John Milton Goodenow

Background

John Milton Goodenow was born in Westmoreland, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, of Puritan stock.

Education

Goodenow's formal education was limited to the common schools, over one of which he presided for a time.

In 1811, he removed to Canton, Ohio, where he studied law.

Career

Goodenow undertook to manage a country store with results financially unfortunate.

On admission to the bar in 1813, he commenced practise at Steubenville, Ohio. In 1817, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the sixth district. In 1823, he was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

Defeated for Congress in 1826 by his brother-in-law John C. Wright, Goodenow was victorious over Wright in the Jackson landslide of 1828. He took his seat in December 1829, but resigned in April 1830, before the end of the first session because of his appointment as a justice of the supreme court of Ohio. He was forced by ill health to resign from the bench shortly after he had taken up his duties.

In 1832, he removed to Cincinnati, where he was elected presiding judge of the court of common pleas. His irascible disposition made him unpopular with the lawyers, however, and he held the office for only two years.

In 1835, he set up an office at St. Clairsville, where he practised with small success. He felt that his services to the Democratic state machine had not been fittingly rewarded, and in his embitterment emigrated to Texas in November 1837.

His health failed him, however, and in the following year, he determined to return to Ohio, but died at New Orleans before he had completed the journey. He was buried in Cincinnati.

Achievements

• John M. Goodenow is known as a member of the State house of representatives. He served the Freemasons as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A review of the question whether the common law of England respecting crimes and punishments is in force in the state of Ohio: in a letter addressed by a citizen to a member of the Legislature.

    (The Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926 ...)

  • Historical Sketches of the Principles & Maxims of American Jurisprudence, in Contrast with the Doctrines of the English Common Law on the Subject of Crimes and Punishments

Views

Goodenow's life as an attorney was strenuous, for he followed the circuit judge on his quarterly rounds throughout the eastern part of the state. The circuit judge was the conservative Benjamin Tappan, and with him Goodenow developed a bitter quarrel.

When he failed in an attempt to secure a county office, he claimed that Tappan had traduced him, and brought suit against the judge, for slander. The quarrel shortly took a new course. Judge Tappan, in the case of Ohio vs. Lafferty, held that crimes under the English common law should be held as crimes by Ohio courts in the absence of specific state legislation.

In opposition to this view Goodenow wrote an able treatise, Historical Sketches of the Principles and Manners of American Jurisprudence in Contrast with the Doctrines of the English Common Law on the Subject of Crimes and Punishments. His reasoning was generally approved by Ohio judges and Tappan’s ruling was not accepted.

Ohio to this day has no common-law crimes, as such, a fact for which Goodenow is to some extent responsible.

Membership

In 1827, Goodenow became the 10th Grand Master of Masons in Ohio.

Personality

Goodenow is described as tall and slender, with a physique which denoted feebleness but which was capable of great exertion.

His life is a study in frustrations in which ill health and unruly temper played their parts.

His contemporaries admitted that his achievements did not give a just measure of his talents.

Connections

In 1813, Goodenow was married to Mrs. Sarah Lucy (Wright) Campbell. He was later married a second time, but the date, and the name of his second wife, have not been found.

Wife:

Mrs. Sarah Lucy (Wright) Campbell

References

• Genealogical And Biographical Notices Of Descendants Of Sir John Wright Of Kelvedon Hall, Essex, England (1915)