His father, John Francis Goodwin, was the son of an Episcopal priest and a Confederate captain who served with General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House near the end of the Civil War.

Partly disabled by a war wound, Goodwin became a machinist in Virginia's capitol to raise money to restore the family's devastated farm along the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The small family moved to Norwood in Nelson County, Virginia, and later deeper into the Blue Ridge Mountains near Wytheville, where Goodwin was raised along with his two younger sisters.

Goodwin also taught at the nearby Bishop Payne Divinity School, preventing its absorption into Howard University in Washington D.C., and securing acceptance of its curriculum within the Episcopal Church (in the 1960s it was relocated to Virginia Theology Seminary's main campus in Alexandria).

He traveled along the East Coast soliciting contributions from ordinary people as well as financier J. Pierpont Morgan and the Bishop of London.

Goodwin became involved in national church conventions, as well as Rochester's civic affairs, and ministered to soldiers and sailors during World War I.

Chandler, President of the College of William & Mary since 1919, recruited the clergyman to head its biblical literature and religious studies department.

Working with a small group of confidantes, Goodwin acted as Rockefeller's straw buyer and acquired dozens of properties located in and near what would become the restored area.

A public announcement finally revealed the Rockefellers' role at two town meetings in the historic city held in June 1928.

[25] Today Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area occupies 173 acres (700,000 m2) and includes 88 original buildings and more than 50 major reconstructions.

At Yorktown in 1781, the Continental Army under George Washington won a decisive victory during the American Revolutionary War to end British rule.

Virginia's Historic Triangle area is a major tourist attractions, with Goodwin's Bruton Parish Church and Colonial Williamsburg as the centerpiece.