Elias J., son of Edwin and Fidelia (Crooker) Gooding, was born in Bristol, Ontario County, New York, April 9, 1862. His education, which was acquired at the district school and Canandaigua Academy. was an excellent one. From his early years he has assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm and he was thus employed until 1894. when he purchased his father’s farm, which since that time has been under his sole management and is in a most flourishing condition. As an active member of the Republican party he has always taken a serious and beneficial interest in the public affairs of the community and has filled several offices of considerable importance. He was elected supervisor of the town of Bristol in 1905, and served two terms in that office. In the fall of 1909 he was elected sheriff of the county, and is now (1910) (1910) filling that office very capably. He is a member of Canandaigua Lodge, No. 236, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Bristol Valley Grange. No. 1080: Bristol Center, K. O. T. M.
Mr. Gooding married (first) March 25, 1886. Cora M., who died August 9, 1903, a daughter of William H. Hicks, of South Bristol. Children: Leonard A., died in infancy, and Edwin H., born August 9, 1903. Mr. Gooding married (second) February 6. 1906, Mrs. Mary L. Hughson, daughter of Robert Gelder, a farmer of South Bristol.