Goodnow, Isaac T., educator, was born at Whitingham, Vt., Jan. 17, 1814. When fourteen years old he entered a store as a clerk. At the age of twenty he entered the Wilbraham Academy and for fourteen years was connected with that institution, first as student and later as an instructor. In 1848 he was elected to the chair of natural sciences in Providence Seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., which position he held until 1855, when he removed to Kansas, settling near Manhattan. Two years later he went east and raised $4,000 for building a Methodist church at Manhattan. He was one of the founders of Bluemont College, which later became the State Agricultural College. In the interest of this institution he again went east and raised $15,000 in money, a library of some 2,000 volumes, and some scientific apparatus. As a member of the state legislature he secured the passage of a bill to locate the state university at Manhattan, but it was vetoed by Gov. Robinson. In 1862 and again in 1864 he was elected state superintendent of public instruction, and during his two terms he wielded considerable influence in laying the foundation for the present public school system of the state. He was appointed agent to dispose of the 90,000 acres of the agricultural college lands, and in 1869 was made land commissioner of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad. Mr. Goodnow died in 1894.