Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Goodspeed, Samuel 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 28, 2008, 11:25 pm

Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

Samuel Goodspeed, who was born in Troy, New York, February 21, 1812, died 
September 8, 1887. He was for years a farmer and stock-raiser of Will county 
and his business record and his private life alike commended him to the good 
will and friendly regard of his fellowmen. His father, Cornelius Goodspeed, 
was of English lineage. The son Samuel removed with his parents to Tioga 
county, Pennsylvania, when only four years of age, and there lived to the age 
of twenty-two years. During much of his boyhood and youth he worked at farm 
labor in the summer seasons and attended school in the winter months. He came 
to the middle west in 1835, settling upon the Fox river near Oswego, Illinois, 
where he continued for a year. He then removed to a farm near Plainfield, 
where he resided for eighteen years, and in 1855, he came to Peotone township, 
settling on a farm on Section 30, comprising three hundred and twenty acres of 
land. For many years he carried on general agricultural pursuits there but 
spent the last year and a half of his life in honorable retirement from 
business cares in a pleasant home in the village of Peotone. He was a very 
active man for many years and led a busy and useful life. Indeed so active was 
he that some of his friends believe that his death was caused from inertia. 
Mr. Goodspeed was a man of peculiarly strong characteristics. He possessed 
deep convictions which he fearlessly supported and at all times he was plain 
and outspoken, yet his words were always tempered with that rare peculiarity 
which tenders a wealth of hard earned experience for others good and whereby 
apparently caustic remarks others would have created enemies he often won 
lasting friends by his clear presentation of the truth, and at all times he 
was honest and conscientious. He enjoyed the good things of life and was ready 
to bear its burdens, recognized responsibility and faithfully performed all 
the duties that came to him. He filled many positions of honor and trust with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to all concerned. He was moderator of the 
first township meeting in 1858, and was one of the three school trustees in 
1859, filling the latter position for fourteen years. He was also supervisor 
for four years. In politics he was largely independent but became one of the 
original greenbackers. In his business life Mr. Goodspeed was known as an 
enterprising farmer and a man of excellent business capacity and executive 
force. Prior to his retirement he owned a half section of land and forty acres 
adjoining the village of Peotone. He bred shorthorn cattle and was noted for 
the good strain of horses which he raised. In all of his business dealings he 
was strictly straightforward as well as methodical and was never known to 
impose upon any one in a business transaction. Mr. Goodspeed was married, May 
24, 1835, to Caroline B. Clark, who was born in New York, April 5, 1817, and 
died in 1847. They were the parents of six children, of whom four are yet 
living: John, a resident of Minnesota; Phoebe, who is living in Manitoba; 
Emily, a resident of California; and Henry, of Texas. For his second wife Mr. 
Goodspeed chose Sarah M. Messenger, who was born in Ohio, August 8, 1825, and 
died July 25, 1869. Their children were six in number: Francis, of Michigan; 
Carolina, of Iowa; Edward, of Missouri; William, of Oklahoma; Harriet, and 
Samuel, deceased. For his third wife Mr. Goodspeed chose Mrs. Harriet Bryan, 
whom he married November 20, 1869. She was born in New York, August 18, 1820, 
and died in 1904. Mr. Goodspeed's daughter Harriet was married in 1886 to 
James Morrison, who was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, in 1859, and was 
a son of James and Puella Morrison, early residents of this state. Mr. and 
Mrs. James Morrison, Jr., have two sons, William and Lester. The parents are 
members of the United Presbyterian church and Mr. Morrison is an Odd Fellow. 
His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has served as 
assessor of his township and as school director for nine years. He worked on 
the farm for Mr. Goodspeed for some time before marrying his daughter Harriet, 
at which time he took charge of the farm property and yet resides thereon. 
Almost twenty years have come and gone since Samuel Goodspeed passed away but 
he is yet remembered by many of the older residents and those of a later 
period as one of the respected and worthy farmers of the county. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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