Ellen Douglass (Denison) Goodnow was born on May 19, 1812 in Bernardston, Massachusetts as one of ten children to Major David and Lucy Avery Denison. In 1817, the Denison family moved to Colrain, Massachusetts and Ellen attended Northfield Academy. Later, she attended the Methodist school, Wilbraham Academy, where she met Isaac T. Goodnow who was a close friend of her brother, Joseph. Ellen married Isaac following their graduation in 1838.
Although she was never in robust health, Ellen made the trip to Kansas a few months after her husband, Isaac, in June 1855 at forty-three years old. Ellen left Boston, Massachusetts by train with fifteen other New England Emigrant Aid Company travelers in June 19, 1855 for Albany, New York then on to Buffalo, New York. She then boarded a boat to cross Lake Erie and arrived in Detroit, Michigan then to Chicago, Illinois. From here, she took a train to Alton, Illinois, a boat down the Mississippi River to St. Louis then west up the Missouri River to Kansas City. On July 3, 1855, Ellen met her husband, Isaac, in the Free State stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas, then continued on to Manhattan. |