Nimrod Goins was born August 10, 1836, in Albemarle County, Virginia. Prior to the war, he worked as a laborer in Amesville, Athens County, Ohio. He married his first wife Eliza (Lizette) Rogers on August 18, 1861. Together, they had twelve children: Nancy, born around 1858; Josephine (married named: Williams), born June 16, 1862; Charles, born around 1864; Horice, born around 1865; George, born around 1868; John, born around 1870; James, born around 1871; William Jasper, born around 1872; Edda, born on March 6, 1875; Arthur, born on March 6, 1877; Alva, born around 1879; Albert, born on September 10, 1882. She died sometime before June 1898, in Athens.
Goins enlisted at the age of 28 as a private on August 10, 1864, and mustered in the following day, both in Marietta, Ohio. His service record describes him as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and a dark complexion. He served in Company G of the 5th USCT Infantry Regiment. Goins served throughout Virginia and North Carolina, taking part in the Siege of Petersburg during the summer of 1864, the Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights on September 28-30, the assault and capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in January 1865, and the Carolinas Campaign in March 1865. Goins mustered out on August 22, 1865, in New Bern, North Carolina.
Following the war, Goins returned to Athens County. His first wife died before June 1898, and he subsequently married Lucy Gibson on October 10, 1906, in Athens County. Goins suffered from measles lumbago, rheumatism, lung and heart disease, and disease of the stomach in addition to a declining mental condition. There is an intense debate in Goins's pension record about whether his wife Lucy conspired with Goins's first cousin, Thomas Gibson, to send him off to live with his daughter while they could live together and collect his pension. It is unclear if this plot was true, but Goins did leave his wife on July 4, 1914, to go live with his daughter Josephine, who became his guardian. He died of heart disease on January 26, 1916.