Shelby  County,  Indiana
Biographical  Sketches


Harry  Leonard  Goodwin

          The insurance business in Shelbyville has an able and enterprising representative in the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch.  Harry L. Goodwin,  a native of Shelby county, was born in Hendricks township, April 15, 1864, being a son of  Martin and Elizabeth A. (Snyder) Goodwin,  the father also a lifelong resident of this county, the mother born in the county of Bartholomew.  The Goodwins came to this part of Indiana in the early day and were among the pioneer settlers of Hendricks township, where  James Goodwin,  the subject's grandfather, entered, at the age of nineteen, a tract of land which he partly cleared and improved and is now in the possession of  George Snyder.  James Goodwin was born in Ohio, but left his native state when a mere youth and spent and spent the greater part of his life in Shelby county, Indiana, dying a number of years ago on a farm in Hendricks township, which he redeemed from the wilderness.  His wife,  Patsy Landingham,  came from North Carolina and was a woman of estimable character.  She bore her husband the following children:  William, who lives in Morristown,  John, also a resident of that place;  Martin,  father of the subject of this sketch;  Mariah,  wife of  Louis Ray,  of Fairland, this county;  Mrs. Amanda Payton,  (deceased);  Celia,  who married  John W. Warble, and died in Shelby county;  William,  who is living a retired life at Morristown.  Mary  and  Elizabeth  died in early life.
          Martin Goodwin was born in January 6, 1841, about two miles west of Shelbyville, grew to manhood on a farm and in due time became a man of intelligence and sound judgement. He conducted his farming operations so as to reap the maximum results from the labors.  When a young man he married  Elizabeth A. Snyder,  who was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, in the year 1841, and who bore him two children, the son whose name appears at the head of this article, and a daughter,  Hattie,  now the wife of  Harry A. Hageman,  of Shelbyville, and the mother of three children.  The father of  Mrs. Martin Goodwin was a North Carolinian, her mother,  Magdalena Lambert,  having been born in Pennsylvania.  Her grandfather Lambert came to America as an English soldier and deserted the army in Canada, and with the aid of a good horse succeeded in making his escape to the states, but not until experiencing many hardships and dangers, not the least of which was the swimming of the St. Lawrence river, a distance of two miles, ere reaching the land of safety.  The Lamberts became widely and favorably known in various parts of the United States, several of the families achieving distinction in public life, Hon. Weldon W. Lambert,  of Columbus, Indiana, being a second cousin of the mother of the subject of this review.  Mrs. Martin Goodwin was one of a family of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, five of the former and four of the latter still living, including Mrs. Goodwin, who resides two miles from Shelbyville.
          Harry L. Goodwin was reared to agricultural pursuits and remained with his parents until twenty-six years of age on the home farm, attending at intervals during his minority the Montgomery school in Brandywine township, where he made substantial progress in his studies.  Later he took a business course in an Indianapolis commercial college, and after farming one year for himself, opened an insurance office in Shelbyville, where he has built up a large and satisfactory patronage; his business is fire, life, accident and other lines of insurance, comparing favorably with that of any of his competitors in this part of the state.
          Mr. Goodwin's office is in the Knights of Pythias building and is one of the best known business places in Shelbyville, and among his patrons are many of the representative men of the city and county.  Since engaging in his present line of endeavor his advancement has been rapid and he now carries some of the heaviest risks on property in the city, besides doing an extensive business among farm- ers of this and other counties, to say nothing of his success in writing life insurance, a department in which he is without a rival in the territory to which in the main his efforts are confined.
          In addition in insurance Mr. Goodwin is identified with various local enterprises, owning a half interest in the Shelbyville Monument Company, which was organized in 1903, being secretary and treasurer of the company, and in other than his official capacity contributing to its growth and prosperity.  He also holds the position of secretary with the Shelbyville Building and Loan Association, which was established March 14, 1908, and which, though but a little over a year old, has already done a splendid business and forged to the front among the leading enterprises of the kind of Southern Indiana.
          Mr. Goodwin belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 129, and the Uniform Rank, No. 139, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  Politically he supports the Democratic party and while deeply interested in its success and familiar with the leading questions and issues of the times, he has never sought publicity or official honors.  His parents being members of the Lutheran and Methodist churches he was reared under religious influences and is now identified with the latter body, being a member of West Street Methodist Episcopal church, and Mrs. Goodwin is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Shelbyville.
          Mr. Goodwin married  Mayme Powell,  a native of Shelby county and one of the three children of  Henry and Mary F. (Cotterman) Powell,  the father a cabinet manufacturer of Shelbyville and one of the city's most estimable citizens.  Mrs. Goodwin was reared and educated in the city where she now lives and is the mother of two children, a daughter,  Mary F.,  who died in infancy, and a son by the name of  Earl Maxwell, who was born on August 21, 1907.
Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, B.F. Bowen & Co, Publishers:  Indianapolis, IN, 1909, pages 533-535.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

Biography Index       Main Page