Goddard, Albert J.

Albert J. Goddard (1863-1958) was a prominent civic leader in Seattle, Washington and an early adventurer during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 in Alaska and the Yukon. Born on a farm in Iowa, Goddard graduated in 1884 from the Norton Scientific Academy in Wilton, Iowa and moved to Seattle in 1888 where he would live the remainder of his life. In 1888, Goddard established Pacific Iron Works, a foundry in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, with his brother Charles, and soon became active in city and state affairs. He was the mayor of Fremont before it became part of the city of Seattle in 1891. From 1892 to 1894, Goddard was a member of the Seattle City Council, and in 1894 and 1895, he was a member of the Washington State Legislature. When news of the gold rush reached Seattle in 1897, Goddard and his wife Clara headed to Alaska where they would run a successful steamboat operation, carrying prospectors to and from the Yukon Territory from 1897 to 1901. Upon his return to Seattle, he again became an active member of the Seattle City Council from 1908 to 1915, where he was heavily involved in municipal development plans for the city. In Seattle, Goddard owned a banking company, and was a building contractor throughout much of the 1920s and 1930s. Goddard was also an active member of the Alaska-Yukon Pioneers (AYP), an organization of early Alaska prospectors, and participated in many of the "sourdough" events, reunions and conferences.

From the description of Albert J. Goddard scrapbooks, 1913-1937. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 264741359