James M. Goins was born circa 1850 in Ohio. At the time of the 1860 federal census, Goins, listed as an artist with the last name of Goings, was living with the well-known Black photographer, James Presley Ball, in Cincinnati. His reported age on the census was seventeen, but he was probably younger.
In 1869 he opened a photography gallery in Chicago, Illinois, with J. G. Johnson. Goins remained in Chicago for nearly a decade, offering cartes de visite and opal miniatures. He also made enlargements from old and faded photographs and photographs colored on oil, India Ink, or watercolor.
In 1879, he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, but he left that city owing money to creditors. In 1881, Goins continued the photographic trade in Denver, remaining in town for only one year.
By 1887, he had relocated his business to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he stayed for a few years. His studio was described as “One of the most elegant and expensively furnished photograph galleries in the city.” Business seemed to be booming, but after a drinking binge, Goins walked out of the studio and never returned.
For about a decade, Goins’ whereabouts are unknown. The 1900 Chicago city directory lists him as a photographer again. In the 1920 federal census, Goins is recorded as a patient in Chicago’s Oak Forest Institution, a home for poor and elderly residents. The Cook County, Illinois, Death Index, shows that a 72-year-old James “Gains” living at 185 Wabash Avenue (the same address as his photo studio in 1900) died on July 26, 1921.
If anyone has seen Goins’ work from Denver, please let me know.
Theresa Leininger-Miller kindly shared her research on James Goins, including information about his work with James Presley Ball and Goins’ death date. Her published research on Goins includes: “The Serpent King of Robinson’s Circus in Cincinnati,” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society 63, no. 3 (October, 2025): 20-33.