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Early life and inspiration

Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Nahum Danford Goddard (1859–1928) and Fannie Louise Hoyt (1864–1920). Robert was their only child to survive; a younger son, Richard Henry, was born with a spinal deformity and died before his first birthday. His father Nahum was employed by manufacturers, and he invented several useful tools. Goddard had English paternal family roots in New England with William Goddard (1628–91) a London grocer who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1666. On his maternal side he was descended from John Hoyt and other settlers of Massachusetts in the late 1600s. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Boston. With a curiosity about nature, he studied the heavens using a telescope from his father and observed the birds flying. Essentially a country boy, he loved the outdoors and hiking with his father on trips to Worcester and became an excellent marksman with a rifle. In 1898, his mother contracted tuberculosis and they moved back to Worcester for the clear air. On Sundays, the family attended the Episcopal church, and Robert sang in the choir.