Background
Benjamin Goodhue was born on September 20, 1748, at Salem, Massachusets. He was the fourth son of Benjamin and Martha (Hardy) Goodhue, and a descendant of Deacon William Goodhue of Ipswich, who landed in Massachusetts about 1636.
Benjamin Goodhue was born on September 20, 1748, at Salem, Massachusets. He was the fourth son of Benjamin and Martha (Hardy) Goodhue, and a descendant of Deacon William Goodhue of Ipswich, who landed in Massachusetts about 1636.
Benjamin graduated from Harvard College in 1766.
During the Revolution, Goodhue was in Salem, becoming part-owner in one or two privateers and one of the volunteers from that town in the Rhode Island expedition in August 1778.
His first appearance in state politics was in 1779-80, when he was a member of the constitutional convention. From 1780 to 1782, he represented Salem in the General Court, and in 1783 and again from 1785 to 1788, he was a state senator from Essex County.
In 1789, his district sent him to Congress, in which body he served as their representative for almost eight years. When George Cabot resigned from the Senate in 1796, Goodhue was chosen to fill his place. In November 1800, Goodhue resigned from the Senate and returned to Salem.
Goodhue was a stanch Federalist and a defender of Jay’s Treaty.
Goodhue supported the Alien and Sedition bills, but broke with the administration when President Adams nominated his son-in-law, Col. Smith, to the offices of brigadier- and adjutant-general.
At this time, Adams and his cabinet were at odds, and it should be remembered that Goodhue was a cousin of Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state. It is doubtful if Adams ever forgave Goodhue for not taking his side in that controversy.
Quotes from others about the person
“His habits since his return have given him no influence in society and as he rose gradually to public notice so he insensibly passed away from all his former friendships, and notice, being habitually & publicly intemperate. Mr. Goodhue while in health had a good person, a taciturnity, but his manners were not forbidding and he regarded the public Institutions of Life and Religion. His Friendships were in little circles, but his civilities everywhere enough to get no enemies from neglect. As a merchant unimpeached, he was for consolidating, as he called it, our Republican Institutions, & if they had consolidated into a European form he would not be in opposition. ” - William Bentley
Goodhue was twice married: first, on January 6, 1778, to Frances Richie of Philadelphia, and second, on November 25, 1804, to Anna Willard of Lancaster, Massachusets. His son Jonathan, a merchant in New York, survived him.
11 July 1707 - 20 January 1783
26 February 1711 - 9 September 1768
9 September 1736 - 20 May 1766
12 November 1741 - 21 April 1773
20 August 1763 - 2 August 1858
10 January 1806 - 6 September 1864
