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You might be wondering about the name "Chauncey Goodrich." This is a family name. My father is Albert Goodrich Melcher, after a 19th century relation named Chauncey Goodrich, and in fact my father nearly was given the name Chauncey Goodrich Melcher. YIKES! In the 20th century?? Thank god my grandparents' brains cleared and they moved on from that one. However, the name has occurred over and over in my family's history. The Chauncey Goodrich I use for my persona was born in 1759. For some time, I thought my Chauncey Goodrich was the first one born in America and he was born in Wethersfield, CT, but I have found a record (in the records of the LDS geneaology library) indicating another was born in 1758 in Wethersfield, CT, and my Chauncey Goodrich was born in Durham, CT (south of Middletown). He is a direct decendant of two Goodrich brothers (John and William) who were born in Bury St. Edmond, Suffolk, England and came to America in the 1630s. John and William Goodrich helped found and settle Wethersfield (now outside of Hartford), one of Connecticut's earlist towns. My Chauncey was the son of Elizur Goodrich and Katherine (Catherine) Chauncey. I have found another LDS record indicating Elizur and Katherine were married February 15, 1759, and Chauncey was born October 20 of 1759. He was either born premature or his parents were practicing the 18th century habit of enjoying connubial bliss at the time of engagement rather than waiting to be married. Anyway, Chauncey became active in law and politics. He was a member of Congress, a Lieut. Governor of Connecticut, and Mayor of Hartford. Here's more about this Chauncey Goodrich, including a picture. One problem with this man, though, is that he went to Yale (boohiss). Anyway, I am not a direct decendant of this Chauncey Goodrich; our lines split 3 generations before him. This first Chauncey had a great-uncle named Charles Goodrich, born in 1720. He would have been the right age to fight in the F&I War, but I have not found proof of that yet. However, he did fight, at the age of 56, in the Revolutionary War at one of my favorite places, Fort Ticonderoga! How do I know this? I have found a photograph of a powder horn engraved with "Chas. Goodrich His Horn Pittsfield to Ft. Tyconderoga ye 17 Dec. ye 1776"! Sometime in the 1740s or 50s, he moved to Pittsfield, MA as one of its founders, and the Goodrich Homestead still exists in Pittsfield. For those who are into this hobby who happen to own The Book of Buckskinning II by Skurlock Publishing (of Muzzleloader Magazine), please look at the bottom picture on page 131! Not long after the birth of the first one, Chauncey Goodrichs began to crop up in a number of lines in the family tree. Chauncey's brother, the Hon. Elizur Goodrich (also a member of Congress), named one son Chauncey Allen Goodrich. This Chauncey Allen became a professor at Yale (boohiss) but more importantly was the one witness to one of the greatest legends of Dartmouth College (my alma mater and that of my father). Chauncey Allen Goodrich was born October 23, 1790, in New Haven, Connecticut. He came from a distinguished line of scholars. His grandfather was the Reverend Elizur Goodrich, who was married to a direct descendant of Reverend Charles Chauncey, the second president of Harvard College. The grandrather was a preacher, for years, in Durham, Connecticut. ... The father was the Hon. Elizur Goodrich who married the daughter of Daniel Allen, a prominent resident of Great Barrington, Massechusetts [and the son of second President of Harvard University]. This second Elizur was a lawyer. ... He became a mayer of the city. He was a Representative in the United States Congress. For a long time he was a Professor of Law at Yale..." (Sterling, John C: Daniel Webster and a Small College, Dartmouth Publications, Hanover, NH, 1965.) This Chauncey Allen Goodrich married Julia Frances Webster, a daughter of Noah Webster. Prof. Goodrich lead the production and release of the first abridgement of Webster's Dictionary. After Noah Webster's death, Prof. Goodrich edited and managed additional releases of the dictionary and the abridged version. In 1818 Chauncey A. Goodrich was sent by Yale to witness Daniel Webster's defense of Dartmouth in the case of Dartmouth College - vs - Woodward, in which the State of New Hampshire was attempting to take over Dartmouth College. Webster, a Dartmouth alumnus, had prepared a lengthy speech for the trial, but instead of delivering the prepared text, he closed his files and spoke extemporaneously, from the heart. Goodrich, a professor of oratory and by many accounts an extraordinary man, proclaims to have remembered every word of Webster's speech more than 30 years later. When approached about the particulars of what Webster said, Prof. Goodrich sent a letter containing his recollection of the famous speech which ends "It is, as I have said, a small college, but there are those who love it." Thus, it is this Chauncey A. Goodrich who is responsible for the current legend that is well-known to every Dartmouth student, those famous words from Daniel Webster's defence of "a small college." An interesting piece of coincidence: Daniel Webster's father Ebenezer was one of the original members of Rogers' Rangers, and in fact received the land in New Hampshire where Daniel was born as payment for his services as a Ranger. So! The one I'm more closely linked to, after whom my father was nearly named and from whom I took my name of Chauncey Goodrich, was born in 1826 in Ohio, his family having moved there in the early settlement days of the 1790s. I am a direct decendant of this Chauncey's sister. |