Feb 2, 1842 - Mar 25, 1933
Son of Noah Good, was the first pastor of the newly constructed Missionary Baptist Church

From the holding of the First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch

George Washington Good
& Sarah Aradean (Chowning) Good

He Came Here When Dallas Was in Weeds

George W. Good Settled in County Way Back in 1846

Preached 60 Years

Recently Went Up in Airplane and Saw His 81-Year-Old Home.

By W. S. Adair

George W. Good of Farmers Branch is one of the pioneers of Dallas County who  is still here. He has first-hand information on the flint-lock rifle, the ox wagon, the ??? hood, the scythe and cradle, the ??? the the log cabin, the scream of the panther the shaggy shape of the buffalo and of the feel of buckskin trousers; remembers when Dallas and Cedar Springs were rival villages, and John Neely Bryan's crowd had far from a  ??? in the contest for county seat, and when the Baptists of the county organized the first congregation and what is still more surprising, he can tell what it is like to go up in an airplane and view the earth as the eagle sees it.
"I have lived in Dallas County, or at least called Farmers Branch my home since 1846,"  said Mr. Good. "That is to say, I have been here eighty-one years. My ancestors lived in Virginia Colony. When life in that old community settled down into something like routine, individuals desiring a little more spice sand snap than they were likely to find there begin to follow the way blazed out by Daniel Boone. My father, Noah good, emigrated with his people to Tennessee, but I have lost the record of the year.

Attracted to Peters Colony

"Early in the '40s, the Peters Colony, having an extensive land grant in North Texas which was of no account without settlers, began to broadcast from Farmers Branch post office the most attractive literature. Some of this reading matter got as far as out house in Tennessee. My father and my maternal grandfather, Elisha Fyke, realized at once that they had settled in the wrong place and being men of decision, as were all pioneers, they proceeded to rectify the mistake as speedily as possible.

"I was born Feb 3, 1842, and was consequently 4 years old when we started for Texas in 1846. I remember nothing in a connected way about either Tennessee for the trip. A few scenes still occasionally picture themselves to me, and a few incidents I sometimes recall.

"We traveled by steamboat from Memphis to Shreveport by way of New Orleans. At Shreveport we purchased wagons and teams and made the rest of the journey in the way the ancestors of us all no doubt trekked it from time immemorial. It was not to us a long drawn out journey through a dreary wilderness, as people nowadays are apt to view things, but more like a natural mode of life that of the nomad.

Dallas a Hamlet in the Weeds

"We arrived in Dallas County four years after John Neely Bryan, and the year the county of organized, and settled across the river from Farmers Branch. Dallas consisted of a few log houses including a store or two, and the impression that detached itself for me on first seeing the hamlet was that it was very much in the weeds. Cedar Springs also had cabins, and two things Dallas lacked - a mill and a distillery. But whisky did not win in the contest between the tow places for county seat.

"The first thing we did was to take down every one of us, with chills and fever. This put us in touch with our neighbors, who informed us that even the oldest settlers made it a regular business at the right season of the year, of doing an ague every other day. Father used to say we had venison for meat, turkey for bread and malaria for sauce.

"The buffalo never ranged east of the Trinity after we came, but there were still plenty of them in Wise and even in Denton County. Neither were there any antelope in this section. But deer, turkeys and prairie chickens were to be seen everywhere, and in the fall and again in the spring ducks and geese came and went in incredible numbers. Wolves went in packs, and bears and panthers were frequently encountered. One night the crying of my first baby attracted a roving panther to my cabin and filled my dogs with terror. A fine bulldog among them stowed as white a feather as the meanest hound. I sallied forth to ascertain the cause of the commotion. My dogs refused to go ahead of me. I mounted a horse and rode in the direction they seemed to dread most, and was soon brought to a stand by the scream of a panther a few yards before me. That satisfied my curiosity.

"The pioneers cultivated small patches  of corn and wheat and kept a few hogs. They had no money nor did they need it except a little with which to buy tobacco, sugar and coffee and ammunition. We took our wheat and corn to Dunn's mill at Grapevine, he paying himself for the trouble of grinding it by taking part of the grain. Grapevine was then called Dunnsville, after Uncle Johnny Dunn, owner of the mill and first settler there.

"Friendly Indians often came to Farmers Branch. They were great beggars. I remember once when father opened the smokehouse to give them some meat one of them getting a peep into the house remarked: Ugh! Heap hog meat!"
"Some of our early neighbors were G. W. Shahan, R. J. West, the father of Robert and John West; Isaac B. Webb, Thomas Keenan and William Pulliam. William Cochran first settled at Farmers Branch, but soon after moved to that was later known as the Cochran Chapel neighborhood. William Cochran was the first County Clerk of the county. John Jackson, father of Frank Jackson and Mrs. J. M. Mathis of Dallas and of the late George Jackson, lived northeast of us and southeast of Trinity Mills. He was one of the early settlers in the Peters colony.

Camp and Prison Life.

"I went to the Civil War as a member of Company E. Eighteenth ???? Cavalry, commanded by Col. M. W. Darnell.  I was captured by the Federals near Little Rock, Ark, n 1852 and sent to Camp Douglas at Chicago, but in a short time was exchanged and sent to Richmond, where I was put in Gen. Bragg's command just after the Battle of Chancellorsville. I was in all the fighting from Murphreesboro to Chickamauga. Chickamauga was a fierce battle. It is said that in the three day's fighting there were 20,000 were killed on each side. Gen. Bragg could win battles, but he had no idea of following up a victory. After defeating the Federals at Chickamauga, he fell back to Missionary Ridge where, after more hard fighting, we left the Federals in possession of the field. After this battle Bragg was succeeded as our commander b Gen. Hood.  Under him I was wounded and captured at the Battle of Peach Tree Creek and once more sent to Camp Douglass. I remained a prisoner until some months after the surrender. I was 23 years old when the war closed. The officers of my company as originally organized where John T. Coit, Captain; W. N. Allison, First Lieutenant; J. Pickney Thomas, Second Lieutenant; Charles F. B. White, Third Lieutenant; Joseph B. Ware, first sergeants; Enoch Strait, second sergeant; John T. Witt, third sergeant; C. B. Strait, fourth sergeant; Robert Hays, first corporal; J. H. Mathis, second corporal; James P. Campbell, third corporal, and Simon P. Lunsford, fourth corporal.

Becomes a Baptist Preacher

"I was ordained as a minister in the Baptist Church in 1866 and became a country preacher. In 1870 I went West for my health, which had become somewhat broken by the hardships of camp and prison life. Once when I was teaching school at Double Springs, near Mount Giliad Church, in the cross timbers in Tarrant County, we had an Indian scare. It was reported that the Indians were on a raid and headed toward us. The settlers took all precautions, but the Indians did not come. That was the only Indian thrill I ever had. I spend several years in Tarrant. Denton  and Jack Counties, preaching al the time, but was not attached to any one church. I finally returned for Farmers Branch where I have lived since 1846. I was a minister of the Gospel about sixty years..

"The Baptists of the count effected their first organization in 1846, with the Rev. David Myers as pastor. For some time the members met at private houses for worship, there not being a sufficient number of them to justify the erection of a church building. It was known as the Union Baptist Church and is now the Union Baptist Church of Carrollton. Bu the Methodists were a year ahead of us, as they got together in 1845. Their organization is now Webb's Chapel Methodist Church of Farmers Branch. These are the oldest churches in the county.

FIVE TIMES MODERATOR

" I was five times moderator of Elm Fork Baptist Association, embracing
Tarrant, Denton and Dallas Counties and parts of Rockwell and Kaufman, but
as the population increased, and the Baptist, with it the territory of the
association was cut down to Dallas County. I served as clerk of the
association for sometime before I was advanced to the post of moderator.
Once when the association met in Dallas, The News gave me a very
complimentary notice."

" Two sisters came to Tennessee with me, Sarah Ann died at the age of 13.
Louise became the wife of William Whitlock and is still living in the
county. I was married in 1866. My wife, who was Srah A. Chowning,
granddaughter of the Reverend David Myers, is still living. We had seven
children: Edward, G. A. , James Walter, Charlie and Mrs. Florence Butler,
Mrs. Arch Skiles, and Miss Ola Good. All are still living except James
Walter. "

" Since I came to the county, the village of Dallas, which consisted of log
huts in a weed patch, when I first saw it practically takes in Famers
Branch, and has attracted to it everything that goes to complete a great
city, but I think it has few things in it that people are prouder of than
our great morning newspaper, The Dallas News."

" My nephew, Byron Good, an aviator at Love Field, not long ago invited me
to take a flight with him. I surprised him a little, I think, by accepting.
We went up and I looked down on Carrollton and Dallas and the country with
which I had a surface acquaintance for eihty-one years. The experience of a
ride in an airplane is worth anybody's while. I have not so far been able to
find words adequately to set forth my impression of the vast and resounding
achievement of Lindbergh, and yet, from what the newspaper say, the
achievement is less to be wondered at than the man himself."

The Dallas Morning News - June 5, 1927
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams

Man Who Served As Pastor Since Civil War Dies

The Rev. George Washington Good, 91, early day Texan who began a long career as a Baptist minister by preaching to fellow-soldiers in Confederate army died Saturday at his home in Farmers Branch.
The Rev. Mr. Good was born in Tennessee and came to Dallas county with his parents eighty-seven years ago. With the exception of twelve years spent at Cundiff, Jack County, he had lived in the county continuously since.
He was the pastor of Pleasant View Baptist Church about twenty-five years, also served as a pastor at Farmers Branch and several other Dallas County towns. In addition to his preaching Mr. Good taught school for a number of years at Pleasant View, Farmers Branch and a few other towns. He retired about ten years ago, but continued to preach occasionally until two years ago.
Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Sara A. Good; three daughters, Mrs. E. F. Butler of Clyde, Mrs. A. R. Skiles of Krum and Miss Ola Good of Farmers Branch; two sons, G. A. Good of Farmers Branch and W. E. Good of Truscott; two brothers, W. L. Good of Farmers Branch and F. M. Good of Carrollton, and a sister, Mrs. Martha Wainscott of New Mexico.
Funeral services w ill be conducted at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Farmers Branch Baptist Church by the Rev. W. H. Wynn, pastor of the Forest Avenue Baptist Church. Burial will be in the Farmers Branch  Cemetery with Masons in charge at the grave.

The Dallas Morning News - March 26, 1933
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams

G. W. Good Dies

G. W. Good passed to the Great Beyond Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1933, at 1:10 o'clock; closing an eventful helpful life of over ninety-one years. Mr. Good was born in Old Diminion, Virginia, on the 3rd day of February 1842, the son of Noah and Cynthia Good and was at the time of his death 91 years, 1 month and 22 days old.  He had lived well past the the allotted three score and ten years, and that life had been so spent that the Master will certainly say to him: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Funeral services were held in the Baptist church at Farmers Branch, Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock and he was laid to rest in the cemetery close by, right where he had been an active participant in the religious affairs of community for over fifty years. Rev. Ramsey , the pastor, had charge of the funeral and was assisted by Rev. W. H. Winn, a minister who had been associated with him for many years. At the close of their services the Masonic lodge of which he was a charter member, took charge of the service and followed him to the grave where their service was carried out; Rev. S. E. Wilkin doing the ritualistic work. John Cullom spoke of the departed member and in the course of his remarks told of his conversion fifty-one years ago under the preaching of Rev. G. W. Good, their departed brother. The pallbears were: Truitt Good, Oren Good, Chester Good, Clarence Good, Arthur Good, and Rex Good, all nephews of the departed and all members of the Masonic lodge.

Noah Good and wife came to Texas when G. W. was four years of age. When they settled near Farmers Branch they homesteaded a section of land just north of where old Midway church used to be and here they resided and George grew to manhood. He became a school teacher and then a minister of the gospel and served congregations about this country for over fifty years. For over twenty years he was pastor of the Baptist church of Farmers Branch and he was instrumental in the building of the old church which stood on the site of the present church, and which was torn down and replaced by the present handsome structure.
When the war between the states came he was one of the early volunteers and served throut the entre conflict, serving under Capt. Allison. He and Uncle Peck Bramblitt were the two remaining members of that company until last Saturday.  Now only Uncle Peck remains. Mr. Johnston father of Charley, Jim, and Roy of this place, was also a companion to Mr. Good and served thru the war in the same company.
At the close of the war, or about 1866, Miss Sarah Adean Chowning and Mr. good were united in the Holy Bonds of Matrimony and have lived their life together thruout these many years Mrs. Good surviving her husband. Their surviving family consists of three daughters: Mrs. E. F. Butler, of Clyde, Texas; Mrs. A. R. Skiles of Krum, Texas, and Miss Ola Good at home. Two sons; G. A. Good, at home at Farmers Branch, and W. C. Good of Truscott, Texas.
Mr. Good is also survived by a brother; W. L. Good of Farmers Branch and F. M. Good of Carrollton, Texas; and one sister, Mrs. Martha Wainscott who is in New Mexico.
Mr. Good's influence was in ways thrown on the side of right, as he was able to see the plighl, and in his personal doings he treated others as he would like to be treated were he in their position; he tried to to live as he advised others to live and his good old neighbors say he made a success of so living. His life was such that in his passing there is none to say aught but good about him and shed a tear of sympathy for those near and dear to him; also to reflect that they themselves have lost a friend and helper and one who has left a deep impress upon the lives of the major portion of the community in which he circulated.
Mr. Good has been in poor health for  some years, and having met with an accident which caused a broken hip he has not been active and did not get about as in former years, but he retained in good from his facilities and was interested in all that transpired and got about as he could from time to time. He was bothered some with his lungs and coughing spells would depleted his vitality. One of these came Friday and a congestion of the lungs caused his demise.

The Carrollton Chronicle - Friday, March 31, 1933
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams

REV. GEORGE W. GOOD
FEB 3, 1842 - MAR 25, 1933

Keenan Cemetery, Farmers Branch, Dallas County, Texas