BIOGRAPHY: John J. GOOD, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 145-6 ____________________________________________________________ JOHN J. GOOD, a retired train dispatcher of East Taylor township, is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Gochnour) Good, and was born on the farm adjoining the one on which he is now residing, in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1831. He is a grandson of Christian Good, who owned the farm on which he now resides, and whose father, was a native of Germany. Christian Good was a large land-owner, and a native of Pennsylvania, and died on his farm in East Taylor township in 1852, aged eighty years. He was a great hunter and fisherman, and found enjoyment with his rod and gun as well as food for his table. He was a member and a deacon of the German Baptist church, and married and reared a family. His son, Jacob Good, was born in Conemaugh township, in the last year of the last century, and died in 1873, when in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was an excellent farmer, and a strict German Baptist, being a deacon in his church, where he was highly respected for his piety and many virtues. He married Elizabeth Gochnour, who survived him until 1884, when she passed away in the eighty-fourth year of her age. She was a member of the German Baptist church, as was her father, Christian Gochnour, who died on his East Taylor township farm in 1852, at eighty-five years of age. He was of German descent, and in early life entertained the ministers of his church when they were often compelled to preach in barns, whose owners generally provided dinner for the whole congregation. John J. Good was reared on the farm, and after enjoying such meagre advantages as was afforded by the common schools of his neighborhood, assisted in the cultivation of the farm until he attained his majority. He then engaged in the saw-mill business, and two years later became a day-laborer for the Pennsylvania Railroad company, which, in two days after his employment, gave him the position of night watchman. He discharged every duty assigned him so well that he was made switchman at Conemaugh, and promoted from position to position until he was made conductor of a local freight train running from Pittsburg to Conemaugh. One morning in January, 1865, when pulling out with his train the engine boiler blew up, and injured him seriously, but not fatally, and when he recovered he was at first given the superintendence of some track laying, and then made train dispatcher at Conemaugh, which position he resigned in 1867, to remove to his present home-farm. Beside this farm, which is considered one of the best farms in the township, he also owns another valuable farm and some desirable property at Conemaugh. In November, 1852, Mr. Good was united in marriage with Louisa Cobaugh, a daughter of Daniel Cobaugh, of East Taylor township. To their union have been born eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. The four sons and four daughters living are: Elizabeth, wife of R. H. Kelley, of Allegheny county; Isabella, married William S. Headrick of East Taylor township; Asbury R., now a railroad engineer, and residing at Conemaugh; Mary Jane, wife of V. T. Kisel, of Westmoreland county; E. Edgar, who resides in Conemaugh township; John R., a resident of Franklin borough; Alice Ann, wife of J. C. Sensebaugh, of Allegheny county; and Howard J. R., still at home. In politics Mr. Good has always been a staunch republican, and has always taken an active part in all political campaigns. He has served as auditor, supervisor and inspector, besides filling other township offices, and has been annually re-elected as judge of election at his voting precinct for the remarkable number of twenty-one times -- a record that has seldom been equaled, and scarcely ever surpassed, in the State of Pennsylvania. He is among the active and substantial citizens of his township, and always interests himself in all other matters as well as farming, in which he has been very successful.