Godfrey G. Goodwin

He was born Alfred Gustafson near St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, to a single mother, Cecilia Carlson (née Sissa Carlsdotter), a native of Sweden.[1] They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1882, where he took the name Godfrey Gummer Goodwin. He attended public schools and graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1896. He was admitted to the bar in 1896 and commenced practice in Cambridge, Minnesota.

He married Geneva Edwina Josephina Gouldberg June 5, 1905. He served as president of the Board of Education in Cambridge, Minnesota from 1914 to 1917.

He was prosecuting attorney of Isanti County from 1898 to 1907. He was elected to the position again in November 1913, and served until February 15, 1925, when he resigned as he had been elected to Congress.

He was elected as a Republican to the 69th, 70th, 71st, and 72nd congresses, serving from March 4, 1925, to February 16, 1933. After his congressional district was eliminated, he failed to receive nomination to the at-large Minnesota delegation in 1932. He plunged to his death from a window of the Hotel Driscoll in Washington, D.C., on February 16, 1933, only two weeks before the end of his final term. It is not known whether Goodwin intended to commit suicide or if the fall was an accident. He is interred in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

• United States Congress. "Goodwin, Godfrey Gummer (id: G000299)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress..