Eli Warren Goode was born December 18, 1869, and died October 17, 1929.
It was the observation of a well-known writer that it takes three generations to make a gentleman. Mr. Goode’s father was Charles T. Goode, a graduate of the University of Georgia in the class of 1853, a Colonel in the Cavalry of the Confederate Army, a member of the General Assembly, a member of the constitutional convention of 1865, a lawyer and orator par excellence. The paternal grandfather was Honorable Thomas W. Goode, a highly successful lawyer, who was frequently sent to both branches of the General Assembly from Upson County. Mr. Goode’s maternal grandfather was General Eli Warren, of whom the well-known Georgia annalist, Judge Richard H. Clark, has written that he “became so successful a practitioner that it may be doubted if, as such, in the meridian of his life, he had his equal in the State.” General Warren sat in two constitutional conventions of Georgia, in both of which also sat his only son, and in one of which also his son-in-law, Colonel Goode, was a member; a coincidence never equaled in the history of this State. Mr. Goode had two great uncles to serve in Congress: Judge Lott Warren, the author of the present “one hour rule,” which has been in force for more than a hundred years; and Judge Peter E. Love, one of the seven representatives from Georgia who withdrew when the State seceded. One of the great-grandfathers of Mr. Goode was Josiah Warren, a patriot and soldier of the Revolution, who was the lone horseman who, when the ceremony of burning the Yazoo Fraud papers at Louisville was about to begin, quietly appeared on the scene and, producing a sun glass, handed it to James Jackson with the remark that only fire drawn from heaven should be used to burn the accursed records. It was used for that purpose in one of the most dramatic scenes in Georgia’s history.
The subject of this sketch was born at Americus, Georgia, December 18, 1869. His widowed mother, a most accomplished and attractive lady, moved to Hawkinsville in September 1878, bringing with her younger children. He thereafter resided here, and was a part of the warp and woof of this community, his great, warm heart never having a single pulsation that did not beat in unison with the welfare and betterment of his town and county. Early in life he entered the drug business, first in partnership with J. O. Jelks, Jr., and Samuel A. Way, and then with the latter, and finally for many years he was in business alone, assisted by his sons, who still operate the business.
Mr. Goode’s parents lost two children in infancy. Another son, Joe, died just as he was about to enter into manhood. His sisters are: Elia, who married Edward T. Byington, a well-known newspaper publisher; Jane Love, who became Mrs. Edward M. Brown, Sr., for years a prominent banker; and Lucy, who married William A. Law, president of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.