Jasper Goodwill

Last updated
Jasper Goodwill
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana, USA
In office
July 19, 1955 1958
Preceded byJohn T. David
Succeeded byFrank T. Norman
Personal details
Born(1889-11-18)November 18, 1889
Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
DiedNovember 10, 1974(1974-11-10) (aged 84)
Minden, Louisiana
Resting place Minden Cemetery
Nationality American
Political party Democratic Party
Spouse(s)Annie Eldredge Goodwill
Relations Murphy J. Foster, Jr. (cousin)
Captain Alfred Goodwill (grandfather)
ChildrenMarion Jasper Goodwill

Gloria Goodwill

Robert Eldredge Goodwill
ParentsAlfred Jasper and Sallie Fort Goodwill
Alma mater Minden High School
Occupation Businessman
(1) Businessman Goodwill was a transitional mayor between the longer terms of John T. David and Frank T. Norman; having won a special election, Goodwill did not seek a full four-year term in 1958. (2) Despite his brief service, Goodwill led the implementation of health insurance and pension coverage for municipal employees.
The Goodwill family grave marker in historic Minden Cemetery in Minden, Louisiana Goodwill grave marker in Minden, LA, Cemetery IMG 0677.JPG
The Goodwill family grave marker in historic Minden Cemetery in Minden, Louisiana
Grave of former Mayor Jasper Goodwill in Minden Cemetery Jasper Goodwill grave IMG 1675.JPG
Grave of former Mayor Jasper Goodwill in Minden Cemetery

Jasper Goodwill (November 18, 1889 November 10, 1974) [1] served from 1955 to 1958 as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.

Democratic Party (United States) political party in the United States

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town.

Minden, Louisiana City in Louisiana, United States

Minden is a small city in and the parish seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in Caddo Parish. The population has been relatively stable since 1960, when it was 12,786. Minden is 51.7 percent African American.

Contents

He is considered a transitional mayor between the longer tenures of John T. David and Frank T. Norman. He worked to implement health insurance and a pension plan for municipal employees. [2]

Health insurance is an insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses, spreading the risk over a large number of persons. By estimating the overall risk of health care and health system expenses over the risk pool, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to provide the money to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity.

A pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan" where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan" under which a fixed sum is invested and then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.

Background

Goodwill's paternal grandfather, Captain Alfred Goodwill, a native of London, England and a member of the Confederate States Army, lived first in Claiborne Parish. After the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Ford Farley (1834-1869), Captain Goodwill moved in 1873 to Minden with his five children, including Jasper Goodwill's father, Alfred Jasper Goodwill, and Captain Goodwill's second wife, the former Ida Victoria Hill (1838-1937). Captain Goodwill in 1880 opened an 18,000-square foot general store in Minden, a "superstore" believed at the time to be the largest such enterprise in the state. One could even purchase a casket and embalming fluid from Goodwill's. Goodwill Street in Minden, which connects the Minden Cemetery with the Webster Parish Fairgrounds, is named for Captain Goodwill, as is the Goodwill Road near the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant in western Webster Parish. [3] [4] Jasper Goodwill was the second of seven children born in Minden to Alfred Jasper Goodwill (1855–1937) [5] and the former Sallie Fort (1859–1934). [6]

Alfred Goodwill, known as Captain Goodwill, was a native of London, England, who was a pioneer in the settlement of Claiborne and Webster parishes in northwestern Louisiana, USA. In 1880, he established the largest general store in the state of Louisiana in Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish.

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Captain Goodwill and his second wife, Ida, had four children. A daughter, Olive Goodwill (born c. 1875), married Robert Roberts, Jr., the mayor of, first, Farmerville and then Minden (1905-1906), a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Webster Parish, an appeal court judge and a state district judge in Minden, and, finally, an attorney in private practice in Shreveport. Their daughter, Olive Roberts (1904-1990), [7] married Murphy J. Foster, a sugar planter in St. Mary Parish and a son of Governor Murphy J. Foster, Sr. The second Olive Roberts was hence the mother of former Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.; born in 1930, he left the governorship after two terms in 2004. Captain Goodwill was hence the maternal great-grandfather of the second Governor Foster; Alfred Jasper Goodwill, the great-uncle, and Jasper Goodwill, a cousin. [3]

Farmerville, Louisiana Town in Louisiana, United States

Farmerville is a town in and the parish seat of Union Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,860 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is spread about Lake D'Arbonne, a popular fishing and boating waterway.

Louisiana House of Representatives lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people. Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of three terms. The House is one of the five state legislative lower houses that has a four-year term, as opposed to the near-universal two-year term.

Shreveport, Louisiana City in Louisiana, United States

Shreveport is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the most populous city in the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area. Shreveport ranks third in population in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge and 126th in the U.S. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, of which it is the parish seat. Shreveport extends along the west bank of the Red River into neighboring Bossier Parish. The population of Shreveport was 199,311 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The United States Census Bureau's 2017 estimate for the city's population decreased to 192,036.

Career

Jasper Goodwill graduated from Minden High School. When he entered the United States Army during World War I, he, like his grandfather, had no middle name. The Army required at least a middle initial if no middle name, and he was hence assigned a "K", which stood otherwise for nothing. He remained in the United States throughout the war. [8] An older brother, Christopher Goodwill (1867-1901), was shot to death while making an arrest. Ralph Goodwill, another brother, was the co-owner of a clothing store in Minden known as Brown-Goodwill, [3] which closed early in 1987. [9]

Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)

Minden High School (MHS) is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana. MHS houses grades nine through twelve but originally handled grades one through eleven prior to the establishment of the twelfth grade. The school is under the supervision of the elected Webster Parish School Board.

United States Army Land warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

After he left the military, Goodwill was until 1923 the assistant postmaster in Minden prior to joining Empire Southern Gas Company, of which he became the vice president and division manager. He retired as the company in 1954. [10] He and his younger surviving son, Robert Eldredge "Tuby" Goodwill (born June 21, 1928), [11] started a hardware and sporting goods store on Broadway Street in 1952. [12] The business closed in 1978.

A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization, the title of Postmaster General is commonly used. Responsibilities of a postmaster typically include management of a centralized mail distribution facility, establishment of letter carrier routes, supervision of letter carriers and clerks, and enforcement of the organization's rules and procedures.

Goodwill prevailed in a special election on May 10, 1955, to fill the remaining three years in the term of John T. David, who resigned amid a bootlegging scandal after nine years in office. Goodwill defeated Paul Wallace (1896–1969), a furniture store operator and a former member of the Minden City Council, 944 (52.4 percent) to 858 (47.6 percent). [12]

David had also narrowly defeated Wallace in the regular Democratic primary election in 1954. [13] Though he succeeded with the health insurance and pension plan for city employees, Goodwill did not seek a full term in the 1958 primary, which brought Democrat Frank Norman, a sitting council member, to the mayor's chair for the first of two four-year terms. [2]

Goodwill was a president of the Minden Chamber of Commerce (1943–1944), a director of the Minden Building and Loan Association, [14] a past director of the former Minden Bank and Trust Company (since part of Regions Bank, [13] and a member of both the civil defense and Selective Service boards. He was affiliated with Lions International, the National Wildlife Association, the American Legion, the Knights of Pythias, and he served on the board of the First United Methodist Church of Minden. [14]

Family and death

Goodwill was married to the former Annie Eldredge (July 2, 1889 June 18, 1959), [15] a medical secretary originally from Abbeville in Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana. The couple resided at 201 North College Street in Minden. The Goodwills had an older son, Marion Jasper "Buddy" Goodwill (January 2, 1925 July 20, 2014), a 34-year employee of United Gas Pipeline Company who resided in Shreveport, Louisiana. [16] Daughter Gloria Ann died as an infant in 1926. The Goodwills had four grandchildren. Goodwill was also survived by a sister, Alice Turnley (1901–1991) of Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish.

Goodwill died in Minden eight days prior to his 85th birthday. Services were held in the Rose-Neath Funeral Home Chapel in Minden. Interment was at the Minden Cemetery, along with other family members. [14] [17]

References

  1. Dates from tombstone in Minden Cemetery
  2. 1 2 John Agan. "Jasper Goodwill". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 John A. Agan, "Captain Alfred Goodwill's Descendant (Murphy J. Foster, Jr.) Makes News", Minden Press-Herald , November 3, 1995
  4. "Capt. Alfred Goodwill". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  5. John Agan, "The Legacy of Captain Alfred Goodwill," North Louisiana History , Vol. 27, Nos. 2-3 (Spring-Summer 1996), pp. 103-109
  6. "Funeral Services for A. J. Goodwill Held Here Thursday: Member of Pioneer Family Dies Wednesday of Heart Attack". The Minden Democrat. March 12, 1937. p. 1 and 8. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  7. Henry E. Chambers, "Robert Roberts, Jr.", A History of Louisiana, Vol. 2 (Chicago and New York City, American Historical Society, Inc., 1925), pp. 21-22
  8. Statement of Robert Eldredge Goodwill of Minden, Louisiana, October 6, 2008
  9. Minden Press-Herald, March 3, 1987, p. 10.
  10. "Jasper Goodwill to Reire Dec. 1", Minden Herald, September 10, 1954, p. 1.
  11. "Robert Eldridge Goodwill, June 1928". Louisiana Secretary of State . Retrieved March 9, 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. 1 2 The Minden Herald, May 12, 1955, p. 1.
  13. 1 2 John Agan (2002). Minden: Perseverance and Pride. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing Company. pp. 113, 133. ISBN   9781439630532 . Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 "Ex-Minden Mayor Dies at Age 84", Shreveport Times , November 11, 1974, p. 10-A
  15. Minden Herald, June 18, 1959
  16. "Marion Goodwill". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  17. "Former Mayor Jasper Goodwill Dies at Age 84," Minden Press-Herald, November 11, 1974, p. 1.
Preceded by
John T. David
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana

Jasper Goodwill
19551958

Succeeded by
Frank T. Norman