He administered the first smallpox vaccines and conferred the first medical degree in the frontier west, and was a delegate to write the first constitution of Louisiana.

His father was William Goforth, later an American Revolutionary War soldier, member of the New York State Legislature and one of the earliest immigrants to Cincinnati, where he was active in politics.

[1] The younger Goforth had a preparatory education, and studied medicine in the city under Joseph Young and Charles McKnight.

[3] Goforth decided to leave the city, moved west with his brother-in-law, John S. Gano, and arrived at Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, on June 10, 1788.

Goforth presented Daniel Drake a diploma in August 1805, which he signed as "Surgeon-General of the First Division of the Ohio Militia".

For nearly half a century, Daniel Drake was the dominant factor in educational development of every kind, medical, scientific, and literary.