W.A.R. Goodwin

William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin (June 18, 1869 – September 7, 1939) (or W.A.R. Goodwin as he preferred or "the Doctor" as commonly used to his annoyance) was an Episcopal priest, historian, and author. As the rector of Bruton Parish Church, Goodwin began the 20th century preservation and restoration effort which resulted in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. He is thus sometimes called "the Father of the Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg."

William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin was born in Richmond, Virginia only four years after the end of the American Civil War. His father, John Francis Goodwin, was the son of an Episcopal priest and a Confederate captain who was with General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House at the war's end. Partly disabled by a war wound, John 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. In 1868 John Francis married Letitia Rutherfoord, also came from one of the First Families of Virginia, but didn't want to become dependent upon his father in law. The Rutherfoord home had served as a hospital for Confederate wounded from the battles of Manassas and the Peninsular Campaign. His uncle Thomas was a wealthy and influential merchant in Richmond.

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. After attending a private school at a local plantation, then the area's first public school, Goodwin began studies at Roanoke College in 1885. He graduated 1889 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After considering a career as a lawyer and working with the Young Men's Christian Association, preaching at a local jail and some studies at Richmond College in 1890, Goodwin obtained a scholarship at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated in 1893 with a divinity degree.

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