Aaron Goodrich (6 July 1807 – 24 June 1887) was an American lawyer, jurist and diplomat.

Biography

Goodrich was born in

Sempronius, New York Sempronius is a town in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 895 at the 2010 census. The town was named after a Roman military and political leader by Robert Harpur, a clerk interested in the classics. Sempronius is in the ...

, in 1807. In 1815, the family moved to a farm in western New York state, where Aaron attended country school and read law books with enthusiasm. At about age 20, he moved to

Stewart County, Tennessee Stewart County is a county located on the northwestern corner of Middle Tennessee, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,657. Its county seat is Dover. Stewart County is part of the Clarksville Metr ...

, completed his studies, and began practising the law. Aarongoodrich1860

He was a member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

from 1847 to 1849. He was appointed as Chief Justice of

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...

on March 19, 1849, by President

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States ...

. He presided over the first court session in Stillwater, Minnesota Territory, in August 1849, deciding 60 cases in six days. However, he failed to see out his four-year term. Several prominent Minnesota attorneys demanded Goodrich be removed for "incompetency, unfitness and improprieties committed on and off the bench", in 1851. After a failed attempt at impeachment, President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...

used his executive power to remove Goodrich from office; Goodrich subsequently took the matter to court in an attempt to obtain the salary for the remainder of his term. He was a

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, and in July 1849, became one of the founding members of the local

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

(Saint Paul Lodge Number Three). He was also a unionist, and

anti-abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

, and a founding member of

Minnesota Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Educational institution, educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the Minnesota Terr ...

and

Minnesota Republican Party The Republican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Minnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered in Edina, and the current chairman is Alex Plechash. S ...

.Twin Cities Liver: History of St. Paul Street Names
Goodrich was a Minnesota delegate to the

1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that met May 16–18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...

that nominated

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, but cast his vote for

William H. Seward William Henry Seward (; May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States senator. A determined opp ...

. At Seward's behest, Goodrich was appointed secretary of the United States legation in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, by President Lincoln in 1861, remaining there until 1869. He died on 24 June 1887, and his body was interred at a graveyard in

Genesee County, Michigan Genesee County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 406,211, making it the fifth-most populous county in Michigan, and the most populous in Mid Michigan. The county seat and largest city is ...

Memorials

*Goodrich Avenue,

St Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. F. Scott and

Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald (; July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948) was an American novelist, painter, and socialite. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, to a wealthy Southern family, she became locally famous for her beauty and high spirits. In 1920, she marri ...

lived at 626 Goodrich Avenue from 1921-22 during which time their daughter was born and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his novel

The Beautiful and Damned ''The Beautiful and Damned'' is a 1922 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in New York City, the novel's plot follows a young artist Anthony Patch and his flapper wife Gloria Gilbert who become "wrecked on the shoals of dissipati ...

. *The Goodrich campus at

St. Paul Academy and Summit School St. Paul Academy and Summit School is a private college preparatory day school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, for students in grades K–12. The school was established through a merger in 1969 of St. Paul Academy, a school for boys, ...

, located at 1150 Goodrich Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota. *Goodrich cemetery in

Goodrich Cemetery
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Works

References

Sources

*Pederson, Kern. ''Makers of Minnesota''. St. Paul: Minnesota Territorial Centennial (1949)

* * * * On pp. 143–147

Carl Schurz Carl Christian Schurz (; March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German-American revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He migrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent ...

, then a Wisconsin politician and a recent (1852) immigrant from Prussia, relates his 1859 experiences campaigning on behalf of state office seekers in Minnesota in partnership with Judge Goodrich, whom he referred to as “one of those ‘originals’ who at that time seemed to abound in the new country.” {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodrich, Aaron 1807 births 1887 deaths People from Sempronius, New York Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Minnesota Territory judges 19th-century Minnesota state court judges Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans People from Stewart County, Tennessee 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly