Daniel Goodman, born in 1845 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, was a notable farmer and stock-raiser in Gage County, Nebraska. A Civil War veteran, he served bravely with the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry. After initially settling in Illinois post-war, he moved to Nebraska in 1874, later establishing himself in Gage County. Married to Emma Reed in 1881, the couple had one daughter, Essie, who married Oscar Vanderpool. Goodman was a respected community member, a staunch Republican, and affiliated with the G.A.R. at Adams. He owned 85 acres of land and was well-regarded for his business acumen and social qualities.
Daniel Goodman, one of the prominent farmers and stock-raisers of Gage County, near Adams, Nebraska, is an old-time citizen of the state, having first settled here twenty-five years ago, and he has lived in Gage County for fifteen years. His life is a record of loyal citizenship, for he is listed among the veterans of the Civil War, where he displayed brave and creditable service as a soldier, and in all his subsequent activity has been as true to duty and the obligations imposed by family and society as when a youth wearing the blue uniform of a Union soldier.
Mr. Goodman was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1845, of an old and highly respected family of that county and state. His parents, Daniel and Katie (Wagner) Goodman, were also natives of that county, and his great-grandfather Wagner was a patriot soldier of the Revolutionary War. Daniel Goodman, Sr., was an honest farmer, a good citizen, a member of the Reformed Church, a Republican in politics, a man respected wherever he went. Both he and his wife died in Pennsylvania. They had fourteen children, ten sons and four daughters, and three sons, Eli, Nathan, and Daniel, were soldiers in the Civil War.
Daniel Goodman, Jr., was reared on a farm and taught to work and given an honest purpose in life. He was eighteen years old when he decided to become a soldier. In February 1863, he enlisted from his native county as a member of Company I, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry. He was in the terrible Wilderness campaign, at the battles of Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania Court House, Winchester, and other engagements of lesser importance. He was around Petersburg during the last days of the war, and took part in the grand review of the troops at the close, after which he received an honorable discharge as an honored veteran of the greatest war in the annals of history, and went home with a record of service which will always remain a matter of pride to himself and his descendants.
Shortly after his return from the war Mr. Goodman went west to Stephenson County, Illinois, and settled on a farm near Freeport, where he lived until 1874, in which year he first took up his residence in the state of Nebraska, locating in Otoe County, near Dunbar. Here the noted grasshopper scourge descended upon him, destroying his crops and all his prospects for the time, and gave him such a bad opinion of Nebraska in general that he returned to Illinois and did not make the venture of settling across the Missouri for several years. But on coming to Nebraska for the second time he fared better and came to realize the abundant resources of the state. He has been in Gage County for fourteen years, and is now a prosperous and contented agriculturist. He owns eighty-five acres of land, with a pretty and comfortable residence, ample barns, a fine lot of horses and cattle, and everything needed by the model Nebraska farmer.
In Stephenson County, near Freeport, Illinois, in 1881, Mr. Goodman was married to Miss Emma Reed, who has been a faithful wife and helper to him for over twenty years. She was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, one of the eight children of Daniel and Mary (Hay) Reed, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and the former of whom died in Otoe County, and the latter in Gage County, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Goodman have one daughter, Essie, now the wife of Oscar Vanderpool, of Lancaster County, Nebraska, and they have one daughter, Goldie Vanderpool. Mr. Goodman is a staunch Republican in politics, and affiliates with the Sergeant Cox Post No. 100, G. A. R., at Adams. He is a man of excellent business ability and attractive social qualities, and is respected and liked by everyone.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.