Hardin Goodall, well known Marion merchant and city alderman who had several businesses, one of which was a dry goods store in partnership with James M. Burkhart at 600 Public Square, was County Sheriff in 1868 – 1870, the trying period after the Civil War.
Hardin Goodall was born on February 16, 1833 to early pioneers Joab and Nancy Palmer Goodall. Joab and Nancy were married in 1823 and in 1828 migrated from Wilson County, Tennessee to the area southeast of Marion in Williamson County near Goodall Bridge on the old Creal Springs road. (See biography of Joab and Nancy on this web site.) Hardin was 11 years old when his father died in 1845, leaving Nancy with many children to raise.
In 1850, Hardin was living with his mother and seven brothers and sisters; William, James, Turner, Susan, Francis, Thomas and Mary. Nancy had $1500 worth of real estate. Hardin, perhaps to lighten her load, moved to Kansas and in 1855 was living in District 5, Kansas working as a farmer when he was 21 years old.
In 1860, he was back in Williamson County living in Spillertown with his sister, Susan E. Spiller, and her husband, William J. Spiller, also a prominent businessman. He and William were both listed as tobacconists in this census. At one time they went into business together in a venture called Spiller and Goodall. He also went into business with Martin W. Robertson until Robertson went to the Civil War. Hardin claimed a $600 personal property in 1860.
Hardin registered for the draft for the Civil War when he was 30 years old and unmarried. No records of his serving were ever found and it is likely that he didn’t, due to his age.
In the Illinois State Census of 1865 he was living in Township 9 in Williamson County. He had married Harriet Ellen Pulley and had one little girl. No marriage license could be found in the Illinois State Marriage Index for Hardin and Harriet. In 1868 Hardin was elected sheriff and he served until 1870.
In the 1870 census, Hardin and Harriet had 3 daughters; Mettie, Effa, and Nannie. Hardin was county sheriff and he and Harriet were living in township 9 range 3E (East Marion Township). Harris Eubanks, a deputy sheriff, and Susan Norton, a servant, were living with them.
In the last year of his term as sheriff he was charged with neglect as a sheriff.
The former charge must not have amounted to much since he was elected trustee of Marion under Mayors George W. Goddard and William N. Mitchell. After that he served as trustee for three one-year terms, 1870-1873.
In March of 1873, James M. Burkhart and Hardin Goodall opened a general store at 600 Public Square. The firm was known as Goodall and Burkhart, and continued under that arrangement until 1882, when James Burkhart bought out Hardin’s share because Hardin had become an invalid.
On Saturday, July 21, Nannie, daughter of Hardin and Harriet Goodall, in the 9th year of her age died in Marion and was buried in City Cemetery.
In 1879, Hardin ran an ad as agent for the New America sewing machine, “the only sewing machine that has self-threading needles”. Also in that year, their three year old son Don was kicked in the face by a mule while playing in the street. A mark of the changes time has made.
On January 1, 1880, a fire on the west side of the square destroyed three two story buildings. They were owned by Vick & Son, S.W. Dunaway, Hardin Goodall and J.B. Bainbridge all being insured except Hardin Goodall’s. The total loss was estimated at $20,000.
In 1880 Hardin was a dry goods merchant and he and Harriet had six children living at home; Mettie, Effie, Ella, Ed, Don, and Laura. They had another daughter, Nannie, who died when she was 9.
Also in 1880, Hardin sued William J. and Mary A. Pulley related to a mortgage foreclosure.
Hardin’s health problems apparently started some time before 1880 because by that time he was confined to his room and could not walk. Twice that year he was carried out: once to spend part of the day with Van Cleve Hendrickson and once to vote. In 1881 he went to Battle Creek, Michigan for his health where he improved to the point that he could walk with a cane.
From 1885 to 1895 when he died, he did a lot of buying and selling of real estate. He bought most of it at tax sales put on at the court house for property that had unpaid taxes.
The following article appeared in both Marion papers June of 1895 when he died.
“Hardin Goodall drowned last Monday while bathing in Crab Orchard Creek, near Goodall Bridge, about two miles southeast of town. As his custom was, he went out early in the morning to bathe, taking a towel and some salt. When he had not returned by noon his son, Ed went looking for him. He was found in water about waist deep, the salt and towel in the pocket of his clothes which had been left on the bank. He was born 16 Feb. 1833 near this place and died 17 June 1895, aged 62 years, 4 months and o day. He married Harriet Pulley, who survives, in 1861. He was the father of 5 girls and 2 boys; 3 daughters and 2 sons survive. He was the seventh of fourteen children – three brothers and three sisters are still living. About 45 years ago he confessed his faith in the Son of God and was baptized by Dr. Jonathan Mulkey in nearly the same place in which he drowned. He thus became a member of the Church of Christ and remained until his death. He was elected sheriff in 1868. Retiring from office, he became helpless from disease and was confined to his room for a number of years, finally recovering. He was restored to active life. “
Strangely enough, Dick Goodall, living three miles south of Marion, was found dead near the same pond where Hardin Goodall was found drowned in 1896. His cane was sticking in the mud opposite where he lay, as if he had walked into the creek and fallen face down. He died in 1901.
Hardin’s wife, Harriet Ellen Pulley, was born on September 20, 1836 in Illinois to William Pulley, Jr. (1807-1849) and Mahala Franklin (1803-1840). Harriet died in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 85 on July 30, 1906 and was buried with Hardin in Old Rose Hill Cemetery.
The Goodall Bridge noted in Hardin’s obituary is the one and same bridge that you use to cross over Crab Orchard Creek on the Old Creal Springs road going south off of old 13 east of Marion. This was the same bridge involved in the Goodall Bridge Fiasco of the Civil War and the same location that Hardin’s father, Joab Goodall, built the first horse mill in the county and where Hardin would have grown up as a boy.
Notes on the children:
Meta Goodall was born on March 16, 1865 and married William H. Warder, an attorney, son of Joseph Warder and Ann Kirkham in 1882. In 1880 William was listed as an insurance agent. He was born in Johnson County. “Mettie” and W.H. had children: Laura Belle (1853-xxx), Harriet (1884-xxx), and Evelyn (1886-xxxx). Laura Belle was a stenographer and bookkeeper at an attorney’s office. Meta died on March 22, 1935; William H. died in 1936. Both are buried in the South Annex in Rose Hill Cemetery. See also the post, William H. Warder.
Effie Goodall married Carey E. Wiley in 1886. They had three children: Daisy, Helen and Webster Goodall Wiley. She died in 1947 in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.
Ella Goodall married Webster W. Duncan on November 20, 1890. W.W. Duncan was an attorney, judge and Illinois Supreme Court justice. The couple resided in a fine home located at 518 S. Market St. in Marion which still stands today. They had one child, Pauline, wife of Edwin Bolger, of Denver Colorado. Judge Duncan died in 1838 leaving his wife and daughter.
Edwin Goodall was born on 25 Mar 1874 and married Fannie Mary Filmore (1874-1901) in 1898. In the 1900 census they had one child, Harriet. They were not found after the 1900 census, but were thought to have had one child. Edwin died on 11 Aug 1913 and is buried in Rose Hill.
Don Thomas Goodall married Carrie, last name unknown, late in life. It appears that Don went to Pontiac to work at the Illinois State Reformatory. In 1920 he was an express man there. He was 41 and single. In 1930 he was still there and was working as a guard and still single. By 1940 he had retired, married and was living with his wife Carrie in Marion.
Laura Goodall must be the daughter who had died by the time Hardin died. She does not appear on the census after 1880.
Nannie Goodall, born in 1868 died at the age of nine in Marion on Saturday, July 21, 1877 and was buried in the city cemetery (Old Marion, Aikman Cemetery). Marion Monitor Newspaper
(Extracted from Federal Census Records; Civil War Registration Records; Marion City Cemetery Records; Illinois Marriages (IRAD); the Marion Monitor and Egyptian Press; compiled by Colleen Norman)