Isaac Tichenor Goodnow was born 17 January 1814 in Whitingham, Vermont. He married Ellen D. Denison in 1838. In 1855, Goodnow under the sponsorship of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, went West. With other emigrants, including Isaac's brother William, Goodnow settled along the Blue River in the new Kansas territory. Soon after his arrival he sent back East for his wife Ellen to join him. From the beginning, Goodnow was involved in free state Kansas politics. Goodnow was instrumental in developing both the city of Manhattan and the Bluemont Central College, which later became Kansas State University. He established the Manhattan Town Association in order to prevent claim jumpers from taking the site where the college was to be erected; he raised funds to build the college as well as for books and other necessities. In 1861 after Kansas became a state, the citizens of Manhattan elected Goodnow to the state House of Representatives. After President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862, providing states with land grants to be used to support state agricultural colleges, Goodnow used this opportunity to establish Bluemont as the Kansas State Agricultural College. Isaac and Ellen had no children of their own but raised Goodnow's niece, Harriet Parkerson. Isaac Goodnow died on 20 March 1894.
From the description of Isaac Tichenor Goodnow Papers 1822 - 1940. (Kansas State Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 694933863