Aaron Goodrich

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title: "Aaron Goodrich" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "American lawyer, jurist and diplomat" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Goodrich" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American lawyer, jurist and diplomat ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific_prefix	The Honourable
name	Aaron Goodrich
image	Judge Aaron Goodrich of Minnesota.png
caption	Goodrich (age )
office	1st Chief Justice of the
Minnesota Territorial Supreme Court
term_start	March 19, 1849
term_end	October 21, 1851
appointer	Zachary Taylor
predecessor	Position created
successor	Jerome Fuller
office2	Secretary of the
United States Legation in Brussels
term_start2	1861
term_end2	1869
appointer2	Abraham Lincoln
office3	Member of the
Tennessee House of Representatives
term_start3	1847
term_end3	1849
birth_date
birth_place	Sempronius, New York, USA
death_date
resting_place	Genesee County, Michigan, USA
party	Republican
otherparty
height
partner
parents
mother
father
net_worth
awards
::

| honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Aaron Goodrich | honorific_suffix = | image = Judge Aaron Goodrich of Minnesota.png | alt = | caption = Goodrich (age ) | office = 1st Chief Justice of the Minnesota Territorial Supreme Court | term_start = March 19, 1849 | term_end = October 21, 1851 | appointer = Zachary Taylor | predecessor = Position created | successor = Jerome Fuller | office2 = Secretary of the United States Legation in Brussels | term_start2 = 1861 | term_end2 = 1869 | appointer2 = Abraham Lincoln | predecessor2= | successor2 = | office3 = Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives | term_start3 = 1847 | term_end3 = 1849 | nominator3 = | appointer3 = | predecessor3= | successor3 = | pronunciation = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Sempronius, New York, USA | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = Genesee County, Michigan, USA | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | nationality = | party = Republican | otherparty =
| height =
| spouse = | partner =
| relations = | children = | parents =
| mother =
| father =
| relatives = | residence = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth =
| cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards =
| blank1 = | data1 = | blank2 = | data2 = | blank3 = | data3 = | blank4 = | data4 = | blank5 = | data5 = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | footnotes = Aaron Goodrich (6 July 1807 – 24 June 1887) was an American lawyer, jurist and diplomat.

Biography

Goodrich was born in Sempronius, New York, 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, completed his studies, and began practising the law.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Aarongoodrich1860.jpg" caption="Goodrich, ca. 1860s; photographer noted as being Belgian."] ::

He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849. He was appointed as Chief Justice of Minnesota Supreme Court on March 19, 1849, by President Zachary Taylor. 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 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, and in July 1849, became one of the founding members of the local Masonic Lodge (Saint Paul Lodge Number Three). He was also a unionist, and anti-abolitionist, and a founding member of Minnesota Historical Society and Minnesota Republican Party. Goodrich was a Minnesota delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, but cast his vote for William H. Seward. At Seward's behest, Goodrich was appointed secretary of the United States legation in Brussels, 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.

Memorials

• Goodrich Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota. F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald 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 Goodrich campus at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, located at 1150 Goodrich Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota.
• Goodrich cemetery in Genesee County, Michigan

Works

• {{cite book |last = Goodrich | first = Aaron | title = A history of the character and achievements of the so-called Christopher Columbus | publisher = D. Appleton and Co. | year = 1874 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofcharact00good}}

References

Sources

• Biography of Aaron Goodrich
• Pederson, Kern. Makers of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Territorial Centennial (1949)
• Political Graveyard biography
• {{cite book | last = Greiner | first = Tony |author2= Howard Mohr | title = The Minnesota Book of Days: An Almanac of State History | publisher = Minnesota Historical Society Press | year = 2001 | page = 242 | isbn = 0-87351-416-5}}
• {{cite book | last = Schurz | first = Carl | title = Reminiscences | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924027042583 | publisher = McClure Publ. Co. | year = 1907 }} On pp. 143–147 Carl Schurz, 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.”

References

1. Hampton, Denis. (2019-06-28). "Chief Justice Aaron Goodrich - PDF".
2. [http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/judgebio.html#goodrich Biographies of Judges and Justices of the Minnesota Appellate Courts] {{webarchive. link. (March 9, 2008)
3. "58 U.S. 284".
4. "Building Location Details".
5. "MPR: Appellate court judge charged with swindling woman".
6. "MPR: For the Record".
7. (25 October 1851). "From Washington--Appointments for Minnesota.". The New York Times.
8. [http://www.mpls19.org/grand_lodge Grand Lodge Of Minnesota] {{webarchive. link. (May 9, 2008)
9. "Saint Paul Lodge Number Three - Minnesota's Oldest Masonic Lodge".
10. "Tennessee State Library and Archives: History and Genealogy - Manuscript Materials on Microfilm 100 - 199".
11. [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/minnesota/minnesotaarchaeology/minnesotahistoricalsociety.html Minnesota Prehistory] {{webarchive. link. (October 8, 2008)
12. [http://www.monkeyouttanowhere.com/twincities/archives/2005/06/history_of_st_p.html Twin Cities Liver: History of St. Paul Street Names] {{webarchive. link. (August 14, 2007)
13. "Welcome to the home of the Goodrich Family Association – Person Page 153".
14. link. (2024-05-27)
15. [http://www.hooker-ancestors.com/Goodrich_Cemetery/Goodrich_Cemetery_DG.htm Goodrich Cemetery]

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