Homer J. 'Doc' Goodin


photo from Ancestry.com

b. January 13, 1872 Illinois
d. March 21, 1908 Ft. Huachuca, Arizona

  Homer J. 'Doc' Goodin was born in Illinois in 1872, the son of Joseph and Margaret Goodin. By his early twenties, he was living in Phoenix, Arizona, and already appearing there and in other western locations in exhibitions of horsemanship, bronco busting, bull riding, and calf roping and tying. The May 18, 1893 St. Johns Herald (in St. Johns, Arizona) reported he broke the world record at steer-tying, and that he had lassoed a mountain lion near Wickenberg, collecting $25 for the cat's scalp. He was 21. The San Jose Mercury News of July 29, 1894, reported on his impressive skills in an exhibition there. In 1898, he was the roping champion of Arizona. For several years, he traveled to western cities and towns with a wild west show; there are even some reports are that he was part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West tour although it's hard to confirm them. He was described as a tall, slender, and muscular man. In 1899, he settled near Hooker Hot Springs north of Willcox and near a smaller ranch run by John and Mattie Duncan.

 John Duncan was killed by Wiley Morgan in the fall of 1899 in a dispute over ownership of a calf (and some jealousy and revenge...). Doc met Mattie, and in 1900 they were married. Doc continued his showmanship, appearing in exhibitions in Bisbee, Phoenix, Tucson, and other Arizona towns. In 1902, Mattie was granted patent to the 160 acres she and John had been ranching, and she and Doc lived there for about a year. In 1903, she and Doc bought Joseph Bergier's 160 acre Santa Cruz County property near Canelo (which Bergier had bought in 1900 from Jim and Tom Rice); the Border Vidette of Nogales in an article on September 5, 1903 described it as one of the best in the area. Mattie and Doc operated a registered Herefords ranch there. The article also described Doc as "one of the best known cattlemen in the territory [with] a world-wide reputation as a bronco-buster". In December 1906, the Border Vidette of Nogales reported that Doc was a prominent candidate on the Democratic ticket for sheiff of Santa Cruz County, but withdrew and threw his support to another candidate. In 1908, Doc got a large splinter in his leg when he fell through the floor of his tack room on the ranch and he died shortly afterward from nephritis and uremia caused by blood poisoning resulting from the injury.

 Mattie buried him in City (Court Street) Cemetery in Tucson; in 1909 when that cemetery was decommissioned, she moved him to the mesa near Canelo that eventually became Black Oak Cemetery.

Written by Corbin Smith using several sources, including Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, and Familysearch.com

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