Joel Whitney Goff Biography

	This biography appears on pages 1063-1065 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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	JOEL WHITNEY GOFF, A. M., who occupies the chair of English in the South 
Dakota State Normal School at Madison, is a native of the old Pine Tree 
state and a scion of families early settled in New England, where was 
cradled so much of our national history. He was born on a farm near 
Sangerville, Piscataquis county, Maine, on the 16th of October, 1861, 
being a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Spaulding) Goff, the former a 
farmer and lumberman by occupation. Professor Goff has but meager data 
of absolutely authentic order as applying to the remote genealogy, but 
it is known that the ancestry in the agnatic line was of English and 
Irish extraction, while on the maternal side the lineage is traced to 
Scotch and English forbears. The paternal ancestors came to the new 
world in the early colonial epoch and settled in New Hampshire and 
Maine, while representatives of the name were valiant soldiers in the 
Continental line during the war of the Revolution. Many followed a 
seafaring life, and records extant indicate that for several generations 
the love of travel, and particularly of the sea, was strongly evidenced 
by the sturdy men of this stock. The parents of the subject are now 
dead. To them were born three children, of whom all are still living.  

	The early educational advantages enjoyed by the subject were such as 
were afforded in the public schools of Sangerville, Maine, after leaving 
which he continued his studies for one year in Foxcroft Academy, at 
Foxcroft, that state. Later he was for two years a student in the Maine 
Central Institute, at Pittsfield, being there graduated as a member of 
the class of 1882. In 1882 he was matriculated in Bates College, at 
Lewiston, where he completed the classical course, being graduated in 
June, 1886, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while in 1889 his alma 
mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. It may be said 
that Professor Goff passed his boyhood and early youth on the parental 
farmstead, three miles distant from the village of Sangerville, and he 
early became imbued with a distaste for the drudgery of farm life, while 
he was equally appreciative of the value of an education and had the 
self-reliance and determination to carry him forward to the coveted 
goal. Through the generous sacrifice of his parents he was enabled to 
prepare himself for college, and thereafter certain friends of the young 
man had sufficient confidence in him to advance the funds requisite to 
supplement his own earnings to a sufficient degree to enable him to 
complete his collegiate course. He labored zealously to attain the 
desired end, teaching school during the winter terms and working on 
farms during the summer vacations. After his graduation Professor Goff 
forthwith turned his attention to teaching. finding this the most 
expedient method of earning the money with which to discharge his 
indebtedness and being also animated with a distinctive love of the 
work. During the first year after his graduation he held the position of 
principal of Monmouth Academy, at Monmouth, Maine, and at the end of the 
school year he made a trip to South Dakota, for the purpose of 
recreation and in order to see what he could of the great west. The 
greater portion of the time was given to the study of law and the next 
year he accepted the principalship of the Anson Academy, at North Anson, 
Maine. At the end of the year he was elected to his present position as 
professor of English in the South Dakota State Normal School, and he has 
thus been identified with the institution in this capacity for the past 
fifteen years, contributing materially to the prestige of the school and 
to the advancement of its interests and the efficiency of its work, 
while he is held in affectionate regard by the many students who have 
been trained under his able direction. Professor Goff has an attractive 
home in Madison and is also the owner of valuable farming land in Lake 
county. In politics he has ever been a stanch advocate of the principles 
of the Republican party, and while he has never sought or desired 
official preferment he has been an active worker in the party cause, 
having served for several years as chairman of the Republican central 
committee of Lake county, while he also represented the county on the 
state central committee for two years. He is liberal in his religious 
views and is not formally identified with any church organizations, his 
opinions being essentially in harmony with the basic tenets of the 
Unitarian church. The Professor was initiated into the time-honored 
Masonic fraternity in the spring of 1887, when he became an entered 
apprentice in Monmouth Lodge, No. 110, Free and Accepted Masons, at 
Monmouth, Maine, in which he was passed to the degree of fellowcraft, 
after which he was duly raised to the Master's degree and with which he 
is still affiliated. He has advanced through the various grades and 
attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, being 
identified with Oriental Consistory, in the city of Yankton.  

	On the 22d of June, 1892, Professor Goff was united in marriage to 
Miss Frances Shaw, who was born near Cresco, Howard county, Iowa, being 
a daughter of James and Ella Emmons Shaw, who are now residents of 
Madison, South Dakota. Mrs. Goff was a pupil in the State Normal School, 
where she was graduated as a member of the class of 1890, and while 
there she formed the acquaintance of her future husband, who was one of 
her instructors. Prior to her marriage she was for one year a teacher in 
the public schools at DeSmet, this state, and one year in her alma 
mater, the normal school. Professor and Mrs. Goff have three children, 
namely: Charles Sheldon, who was born on the 5th of June. 1894; 
Margaret, born February 1, 1897; and Edward Shaw, February 2, 1901.  

	Our subject is quite frequently called upon to deliver public 
addresses on educational and other topics and to thus appear before 
various organizations. In the spring of 1903 he was selected as one of 
the three judges of delivery at the annual meeting of the Northern 
Oratorical League, held in the city of Minneapolis, this league 
comprising the great universities of the central and northwestern 
states, including Chicago University the Northwestern, the Iowa, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oberlin College.