Background
Elizur Goodrich was born on March 24, 1761 in Durham, Connecticut, United States. He was the second son of Elizur and Catharine (Chauncey) Goodrich and brother of Chauncey Goodrich (1759-1815).
Elizur Goodrich was born on March 24, 1761 in Durham, Connecticut, United States. He was the second son of Elizur and Catharine (Chauncey) Goodrich and brother of Chauncey Goodrich (1759-1815).
Goodrich attended Yale College and on July 5, 1779, was a member of the company of students which resisted the advance of a British raiding party. He was severely wounded in this encounter.
At his graduation in 1779, he was awarded the Berkeley Scholarship.
Elected a tutor in the college in 1781, Goodrich taught for the next two years, studied law, and in 1783 began practice in New Haven. He was a man of wide reading and culture, became learned in the law, and also built up a considerable practice. He was in many respects an admirable representative of Federalist leadership in "the Land of Steady Habits. " Office-holding was a steady habit of his own. Beginning in 1789 as member of the city council, Goodrich was connected with the government of New Haven, in various capacities, for about twenty-five years, serving as mayor from 1803 to 1822. In May 1795 he began a period of seven years in the legislature, where he served both as clerk and as speaker. In 1803 he was elected to the Council, which, composed of the ablest and most dependable party leaders, was one of the most powerful political machines in the history of state government. He remained a member until 1818. In addition to these legislative activities, he was probate judge of New Haven, 1802-1818, and chief judge of the county court, 1805-1818. The constitutional convention of 1818 which reformed the old charter government of the state and substituted a more modern and democratic constitution, practically ended his political career. This same year his wife died, and for some time thereafter he lived with different members of his family in Hartford, Utica, and Washington, but returned to spend his last years in New Haven. Goodrich had made a brief incursion into national politics as a member of the Sixth Congress, but resigned in 1801 to accept from President Adams the lucrative post of collector of the port of New Haven. Elizur Goodrich's connection with Yale was one of the most interesting and useful of his activities. He was professor of law from 1801 to 1810, ex officio member of the corporation from 1809 to 1818, and secretary from 1818 to 1846. He died on November 1, 1849 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Member of the Yale Corporation (1809-1818)
Goodrich was a man of wide reading and culture, became learned in the law, and also built up a considerable practise. He was in many respects an admirable representative of Federalist leadership in “the Land of Steady Habits. ” Office-holding was a steady habit of his own.
In 1785, Goodrich married Anne Willard Allen. In 1818, she died, and for some time thereafter he lived with different members of his family in Hartford, Utica, and Washington, but returned to spend his last years in New Haven.