Goodyear was born on March 7, 1849, in Groton, New York, but soon after his birth, the family moved to Holland in Erie County.

[1] After his stint as a teacher, Frank began working as a bookkeeper for Robert Looney, a native of the Isle of Man, at Looneyville, New York.

Looney ran a farm, sawmill, general store, and feed and grain business, and owned vast timberlands in Pennsylvania.

[2] They bought up large tracts of timberland that were considered inaccessible for harvest, because the lands were isolated and away from the streams that were typically used to transport logs.

[1] Between 1901 and 1905, the Goodyears moved South, purchasing 300,000 acres of virgin yellow pine timberland in southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi, near the southern end of the Pearl River.

[5] In 1902, the Goodyears created the Great Southern Lumber Company in Pennsylvania with offices in the Ellicott Square Building in Buffalo.

[5] Following his death, Frank's brother Charles took over his presidencies and the sawmill began operation in 1908, which generated significant profit for the family.

[21] In 1903, Goodyear purchased 762 Delaware Avenue, a Gothic revival house which had been designed by John D. Towle for Myron P. Bush in 1859.

[24] Through his daughter Grace, he was a grandfather of Ganson Goodyear Depew, the Assistant United States District Attorney for Western New York.