Representative Godfrey Gummer Goodwin

Godfrey Gummer Goodwin (January 11, 1873 – February 16, 1933) was a U.S. Representative from Minnesota and a member of the Republican Party who served four terms in Congress from 1925 to 1933. Born Alfred Gustafson near St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, he was the son of Cecilia Carlson (née Sissa Carlsdotter), a Swedish immigrant and single mother. In 1882, he moved with his mother to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he adopted the name Godfrey Gummer Goodwin. His early years in Minnesota, shaped by modest family circumstances and the experience of an immigrant household, provided the foundation for his later legal and political career.

Goodwin was educated in the public schools of Minnesota and pursued higher education in law. He attended the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1896. That same year he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Cambridge, Isanti County, Minnesota. Establishing himself as an attorney in a growing regional center, he quickly became involved in local civic affairs and public service. On June 5, 1905, he married Geneva Edwina Josephina Gouldberg, further anchoring his personal and professional life in the Cambridge community.

Goodwin’s public career began at the county level. He served as prosecuting attorney of Isanti County from 1898 to 1907, gaining experience in criminal law and local governance. After several years in private practice, he was again elected prosecuting attorney in November 1913 and resumed the office, serving continuously until February 15, 1925. During this period he also played a prominent role in local educational administration, serving as president of the Board of Education in Cambridge from 1914 to 1917. His work in both legal and educational spheres enhanced his reputation as a community leader and helped prepare him for higher office.

In 1924, Goodwin was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota’s 10th congressional district. He took his seat on March 4, 1925, after resigning his position as prosecuting attorney, and went on to serve in Congress until his death in 1933. His tenure encompassed four consecutive terms during a significant period in American history, including the latter years of the Roaring Twenties and the onset of the Great Depression. As a member of the House of Representatives, Godfrey Gummer Goodwin participated in the legislative process, represented the interests of his Minnesota constituents, and contributed to national debates characteristic of the era, working within the framework of Republican Party policies and priorities.

Goodwin’s congressional service came to a turning point following redistricting in Minnesota. His 10th congressional district was eliminated, and in 1932 he sought to continue his service by securing nomination to the state’s at-large delegation. He failed to receive that nomination, effectively ending his prospects for another term in Congress. Nonetheless, he continued to serve out his existing term, remaining in Washington, D.C., as the 72nd Congress approached its conclusion.

On February 16, 1933, only about two weeks before the end of his final term, Goodwin died in Washington, D.C., after plunging from a window of the Hotel Driscoll. The circumstances of his fall were never definitively resolved, and it is not known whether he intended to commit suicide or whether the fall was accidental. His death placed him among the members of the United States Congress who died in office during the first half of the twentieth century. Godfrey Gummer Goodwin was interred in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, closing a public career that had spanned local legal service, educational leadership, and four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.