The Goodrich Families of Lyon County, Minnesota

CHARLES W. GOODRICH (1876) has been a continuous resident of Grandview township since coming to the county in

He was born in Lake City, Wabasha county, Minnesota, August 26, 1861. His parents, William I. and Margaret (Boody) Goodrich, natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, settled in Wabasha county in 1856 and resided there until 1875. That year they moved to California for a residence of one year before coming to Lyon county.

In the spring of 1876 the father took a homestead on the southeast quarter of section 12, Grandview township. There the family made their home until 1891, when they moved to Marshall, and there made their home until Mrs. Goodrich's death in 1894. Since that time Mr. Goodrich has lived with a son in Louisiana. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having been a member of Company M. First Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. He served thirteen months and was honorably discharged on account of ill health.

The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of Wabasha county in his youth and later went to school in California one year. He resided with his parents after coming to Lyon county until 1882 and then purchased land in Grandview township and started farming for himself. After six years on the place he sold out and rented three years, later purchasing his father's farm. In 1903 he sold one eighty and has since that time conducted the remaining eighty acres. He has a well improved piece of land and raises considerable stock. For several years Mr. Goodrich was road overseer of the township.

On February 24, 1881, occurred the marriage of Mr. Goodrich and Lizzie Williams. a native of Grant county, Wisconsin. She was born August 4, 1863, and died March 4, 1904. To this union were born six children, two of whom, Ethel and John, are living at home with their father. The others died in infancy.

Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Baptist church of Minneota. Fraternally he is allied with the Modem Woodmen lodge of Marshall.

LOUIS RIALSOX 11872). a business man of Tracy, is one of the oldest settlers of southeastern Lyon county, having resided there continuously for the past forty years. In the early days he took part in many of the history-making events, assisting in the organization of Monroe township and holding several offices under the township government, and in later years he has been identified with the political and business life of his community to a considerable extent.

The birth of our subject occurred in Green county, Wisconsin, January 11, 1851, and in that county he lived until coming to Lyon county in 1872 at the age of twenty-one years. He is of Xorwegian parentage, both his parents, Rile and Lucy Evanson, having come from the old country. He has two brothers, Andrew and Ole. The former lives in Kandiyohi county and is a former member of the Minnesota Legislature.

Louis Rialson drove from his former home in Green county, Wisconsin, to Lyon county, arriving during the month of June, 1872, and at once filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 22, Monroe township, a short distance west of the present city of Tracy. But at the time of his arrival there was no Tracy, no railroad in the county, and the only settlers in the vicinity were the families of Ole Anderson, Ole Helgeson, Andrew Christianson and Kittel Christopherson. The first year our subject lived in a sod house which stood on the claim of his brother, Ole, on the southeast quarter of section 23. Ole Rialson had filed his claim in the spring of 1872 but did not make permanent residence thereon until that fall.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WALLACE A. GOODRICH (1876) is manager of the poultry and fur business of Max Becker, of Marshall. He was born at Lake City, Wabasha county, Minnesota, December 14, 1863, and is the son of William R. and Margaret Goodrich. The former is a native of Connecticut and the latter of New York State, and they were the parents of the following children: Charles W., who resides on the old homestead in Grandview township; Franklin H. and Louis W., who are deceased; and Wallace A., of this sketch. The mother died in 1893, and the father resides at St. Charles, Louisiana. The latter enlisted in Wisconsin, in Company I, First Cavalry, and served a little over a year in the Civil War.

Our subject accompanied his parents to Lyon county in 187G. The father homesteaded the southeast quarter of section 12, Grandview township, and there Wallace resided until 1888. He moved to Marshall that year and has made his home there since, with the exception of two winters spent in Nebraska and one year in California. In the early nineties Mr. Goodrich started a feedmill in Marshall in the building on Main Street now occupied by Finnell & Son. He conducted the mill seven years, after which he was employed by the McCormick Harvester Company as an expert and later by the International people, which occupied his time until February, 1908. He then entered the employ of Max Becker, in the produce and fur business, as manager. That firm handles the majority of the poultry business of Marshall, about fifteen cars a year besides the local shipments, and about $50,000 worth of furs was handled by the firm in 1911. Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen lodge. He holds the office of noble grand in the Odd Fellows lodge.

Our subject was married in Marshall February 7, 1910, to Lena Rask, of Russell.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

C. M. GOODRICH (1869), retired farmer and for the past five years a resident of Garvin, is one of the county's old settlers. He is the owner of 213 acres of well-improved land in Custer township and is a stockholder in the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Garvin.

The Empire State is the birthplace and boyhood home of C. M. Goodrich. His father, Allen Goodrich, was a native of Connecticut, and his mother, Elizabeth (Stevens) Goodrich, was born in Vermont Both are deceased. Our subject was born January 17. 1846, and his first years were spent in New York State. In 1854 he and his mother and two sisters moved to Wisconsin and made their home on a farm. The following spring they moved to Olmsted county, Minnesota, where they resided until 1858. Then until 1862 they lived in Waseca county. Thev returned to Olmsted county for another year's residence and later spent several years in Rice county.

In 1869 Mr. Goodrich and his mother came to Lyon county, and they took adjoining homesteads in Custer township in the early seventies. They were among the first settlers and their experience is the story of pioneer days, punctuated with struggles and hardships. Mr. Goodrich farmer on his homestead practically all of the time from the early seventies until he moved to Garvin a few years ago.

Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Masonic lodge. He is a respected citizen of the community and is enjoying a well-earned rest after a lifetime of hard and honest toil. He has watched the country grow and prosper from the time where there was only an occasional settler's rude cabin to be found within a radius of miles of unbroken prairie until the present day, with farms of rich land and modern buildings.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.