Lemuel Goodell
Lemuel Goodell (November 27, 1800April 9, 1897) was a farmer and politician in Michigan and Wisconsin who also worked as a teacher, restaurateur and law enforcement officer. Background Goodell was born on November 27, 1800, in Pomfret, Connecticut, the youngest of 12 children. He attended local public schools, but dropped out at the age of 15, going to work at an older brother's nearby farm and teaching school in the winter. He went to work for a general store in Alexandria Bay, New York, and in 1828 moved to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit he operated a restaurant for a couple of years with his brother, selling that out to go to work for a hotel. He was appointed a constable (a patronage job) in 1831, and began a political career. He took office as a sheriff, a prison warden and other positions. Wisconsin political career Goodell moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the early 1840s, later moving to Stockbridge, where he bought a farm of 120 acres where he would live the rest of his life. He was a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention in 1846, representing Calumet County. After Wisconsin's admission to the union in 1848, he was