William Marcellus Goodrich was a descendant of William Goodridge who became a freeman of Watertown, Massachusets. He was the second of nine children born to Ebenezer and Beulah (Childs) Goodridge of Templeton, Massachusets, on July 21, 1777.
In young manhood, he changed the traditional spelling of the family name to “Goodrich” and adopted “Marcellus” as a middle name.
Goodrich early showed mechanical ability and, through seeing a small organ built at Templeton by a Mr. Bruce, became interested in organ construction.
At the age of twenty-one, he obtained employment in the shop at Milton, Massachusets, of Benjamin Crehore, a famous maker of pianofortes and other musical instruments.
In 1799, he set up for himself in Boston. He constructed a duplicate of J. N. Maelzel’s panharmonicon, a combination of wind instruments played mechanically after the mode of the modern orchestrion, and in 1809, by agreement with the inventor, traveled through the countryside exhibiting it.
Since Maelzel’s original instrument had been lost at sea, Goodrich’s duplicate was later sent to Europe for the exhibition.
In 1809, also, Goodrich moved to East Cambridge, where his factory was for many years a landmark at Otis and Fifth Streets. With him were associated his brother-in-law, Thomas Appleton, a well-trained cabinetmaker, and for a time Ebenezer Goodrich, a younger brother, who, after a family disagreement, established his own shop for the manufacture of reed organs.
The first organ built under Goodrich’s direction was one for the Catholic Cathedral in Franklin Street, Boston.
This was followed by a succession of church organs, some of which were still in use in the next century.
His death, in his fifty-seventh year, was due to apoplexy.
Among the apprentices of William Goodrich were Elias and George Hastings, initiators of the important firm of organ builders later known as Hook & Hastings.
For some time Goodrich’s sister, Sarah Goodridge, kept house for him.
Quotes from others about the person
“I have seen organs built by him, ” an organist and organ builder wrote in 1906, “which were of excellent tone in the flue work; but the reeds were very unmusical. ”
In February 1822, Goodridge was married to Hannah Heald, but they left no children.
