J. E. Goodson

John Edward Goodson was a 19thcentury North American classical music educator, performer, composer, and conductor. Goodson, a highly skilled pianist and organist, was born and raised in London, England, and received his early education at the St. Pauls Cathedral School. The son of a London shoemaker, he fled the cholera epidemic of 183233 and emigrated to York, Upper Canada. After immigrating to the United States, he met Ralph Waldo Emerson while living and teaching music in Cincinnati, and was eventually lured to Boston by Emerson for a brief time. It was during this time that Goodson became the conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. He was also mentioned in Emersons notes about forming a Boston Club along with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Bronson Alcott. After leaving Boston in 1852, he lived out most of the remainder of his days in St. Louis, Missouri, continuing to teach music and also continuing to write and perform publicly. While unproven, it has been said that Goodson was a di

Goodson was born in Clerkenwell, London, England, on March 24, 1808, the youngest child of Henry Goodson Sr. and Ann Goodson. Goodson and his family were religious nonconformists and were members of the Countess of Huntingdons Connexion. By the time Goodson wasyears of age, he and his family had moved to the Bloomsbury area of London. His father had a shop on Little Russell Street near the present day Charles Dickens Museum. In September 1818, when Goodson wasyears of age, he began attending St. Pauls Cathedral School. Goodsons early education in music at St. Pauls would become a building block for his lifelong musical pursuits.

Source: Wikipedia