Thomas M. Goddard Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1719-1720 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	HON. THOMAS M. GODDARD, commandant of the Soldiers' Home at Hot 
Springs, also attorney-at-law and ex-county judge, was born on a farm 
near Troy, Iowa, November 24, 1846, and received his preliminary 
education in the schools of his native place. He was reared to 
agricultural pursuits and at the breaking out of the great Civil war, 
when a youth of sixteen, enlisted in Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, with 
which he served until the close of the struggle, taking part in a number 
of campaigns and noted battles and earning an honorable record as a 
brave and gallant soldier. Returning to Iowa after his discharge, Mr. 
Goddard entered the Troy Academy and after completing the prescribed 
course of that institution took up the study of law in the State 
University, supporting himself while in attendance by devoting his 
vacations to teaching and various kinds of manual labor. In due time he 
received his diploma from the university and immediately thereafter 
opened a law office in Centerville, Iowa, where he practiced from 1874 
until 1883. In the latter year he came to South Dakota, and took up a 
tract of land near Shiloh, on which he has since made his home, the 
meanwhile attending to his law practice in the courts of Sully county, 
also devoting considerable attention to stock raising. 

	In 1887 Mr. Goddard was elected, on the Republican ticket, 
district attorney, which position he held for three years, when he 
resigned to accept the county judgeship, having been chosen to the 
latter office in 1889. His career on the bench, which included three 
consecutive terms, was eminently creditable both to himself and to the 
county, and he retired from this with the commendation and good will of 
the people, irrespective of party affiliation. In the fall of 1896 Mr. 
Goddard was further honored by being elected to represent Sully and Hyde 
counties in the legislature, in which body he served by successive re-
elections from the new district comprising Sully, Hyde and Hughes 
counties four terms, and in the deliberations of which he took an active 
and influential part, being recognized as one of the Republican leaders 
of the house. 

	Mr. Goddard was chairman of the first judicial convention of the 
sixth judicial circuit, and as such wielded a decided influence in 
shaping the policy and controlling the action of the assemblage. He has 
long enjoyed distinctive precedence as a leader of the Republican party 
in his county and district, but few conventions have been held in which 
he has not appeared as a potent factor and he has also been active in 
state and national politics, being not only a skillful organizer, but a 
most effective and successful campaigner. 

	In the month of April, 1903, Mr. Goddard was appointed commandant 
of the Soldiers' Home at Hot Springs, the duties of which responsible 
and exacting position he is now discharging in an able and satisfactory 
manner. As a lawyer, Mr. Goddard is easily the peer of any of his 
professional associates in the central part of the state, and his 
official career demonstrates his ability to fill worthily positions of 
honor and trust. 

	Mr. Goddard has a family of children whose names are as follows: 
Io, Goddard, Sim, Jim, Dick, Guy and Ray. . His family was represented 
in the late Spanish-American war by two of his sons, who were about the 
first to respond to their country's call in this part of the state. One 
of these sons, Sim, was a member of Company E, Grigsby's famous rough 
riders. This regiment only got to Chattanooga, Georgia. Jim, who joined 
Company A, of the First South Dakota Infantry, accompanied his command 
to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he died.