Ben Goff was born December 9, 1888 in Throckmorton, TX. His father, James M. Goff was a cattle rancher and Civil War veteran and his mother Susan C. (Howard) Goff was James' second wife. He was the youngest of 12 children. He began his early education at the Indian Creek school. His father sold all the land and they moved to the town of Hobart, OK where he received a business education at Hobart Business School. He studied law for 3 yrs in the law office of Joe Criner of Fred. He attended Cumberland University Law School at Lebanon, TN, where he graduated with a Law degree in 1913. He came back to OK and settled in Chickasha in Grady County on June 14, 1914, he was admitted to the practice of Law in Oklahoma. He opened his law office in Chickasha, OK where he practiced law from 1915 to 1917. On June 5, 1917, while he was serving as an assistant County Attorney of Grady County, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He entered the service on June 6, 1917 at Ft. Logan Co. He served from June 8, 1917 to February 14, 1919 where he mustered out at Newport News VA. In the Army, he was assigned as a private within the 8th Division 20th Infanty Company "K" and a Sergeant with the 12th Infantry Company "D". Then on April 23, 1919, upon his return to Chickasha he married Margaret E. Viers, of Aline, OK. In 1920, he was elected as the Prosecuting Attorney of Grady County where he served two terms as the Grady County Attorney from 1921-1925. It was during this time that he prosecuted 22 yr old Wiley Post for robbery. On March 13, 1921, Wiley Post was arrested for armed robbery. At the time there were 13 unsolved robberies in the Ninnekah area. Post confessed to all of them. Because of his families standing in the community he pled guilty to one charge and all the other charges were dropped. Post was convicted of one charge of armed robbery on April 28, 1921. He was ordered to pay $18.00 to the four victims of the March 13 robbery. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served 14 months at the Granite Reformatory. He was paroled on June 5, 1922 because of health reasons. Governor Alfalfa Bill Murray pardoned him on December 27, 1934. On November 12, 1924, Ben Goff took a case to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He unsuccessfully tried the case of Goff v Goff which concerned who was to be the Administratrix of a deceased's estate. He was City Councilman from 1926-1927. he was U.S. Commissioner for the Eastern district of Oklahoma from 1925-1929. He was a delegate for the State and County Democratic Conventions in 1928. He was also a precinct committeeman. Margaret petitioned for divorce on May 22, and divorce was finalized on June 16, 1930. He married Hazel Carolyn Smith on July 2, 1932. On March 27, 1934 he filed his Notice of Declaration to run for the office of Lt. Governor on the Democratic ticket. In the Democratic Primary Election held on July 3, 1934 he received 3.4% or 13,905 of the votes. Ben and Hazel had two chidren Benjamin Ambrose Goff and Carol Kay Goff.