Charles C. Goodale

GOODALE, MCMANNUS

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 10/3/2004 at 22:41:51

Charles C. Goodale, Winterset; this gentleman though young in years is fairly to be reckoned one of the leading men of Madison county. His career shows a wide experience of life and is an excellent illustration of what may be won by merit, faithfulness and honesty. He is a man of eastern birth and western training. Senator James G. Blaine remarked when introduced to him in Des Moines, "You come from New England stock," and the distinguished Senator was right although the ordinary observer would fail to see in Mr. Goodale any resemblance to the conventional New Englander. Mr. Goodale was born in Addison county, Vermont, December 27, 1844; when about three years old he was taken to Essex county, New York, where he remained until 1857, when he came to Clayton county, Iowa; his early years in this State were passed on a farm and attending the common schools where nearly all his education was received; in the fall of 1863 he went to Chicago and spent the ensuing winter there as a student in a mercantile college; he returned to Iowa in the spring and in May enlisted in Co. C, of the Third Iowa infantry; Mr. Goodale has enlisted in a veteran regiment which had been terribly torn and decimated; it went again to the front and saw hard service again; Mr. Goodale was with the regiment until July 22, when he was taken prisoner in the battle before Atlanta; he was sent to Andersonville prison and remained two months in the midst of its untold horrors; at the expiration of this time he was transferred to the prison at Florence, South Carolina, where he was kept nearly three months longer; his iron constitution stood the horrors of prison life with great vigor; he was sadly reduced, however, and though his constitution was not broken and he afterward regained his health, yet he has never since had the full vigor of his splendid constitution originally; Mr. Goodale was paroled in Charleston harbor December 6, 1864, and then taken to Annapolis, Maryland, where he was granted a furlough of thirty days; after this length of time spent at home he reported in pursuance of orders at Benton Barracks, in Missouri; here he was detailed as a clerk in the assistant adjutant-general's office, and after a short time was made chief clerk; he was mustered out finally in June, 1865, and returned to his home in Clayton county; Mr. Goodale's war experience lasted but a little over a year, but it was filled with hard service and gave him a thorough understanding of what is meant by the horrors of war; shortly after this - in September, 1865 - Mr. Goodale first came to Madison county; he taught school in the winter and spring the summer in labor on a farm; he continued in this course until the summer of 1868, when he made a trip to California, going by water from New York by way of the Isthmus of Panama; the summer he spent in California looking for an opening convinced him that Iowa was the best State in the Union, and Madison, one of the best counties; he accordingly return in the fall and has ever since lived in this county; in 1870 he was married to Miss Sarah J. McMannus, of Clarke county; their family consists of four children: Emma, Willie, Eva and Nellie; he was engaged as a farmer until 1873, when he was elected county auditor, and by successive re-elections has held the office up to the present time; Mr. Goodale is a very popular official and has received the largest majority ever given a candidate in Madison county; in 1875 he ran more than 500 votes ahead of his party majority; this rare popularity has been fairly and honestly won; Mr. Goodale is a thorough gentleman in manner, and treats all persons with a genial and unaffected courtesy; this added to his ability and faithful performance of duty have gained him the general esteem; in 1787 Mr. Goodale purchased a half interest in the Winterset Madisonian , of which paper he is now one of the editors and proprietors; Mr. Goodale's early education advantages were only those afforded by the public schools, but he improved them thoroughly; he has since been an industrious student and is now a widely-read and thoroughly informed man; he is a public speaker of fine ability; Madison county may well be proud of Mr. Goodale and his achievements, but his future career will be enacted on a wider stage than any one county can offer.

Taken from the book, "The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1879" page 536, 537