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by Wally and Frances Gray

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Isaac Richards Goodwin (1810-1879)
Father-in-law of Martin Benjamin Bushman

Isaac R. Goodwin, a descendant of the Ozias Goodwin family who came to America and settled in Connecticut in 1632, was born at New Hartford, Litchfield county, Connecticut June 18, 1810. He was the son of Isaac Goodwin and Rhoda Richards. Rhoda Richards was a daughter of Elisha Richards who was killed in the Wyoming massacre July 6, 1778, and whose wife, Sarah Cornwall

(Photo is of Isaac from Passenger List of Brooklyn)

Richards and children escaped the Indians and walked two hundred miles. Laura Hotchkiss, daughter of Benjamin Hotchkiss and Elizabeth Tyrell, became the wife of Mr. Goodwin and of this union seven children were born, four boys and three girls: Isaac, Lewis, Edwin A., Albert S., Emmerett, Nancy and Lucinda. Isaac early learned the mason trade at which he worked in New Haven, Connecticut and neighboring towns before his conversion to Mormonism by Elder Elisha Davis. By 1846, he was so thoroughly imbued with the Latter-day Saint spirit, that when the call came to move west he sold his property for almost nothing and, on February 4, 1846, at about the same time the Nauvoo Saints were first ready to cross the plains, Isaac and family took passage on the ship Brooklyn. These converts did not know exactly where they were going, only that they were to join the Saints from Nauvoo somewhere in the West. Unfortunately, during a storm on this voyage, Isaac's wife, Laura, who was an expectant mother, was thrown down a hatchway and after a prolonged illness, died May 6, 1846 just as the ship rounded the Horn. They were close enough to the Isle of Juan Fernandez when death occurred, so that Laura was buried there on Goat Island. Her death left Isaac with the problem of caring for seven motherless children, the eldest of whom was only thirteen years of age. After a short stop at Honolulu, the ship sailed on reaching her destination, California, the last day of July, 1846. For the first six years after he reached California, Isaac lived part of the time in San Francisco and part of the time with the Saints near the American River. He did masonry work in San Francisco and near Rush Creek. Some of his children, in the absence of a mother, were allowed to work in families of other Saints, Lucinda being with Mr. Marshall at the American River colony. In 1852 Isaac again responded to the call of the Church to gather in colonies. He sold his property near San Francisco, took his family and belongings to the Mormon settlement of San Bernardino, five hundred miles southward. Here he purchased a farm and largely devoted himself to agriculture. He aided many missionaries on their way to the coast for foreign countries and was an active member in other Church work. While at San Francisco, Isaac hired a saddle maker, William Coons, a member of the Mormon Battalion, to help him, and young Coons soon fell in love with Isaac's daughter, Emmerett, a girl of fifteen. Isaac refused to give the girl in marriage, so Coons bribed Lucinda, then nine years of age, to assist him in an elopement, which succeeded. Emmerett was never again seen by her family. This elopement started Isaac to thinking seriously about the family responsibility, for on December 22, 1855, Isaac Goodwin married Mary Cox of New Haven, England. She had received the gospel on January 10, 1850 and emigrated to America, coming overland to Utah, then had gone on to California with the Charles C. Rich company. Mary Cox proved a devoted mother to the Goodwin children. She never had any children of her own. According to an interview in 1878 reported by John Codman, a journalist, Isaac was one of the men who went with Samuel Brannan to meet the overland Saints under Brigham Young to try to persuade them to continue on to California. When President Young called the Saints to Utah in 1857, Isaac left all his wealth behind and brought his wife and children to Utah. They traveled by covered wagon, the boys and girls each taking turns driving the stock. When Isaac reached Utah there was probably an order to aid the emigrants coming from the southwest and to help protect the southern settlements from a surprise attack by U.S. troops from that direction, although the known troops were then at Fort Bridger. At any rate, Isaac spent nearly the whole year between December, 1857 and November, 1858 at Santa Clara near what is now St. George. On the latter date he started for Lehi, but was forced by severe snowstorms to stop at Payson until February, 1859, when he finished the journey. In Lehi, he first settled near the Jordan River at Cold Springs, about a mile north of the bridge directly west of Lehi. Here he spent some time raising livestock but soon purchased land within the city limits, where he thereafter made his home. The history of Lehi states that Isaac Goodwin was the man who introduced alfalfa seed into that settlement. He came to Lehi in 1859, bringing with him a little of the precious alfalfa seed from the Pacific coast. In the spring of 1860 Isaac planted the first alfalfa seed that Utah soil had known. From this seed only seven plants sprouted. These he nourished tenderly until they yielded more seed. This seed was saved and planted the following spring. The process was continued for a number of years, a coffee grinder was used to clean the husks. On one occasion a neighbor was watching Goodwin clean the seed and picked up a pinch of it. "Put it down," said Isaac, "I would as willingly give you as much gold dust." In a few years Isaac was able to sell a little seed to his neighbors for one dollar a pound which scarcely paid for the cleaning of it. As Isaac grew older he seldom left home except to attend the Latter-day Saint conference in Salt Lake City. It was at one of these meetings that a very important announcement came for him. It was about a little girl who had been left with some people and who said, "Isaac Goodwin is my grandfather." Her mother was dead. When Isaac saw her he knew he was looking at his grandchild. She was the image of his long-lost daughter, Emmerett, who had named her baby Laura after her mother, Laura Goodwin. Little Laura had a brother, John William Coons, but no further record of him has been found. Emmerett's husband, William Coons, left her after the birth of the second child. She then married a man by the name of Edward Morehead. One child was born to them. Isaac reared Laura to young womanhood when she married Thomas B. Cutler, Bishop, and also manager of the Z.C.M.I in Lehi and later General Manager of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. He tried hard to locate Emmerett's second husband and child but without success. Isaac Goodwin was elected mayor of Lehi on February 13, 1865. He was re-elected October 31, 1874 to fill the vacancy of William Winn who resigned. On February 8, 1875, Mr. Goodwin was again elected to the office of mayor carrying on the responsibilities on each occasion with honor and fidelity. He held many other positions of trust, both civic and religious. In 1872 he went on a mission to his native state of Connecticut. On April 25, 1879, Mr. Goodwin passed away at his home in Lehi, Utah. Mary Cox Goodwin died December 13, 1898. Isaac H. Goodwin, pioneer of 1858, was born August 25, 1834 in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied his parents, Isaac R. and Laura Hotchkiss Goodwin on the Brooklyn. His mother met a tragic death on the voyage and was the only person who died en route to be buried on land?her final resting place, Juan Fernandez. California was young Isaac's home for another twelve years, then he accompanied his father, stepmother, Mary Cox Goodwin, and several brothers and sisters to Utah. Betsey Smith, daughter of Alexander Smith and May McEwan became his wife December 1, 1859 in Salt Lake City. She was born March 7, 1843 in Dundee, Scotland and came to Utah with her mother in the James G. Willie handcart company in 1856. Isaac H. and Betsey were the parents of nine children. The family resided at various times in Lehi, Smithfield, Escalante, Thurber and Beaver where Mr. Goodwin engaged in merchandising and farming. He was an active member of the Latter-day Saint Church.

[He died April 25, 1879, in Lehi, Utah, Utah.]

History of Lehi
Published by the Lehi Pioneer Committee
Written by Hamilton Gardner
The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913

 pp. 262-263

Isaac Goodwin, a descendant of Ozias Goodwin, who came to America from England and settled in Connecticut in 1632, was born June 18, 1810, in New Hartford, Litchfield County, Connecticut.  He married Laura Hotchkiss February 2, 1833, from which union seven children were born, four boys and three girls: Isaac, Lewis, Edwin A., Albert S., Emmerett E. (Coons), Nancy (Evans), and Lucinda (Bushman).

Isaac Goodwin and family embraced the faith of the Latter-day Saints in the year 1844.  Two years later in company with other Saints they concluded to go west and took passage at New York on the sailing vessel “Brooklyn,” her destination being California.  Leaving New York on February 4, 1846, they sailed around Cape Horn at the southern extremity of South America, which point they passed in the latter part of April, finally landing at San Francisco on July 24, 1846, the voyage consuming a little less than six months.

At the beginning of the voyage, Mrs. Goodwin met with an accident and being in delicate health, never recovered from the shock, passing away on May 6, 1846, shortly after the ship had rounded Cape Horn.  She was buried on Goat Island, one of the Juan Fernandes Group, (Robinson Crusoe’s famed islands).

Isaac Goodwin and children lived for some time at San Francisco and later moved to San Bernardino, where he met and married on December 22, 1855, Mary Cox of New Haven, England, who received the gospel on January 10, 1850, and emigrated to America, coming overland to Utah with Charles C. Rich’s company and then going on to California.  No children were born of this union.  Mary Cox Goodwin died December 13, 1898, at Lehi, Utah.

After living at San Bernardino for several years, they decided to move to Utah, traveling the southern route, making a short stay in “Dixie,” also in one or two others places, and finally settling in Lehi in 1859.

Isaac Goodwin was the first to introduce alfalfa (lucern) in Utah, the hay from which has been such an important factor in the agriculture of this State.

He was elected mayor of Lehi City on February 13, 1865; was appointed mayor on October 31, 1874, to fill the vacancy made by William H. Winn, who resigned; was again elected mayor on February 8, 1875; and filled the office with honor and fidelity on each occasion.

He held many other positions of trust, both secular and religious.  In 1872 he went on a mission to the Eastern States.  Isaac Goodwin died April 25, 1879, at Lehi, Utah.

–Samuel I. Goodwin

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