James Andrew Goodner

Notes:

Removed from Indiana to the San Luis Valley in Colorado in 1885, where he took a contract to construct the bridges and head gates for the San Luis Irrigation Canal, which he successfully completed, at which time he was 18 and 19 years of age. Later worked as a carpenter and became associated with James Monroe Chritton, a contractor and builder, and whose daughter, Gertrude, he married in 1891.

In the early "nineties,? James Andrew purchased a steam tractor and separator and did grain thrashing in the valley. About this time his folks moved west to the area, and he had his brother, William Henry ("Harry"), operate the machine while he built and operated a blacksmith shop in the small town of Mosca nearby. In 1898, he invented a rotary steam engine, which was exhibited at the Omaha Exhibition, and which earned a Gold Medal.

At one time one of the engines was in the museum at the University of Colorado. Before it could be put on the market the steam turbine came out and made it obsolete. For a time he operated a shop in the Bessemer section of Pueblo, and in 1910 moved to Rocky Ford, Colorado, to which puce the Chrittons had already moved. There he built and operated a blacksmith and machine shop, which he called the "Eagle Shops,? in which undertaking his brother, Clifford L. joined him, followed still later by another brother, William Henry. His brother, Rupert, joined him also but remained only briefly. Here they did considerable wagon and buggy wheel work. In 1905, he invented and patented "Goodner Chain Pump,? a continuous piston pump in which the piston or plunger did not work up and down but kept continuously in the one direction. It met with instant success? it was 95% efficient?and was used throughout the western states until as late as the "twenties,? pumping irrigation water on farms. They were built with capacities as large as 1600 gallons per minute. In 1906, he invented a machine for seeding cantaloupes and cucumbers, which proved quite successful. Because of anticipated limited demand, it was not patented, and so after the Eagle Shops had built about 100 of them, it was widely copied and produced. The basic principles invented by Mr. Goodner are still in use in present day seeders.

As the business grew, James Andrew built an iron and brass foundry near the Santa Fe tracks, permitting raw materials to be purchased in carload quantities. He designed, and his brother, Clifford L., and he built the cupola, the cranes, and the flasks. Pending the training of a molder, James Andrew himself melted the iron and brass and poured the castings. At this time a demand developed for a pump on farms that would stand the erosive action of the silt laden Arkansas river water, it being necessary to lift the water into the canals. An ordinary pump had only a life span of a couple of years. By 1910, he had invented and was manufacturing such a pump, a new type centrifugal one capable of withstanding the erosive action of the silt, some of them remaining in efficient operation after 20 years of service.

William Henry and Clifford L., never liking shop work, wanted to get out of the business, and so the company was sold to a Mr. H. E. Levers of Roswell, New Mexico, in exchange for farm and city property. James Andrew then moved on a 480 acre farm out of Roswell, but finding the productivity of the land unsatisfactory, he in 1915 rented the farm and city property and moved back to Rock Ford, Colorado. Later the Roswell property was traded for an equity in a manufacturing plant in Trinidad, Colorado, where Diesel engines were manufactured In accordance with arrangements James Andrew was to have a certain authority in the management of the shop, but conflict and differences early arose, so his equity was traded for two good farms north east of Rocky Ford and a good assortment of wood working tools used in the making of patterns for foundry castings.

For several years, James Andrew and some of his sons, including James Russell, had been working on a new type pump which he had sketched out on paper, and in the fall of 1916, after James Andrew had returned from Twin Falls, Idaho, where he had been in charge of building the forms for the concrete foundations, and later setting the machines, for a new sugar factory being built by The La Rue Construction Company, he and his son, Monroe Harry, set up a small machine shop in the old water works building in Rocky Ford. At the end of World War I, in which all the sons had seen service, James Andrew was joined by his three sons, Charles Roy, Monroe Harry, and James Russell. They did custom work of all kinds. In 1922, Monroe Harry expressed the wish to take over the shop, and so the others sold out their interests to him. Charles Roy and James Russell accepted positions with the Great Western Sugar Company in 1923, while James Andrew took off for an extended trip to California. Because of poor business conditions the business was turned back to James Andrew in 1925, and Monroe Harry went to California where a few years later he invented the E and J Resuscitator, which is still being manufactured in Glendale, California.

During the immediate years following, James Andrew designed and built coal conveyors, onion graders, and a variety of agricultural devices, and did more work on the pressure pump. He sold the patent rights and all the equipment on the pump to the California Oil Tool County, and Charles Roy went with the company to superintend the manufacture, but because of financially bad times the pump was never put on the market. Charles Roy then went with the Connersville Blower Company as engineer and draftsman in the shop and in the field.

In 1928, James Andrew was manufacturing a new type pump which he had designed and continued to do so until 1934, w hen Theodore Chritton, his youngest son, joined him in the business. They produced besides the pump, seeding equipment, and an automatic grain and produce scale which had no knife edges. Theodore had graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Electric Engineering, and had been associated with the Western Electric Company in electronics. The business prospered, and Theodore induced his father to sell out to him, which James Andrew did, but he continued to go to the shop every day until the day of his death.

Theodore purchased the old buildings of the Goodner Pump and Machine Company in Rocky Ford, and remodeled them. At the same time, through court action, he secured control of the old name. The business continued to grow, and in 1957, at the time of Theodore's death, he was marketing some of the new electric submerged pumps he had designed and patented. His wife and son continue to operate the business under the name of the Goodner Iron and Pump Works. Physically, James Andrew was a handsome and powerfully built man,? almost six feet tall, blue?gray eyes, hair almost black?brown, trim, straight, slim waist, and with the muscular arms and chest of the blacksmith he was. His son, James Russell, states that his physique was "like the pictures in a Physical Culture" magazine. (The above is a condensation of an article by James Russell Goodner).

James married Gertrude Chritton in 1891 in CO. Gertrude (daughter of James Monroe Chritton and Mary Hollowell) was born in 1873 in Neringo, IA; died in 1947 in Rocky Ford, Otero Co, CO; was buried in Rocky Ford, Otero Co, CO. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Residence Cass Township, in Aberdeen, in 1870, when his mother was living with him. He is reported to have been living in Brookston, White Co, IN, in 1889, and that immediately after that year he moved with his family to Colorado, joining his son, James Andrew. He had gone to the California Gold Fields in 1854 via New York, boat to Panama, and over isthmus by coach. An Indian carried his heavy trunk on his back and arrived Pacific side first. Worked at Placerville (CA) for 2 years. 4 sons.

Andrew married Virginia Mary Smith on 27 Sep 1866 in Ohio Co, IN. Virginia (daughter of James T. Smith) was buried in Catholic Cemetery, La Junta, Otero Co, CO. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Married:
Ceremony performed by F.J. Klein, a Catholic priest.

John married Jane Litta on 09 Nov 1826 in Dearborn Co, IN. Jane was born about 1808 in PA. [Group Sheet]

Jacob married Hester White on 24 Nov 1798 in Guilford Co, NC. Hester was born in 1769; died in 1834. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Peter Goodner is believed to be the husband of Mary, mother of Jacob Goodner and his siblings.

Peter married Mary. Mary was born in 1796. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Immigration Germany to US 1762-1774, and to NC by 1774.

Name:
German surname = G