May 26). He worked as a printer, typographer and newspaperman. He never married, but a visit from a nephew, documented in a publication of the National Home of Volunteer Soldiers (Leavenworth, KS) allowed the author to discover that, at birth, he was named Waldo. He died in 1915, age 83, and is buried in the National Cemetery in Leavenworth, KS. He was a descendant of the Immigrant Thomas Goodenow.

GFA Information Manager’s Job – Solving Genealogical Puzzles
An example of a query handled by Christine Goodenough Roberts, the Association’s new Information Manager; from the fragmented information available, C.G. Roberts was able to provide lineage information leading back to the Immigrant Thomas Goodenow. The woman who sent the query is trying to continue the family genealogy started by her late mother.
Christine Goodenough Roberts also requests that members re-submit any updated family information sent between 2020 and 2025.

Willis Ward Cooper, the Goodenow Family, and the Textile Industry in Kansas City (Part 1)
Several Goodenows pursued successful careers in the Textile Industry, through marriage connections and independently, beginning in the late 1800s. Willis Ward Cooper (husband of Anna Elvira Goodenow, a Capt. Edmund descendant) helped launch the Black Cat hosiery brand in Kenosha, WI, a business line that eventually evolved into Jockey International. His influence drew several Goodenow relatives into the rapidly expanding Midwestern textile and hosiery industry. Research later confirmed that many descendants of Jacob Goodenow (8th generation Capt. Edmund descendant) also joined companies that grew out of S.T. Cooper & Sons (a company founded by Willis Ward Cooper’s father), strengthening these ties. The Goodenow Textile Company in Kansas City, founded by Julian Frank Goodenow, represents another branch of this shared legacy, and will be explored further in the next installment, and will be verbally presented with some different information at the July reunion.

The 24-page issue is packed with information.

02/26/2026

Looks like a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity! I personally love old house tours.

Join us for the Sudbury Witness House Tour and experience some of the oldest homes in Sudbury that witnessed 1776!

02/06/2026

It has been brought to my attention that the Polly Ogden Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution located in Manhattan, KS, is planning a wreath-laying at Sibil (Cybil) Arms Goodnow Whitney's (1788-1873) gravesite in May, 2026 in honor of her being a "true daughter" of the American Revolution. A true daughter of the DAR is a daughter of a Patriot who became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Sibil (Cybil) was the mother of Isaac Tichenor Goodnow (founder of Kansas State University, whose wonderful house we toured during our 1992 reunion). Isaac remained childless, but his siblings and half-siblings did not. It would be an honor for the DAR, as well as for the attendee, if descendants of Sibil were in attendance.

02/06/2026

02/05/2026

Are you descended from George Willis Goodnoe pictured recently? Can you help fill out the roots of the tree for "A Sloppy Genealogist" (that is what she/he calls her/herself).

Attempting to amend errors in the George Willis Goodnoe section of the Goodenow book. It has one of Blanch(e)'s granddaughters married to her own brother, which I can personally attest is incorrect. :|

So I'm also looking at as many of George's great-grandchildren as I can find, and including sources.

01/25/2026

"A Sloppy Genealogist" on Facebook shares these nice pictorial memorials of George Willis Goodnoe, son of Asher and Olive Drummond Goodnoe. This is one of many articles that John T Goodnough submitted to our newsletter. From Goodenows' Ghosts, Vol. 33, No. 2, p.40 involving Goodenows who served in the Civil War:
George W. Goodnoe (aka George Willis Goodnoe/Goodnow) was born July 2, 1844, in Cuyahoga County, OH, a son of Asher and Olive (Drummond) Goodnoe/Goodnow. His line has been traced back to the 1638 immigrant Thomas. He worked as a farm laborer and farmer. In 1860, he was residing in Vermontville, Eaton, MI. George enlisted Aug. 4, 1862, at Vermontville and was mustered in on the 28th for three years' service as a Pvt. in Company "H", 4th Michigan Cavalry. The regiment was organized at Detroit, and after completing basic training and receiving needed equipment, the men were transported to Louisville, KY, where the unit was attached to the federal Dep't. of the Ohio. Pvt. Goodnoe likely saw his first action against Confederate troops during the Union army's advance on Stanford, KY, in mid-October. Campaigns, scouts, forays, skinnishes, light and heavy actions, and battle conditions periodically were experienced as the "troopers" rode into Tennessee.
Near the end of the year the men saw action at the landmark Battle of Stone's River which ran into the first of Jan., 1863. That year saw numerous cavalry clashes in the war's western theater. The Michiganders fought fiercely at the Battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-21, 1863, and were in the fighting for possession and control of Chattanooga that included the November Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, TN. Pvt. Goodnoe was also in several cavalry raids on Confederate railroads in western Tennessee, in efforts to deprive the Confederacy of its means of obtaining food, arms and ammunition.
In April, 1864, the 4th Michigan Cavalry was assigned to go with Gen. Sherman's army as it began its long series of marches through Georgia. During a foray along the Western & Atlantic Railroad in April, George W. was wounded; however, he recuperated and returned to duty after a few weeks in a field hospital. The 4th Michigan Cavalry was on hand when
Sherman's forces took Atlanta early in Sept., 1864. After a short time on duty around Atlanta, the cavalrymen were sent back north in pursuit of fleeing elements of the Confederate army; several operations ensued as far as northeastern Alabama. By late Oct., 1864, the Michigan mounted men were sent briefly to Nashville, and thence to Louisville, KY, to rest and refit. Pvt. Goodnoe and many of his comrades moved with a detachment to Louisville, KY, where they were discharged on May 25, 1865.
George married Sarah Holmes on Jan. 12, 1869, believed in Ingham County, MI, and started a family. He filed for and received a veteran's pension, and also reported in Ingham County during the 1890 Special Veterans' Census. George and Sarah had two known children. He died of what was termed uremic poisoning on Oct. 13, 1904, and interment was in the Lane Cemetery, Onondaga Twp., Ingham, MI.

01/18/2026

Goodenow Family Association
2026 Reunion Invitation

The official reunion program begins with a Welcome Dinner with a noteworthy speaker from The National Frontier Trails Museum on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, and concludes with a Farewell Banquet on Saturday, August 1, 2026. An add-on “Early Bird” program begins on Monday, July 27, 2026, and includes visits to museums and other places of interest in the Kansas City area.

We pack all of this into three days of the main program of the reunion: business meetings, two group dinners, visits to the National Frontier Trails Museum and the Harry S Truman Presidential Library & Museum and cemeteries, and sharing opportunities. This will occur July 30 - August 1, 2026.

And if you want to join us for the Early Bird program, you can add The Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, The Steamboat Arabia Museum, the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm, the Hallmark Visitor Center, the National World War I Museum & Memorial, and the National Museum of Toys & Miniatures from July 27-29th. We will surely do a drive by of the renovated, yet on the National Register of Historic Places, the prior Goodenow Textile Company building at 3710 Main Street.

Recent reunions have been small with around thirty in attendance. Let's make Kansas City second in attendance numbers to Sudbury, Massachusetts, because there are wonderful opportunities in the Jazz and the BBQ Capital of the World. Many attendees will have been to multiple prior reunions and will be openly welcoming of newcomers to the reunion or to the association. Non-members and all ages are welcome. Come meet your cousins by the city’s fountains!

01/09/2026

The Midwest Genealogy Center Independence Missouri is one of a couple great genealogical resources in the Kansas City area that one might consider visiting during or tagged on to the reunion. The National Archives at Kansas City stands out with its extensive collection of records from the 1820s to the 1990s, created or received by Federal agencies in the region. This includes a rich array of records related to civil rights, World War I and II, and immigration. The facility also houses permanent federal records covering Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, which are valuable for tracing tribal history, land rights, and administrative actions. Naturalization records are another significant collection, documenting the process by which immigrants became U.S. citizens. These unique holdings provide a comprehensive view of the Federal government's interaction with people and institutions across several Midwestern states. When I was looking for relatives on the east coast's twentieth century military records, I was referred to the National Archives at KC. Missouri Valley at the Kansas City Public Library has been a hub for genealogy research since the early 1900s. The collection greatly expanded in 1933 with the donation of lumber baron John Barber White’s genealogy library. Today, the collection has grown to include family histories, city directories, nineteenth century histories of counties in the Midwest, and genealogical periodicals beginning in the late 1800s. The Jackson County (Missouri) Historical Society is another for local information.

Is your mind blown by everything to fathom in research? From home, day or night, you can watch our 24/7 basics classes! Scroll down on this webpage to the bottom for several MGC getting-started YouTube videos to speed you along: https://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy/get-started

01/04/2026

In preparation for February's quarterly newsletter, members and future members please consider the following as presented in the November newsletter. With the ever-rising postage costs, and with the closing of the economical business that we utilized, the printing of the Goodenows' Ghosts is costlier and more complicated to produce. To conserve our funds, the GFA is hoping that more of our members will switch to digital subscriptions, sent by email as a pdf attachment. (It can be printed out - at home or at a public library or storefront print location.) Major advantages of the digital option are the images are in color, useful internet links are available, words are searchable, and one can enlarge the pages which can be beneficial to those with sight limitations.
If this is something you are eager or willing to do, please relay your decision to the treasurer, editor and publisher. Their email addresses are provided in the second box on page 75. Or if your recent newsletter is not readily available, message the Facebook administrator, and I will relay the information to these three, as well as send you a confirmation. I hope that you have renewed for 2026 and have provided instructions for the manner in which you want to receive your newsletter. Thank you for your consideration to try the delivery to your email.

01/03/2026

A zoom meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 11 at 7pm EST. Interested people can contact a board member or the administrator of this page for zoom instructions.