San
Joaquin County
Biographies
BENJAMIN A. GOODWIN
A man who has taken a very prominent
and important part in irrigation matters, so that he is known as the father of
the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, is Benjamin A. Goodwin, a native of
East Charleston, Vermont, born June 29, 1853.
His father, Darius Goodwin, was born in Lewiston, Maine, and Captain
Benjamin Goodwin, the grandfather of our subject, sailed around Cape Horn in
his own vessel in the twenties or thirties, coming north along the coast of
California, and he traded merchandise and notions for hides and tallow which he
took back to Massachusetts. He died at
East Charleston, Vermont.
Darius Goodwin was a successful
farmer in the east, but in 1869 he left his old home and with his wife and son
Benjamin came to California via Panama.
An older son, Daniel, had come to California in 1867 and settled at
Modesto. On his arrival here Darius
Goodwin located on a farm near Ripon and there they spent the rest of their
lives. Of their two children Benjamin is
the youngest and he received his education in the schools at Woburn,
Massachusetts. He was sixteen years old
when he accompanied his parents to California and he assisted them to get
settled and started in agricultural pursuits in their new home. He then went to work on the large ranches in
the neighborhood, driving the big teams in the grain fields. It was not many years until he began farming for
himself, leasing land and raising grain.
On November 24, 1878, Mr. Goodwin
took an important step when he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Eleanor
Clapp, born in Wilmington, Massachusetts, the daughter of Noah and Louisa
(Stickney) Clapp, both natives of Massachusetts, Mr. Clapp being a prominent
man of affairs, owning a sawmill and engaging in the manufacture of
lumber. In 1873 the Clapp family
migrated to California, locating near Lathrop, where Mr. Clapp purchased a part
of the ranch belonging to his brother Peter, who had been one of the very
earliest settlers there. He was one of
that hardy band of Argonauts, coming around Cape Horn
in ’49 in an eighty-ton schooner which he tied up in Stockton Channel, rushing
from there to the mines. However, he
soon saw that greater opportunities for him lay in farming so settled at
Lathrop, and was extensively interested in ranching until he retired, removing
to Stockton, where he spent his last years.
He and his wife had six children, all girls, of whom Mary E. or Nellie
as she was called by her friends was next to the youngest. She received a good education in the schools
of her native state and was well fitted to preside over their home which was
destined to be the center of much whole-hearted hospitality.
After his marriage Mr. Goodwin
enlarged his operations in grain raising, leasing 2,000 acres and using four
big teams on his ranches, meeting with good success. In the meantime he purchased 320 acres three
miles east of what is now Manteca on the Escalon Road, his first purchase
having been 160 acres of which he paid $1,500 and a few years later, land
having increased in value, he paid $4,000 for the other quarter section. He was the pioneer orchardist of that
section, setting out sixty acres of almonds and ten acres of olives, which have
been for many years in full bearing and good producers. He installed a pumping plant, planted alfalfa
and established a dairy that he ran for many years. He finally sold 160 acres of his ranch and on
the remainder is his pioneer orchard as well as an eleven-acre vineyard which
was set out in 1910. After installing
two pumping plants it was not long until Mr. Goodwin saw the need of more water
for irrigation and so he began planning for an irrigation system that all might
have an ample water supply; after working to that end for several years he
succeeded with others in organizing the South San Joaquin Irrigation District
in 1910. Her was a member of the first
board of directors and upon its organization became president of the board,
holding the office for six years during the construction of the dam and canals,
until the system was in good running order.
With the members of the board he saw to the voting of bonds and securing
the water from the Stanislaus River, the dam being named Goodwin Dam in his
honor. They built the main canals, a distance
of thirty-five miles, and the laterals, making over 200 miles in all. At the end of six years of incessant work,
having given nearly all his time to the district and bringing it to a complete
success, although he was requested to continue as president he declined to
accept the office.
In 1907 Mr. Goodwin was one of the
organizers of the Farmers’ Mutual Protective Fire Insurance Company of San Joaquqin County formed to provide fire insurance for the
farmers with the object of reducing the rates.
Mr. Goodwin was elected a member of the board of directors and was
selected by the board as its president.
To the success of the company he gave the same care and attention he
always manifested in all matters undertaken by him. The result to the farmers has been very
gratifying, for it has greatly minimized the cost of insurance, as it is only
half the rate they formerly paid the old companies. At present there is over $6,300,000 of
insurance in force. After nine years of
active work Mr. Goodwin refused further election as president but has consented
to remain a member of the board of directors.
He worked faithfully to make the insurance company a success and can
naturally take much pride in having had a part in this saving of insurance to
the farmers.
In 1917 Mr. Goodwin rented his ranch
to his son, A. D. Goodwin, and in 1920 moved to Stockton, purchasing a
comfortable home in Lake Park tract where he resides with his wife, who
presides gracefully over his home, and there they are enjoying life to the fullest
contentment. When they first located at
what is now Manteca they went to Stockton, seventeen miles away for their mail,
and when the roads were bad it was an all-day trip for a team of horses. Now at the ranch they have a daily mail,
electric lights, electric power for many machines, good roads, and of course
automobiles for comfort and speed in their trips about the country, some
contrast to the old boggy roads, slow-going horses, candle dips and kerosene
lamps.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin had five children: Irvin A. is engaged in the automobile
business at Ripon; Arthur N. died in his twenty-first year; May is the wife of
L. L. Miller, a rancher at Manteca; Elmer is farming a part of the home place;
Alfred D. is operating the home place.
Mr. Goodwin has always been greatly interested in the cause of education
and served as trustee at Atlanta school district and later of Calla school
district, twenty years in all. He is
prominent in the Odd Fellows, being a member of Mt. Horeb Lodge No. 58, at
Ripon, of which he is a past grand, of Modesto Encampment, and with his wife is
a member of the Rebekahs in which his wife is past noble grand. Mr. Goodwin is also a member of Stockton
Lodge No. 218, B. P. O. E., and in politics he has always been an ardent Republican. Mrs. Goodwin has been a very active worker
and member of the W. C. T. U. for many years, serving as county president of
San Joaquin County for two years. In
1907 he and Mrs. Goodwin made an extended trip through the east, spending some
time in their native states of Vermont and Massachusetts, and June 13, 1919,
they crossed the continent by automobile, again visiting the old home places
and many others of interest en route, returning to their California home in
October after a pleasant and profitable time.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
588-591. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases