Much credit is due those whose labors and energy have built up the reservation country, and one deserving of especial mention in this connection is the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph.
Eugene F. Goffinet was born in Perry County, Indiana, on March 20, 1869, being the son of Charles and Mary (Collin) Goffinet. The mother died in Indiana in 1891, and the following year the father came to dwell with our subject and is now in his seventy-eighth year. In 1874 the family left Indiana and migrated to San Francisco, thence to Sonora and there the father engaged in mining and carpentering until 1884, when they all returned to Indiana.
Eugene attended the common schools in the various places where he resided in his boyhood days, and in 1887 went to Daviess County. Kentucky, and there wrought for the Cincinnati Cooperage Company, getting out staves. This was then one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world. In 1892 he came to Fairfield. Washington, and there labored for a salary until 1896 when he came to the reservation and took his present place, ten miles southeast from Peck. He has good land and has shown skillful husbandry and industry in the improvement and tilling of it since that time. He has a good orchard and other improvements and the annual returns of his land are very gratifying.
The country was sparsely settled when Mr. Goffinet came here and he had the hardships that are the lot of the pioneer to endure, and especially was it hard with him as his means were very limited. But he labored on with courage and determination, using the best of wisdom in all his endeavors, until he has achieved a success that is the proper crown of such worthy endeavors.
Mr. Goffinet is one of the highly respected men of this section, and he is an influential citizen. His father has a homestead near and has taken great interest in the improvement of the country and the days of the golden years of his life are being spent in the good labors of bringing fruitful returns from the fertile soil of this favored region.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903