Crawford-Iowa County IA Archives Biographies.....Goff, I. A. 1833 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 21, 2007, 10:28 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1893)

I. A. GOFF is one of the early settlers of Crawford county, Iowa, and came here
when the country was almost unsettled. He was born in Cayuga county, New York,
in March, 1833, and is the son of Frederick Goff, who was a native of Vermont.
His father was named Thader Goff, and was also from Vermont and of German
descent. The mother of our subject was Malinda Crandell, a native of the same
State as her husband. He was by trade a carpenter and he followed this business
all of his life, and died in Cass county, Michigan. The mother's life ended in
Cherokee county, Iowa. There was a family of ten children, and the gentleman of
whom we write was the next to the youngest. He was reared in Michigan from early
childhood until he had attained his majority and was inured to work on a farm
and attended the district schools. At the age of seventeen he began the coopers'
trade, which he followed for a number of years, probably twenty. He remained in
Michigan until he was twenty-one, when he came to Iowa county, Iowa, and
remained there for seven years and then made a visit for three years in Michigan
again. In 1865 he came to Crawford county and located at Mason's Grove, where he
followed his trade and did some farming. At this time he bought a tract of
eighty acres on section 16, in Milford township. This was wild land, but he soon
improved it with fencing and good buildings, which were the first to be erected
in the county. He operated this farm for two years, and then sold it and
purchased a tract of 128 acres, on sections 5, 7 and 8, in Milford township,
which was slightly improved. He retained this until the spring of 1891. During
the years of 1876-'77 he resided in Daviess county, Missouri, but after two
years of absence he returned to Crawford county and located in Deloit, where he
purchased a house and ten town lots. He resided here until 1890 still looking
after his farm and carrying on a manufactory of bricks, in which business he has
been engaged for some fifteen years. During this time he added forty acres to
the 120-acre tract, and now he has disposed of the latter and retained the
smaller number of acres. In 1890 he moved to Arion, where he has made a home and
engaged in brick-making, contracting and building, and is one of the owners of
the original site of the town of Arion, and is one of the company of eight who
organized and platted the town of Arion, in March, 1891. He has erected three
dwelling-houses in the new city, and has erected the first brick building in the
town, for the use of Mr. Buck. He has been instrumental in pushing forward this
little city's interests, and has been one of the main factors in the building up
of the place. He erected the first residence in the town and has made many
improvements. He owns the livery barn and operates the business of that kind in
the city, or did so until recently, and now he rents it. He also handles the
Silver King buggies and carriages. He affiliates with the Republican party, in
which he dissents from his father, and he is a member of the School Board, and
has been so for many years.

  The marriage of Mr. Goff took place in September, 1853, to Sarah J. Savage,
who was born in Oswego county, New York, in 1835. They have a family of twelve
children, and seven of these are living: Aribret F. resides in Colorado and is
engaged in mining; John is a mason and resides in Arion; William is a clerk and
lives in Pierce county, Nebraska; Orlando is a farmer and resides in Dow City;
Rosa married A. A. Lambert, and lives in Arion; Mary and Mark live at home. Mary
has been engaged in the telephone service at Sioux City, Iowa.

  Our subject has been an Elder in the Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints
for a space of eighteen years, and was Pastor of the church in Deloit for ten
years. In 1868 he took a trip to Nebraska, where he took up a claim in Antelope
county, but the Indians were so troublesome that he gave up his efforts to
retain it.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 
Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties, Iowa.

Containing Portraits of all the Presidents of the United States, with
accompanying Biographies; a Condensed History of Iowa, with Portraits and
Biographies of the Governors of the State; Engravings of Prominent Citizens of
the Counties, wth [sic] Personal Histories of many of the Early Settlers and
Leading Families.

"Biography is the only true history."—Emerson.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.


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