He was born Alfred Gustafson near St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, to a single mother, Cecilia Carlson (née Sissa Carlsdotter), a native of Sweden. They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1882, where he took the name Godfrey Gummer Goodwin.
Alfred Gustafson, born near St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, to a single mother named Cecilia Carlson (née Sissa Carlsdotter), who was Swedish. They relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1882, where he adopted the name Godfrey Gummer Goodwin.