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Hiram Gould Goodwin

Gender:
Male
Born:
May 8, 1808
Died:
February 1885
Home Town:
New Hartford, CT
Later Residences:
Andover, MA
Hitchcockville, CT
Marriage(s):
Caroline Abernethy Goodwin (1831)
Biographical Notes:
Hiram Gould Goodwin was the son of Jedutha and Prosperine [King] Goodwin. Goodwin taught for some time in order to earn money for a college education, and studied briefly at Phillips Academy in Andover. However, he abandoned his there shortly after and began to study the law with William G. Williams in New Hartford, CT. Goodwin also studied the law in Litchfield, CT in 1828. In 1838, he settled in Hitchcokville, now Riverton, and became one of the leading lawyers of Litchfield County in Connecticut. Goodwin was also the founder and President for the Eagle Scythe Company of Riverton, CT.
Additional Notes:
One volume of Hiram Gould Goodwin's law notes are dated 1828 and held at the Litchfield Historical Society. This volume is thought to be copied from another student's notebook. A second volume is held by the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale University. The first shows evidence of being copied in that Goodwin transcribed the original page numbers as well as adding his own. The volumes are not numbered, and the date in the Yale volume was added later.
Education
Years at LLS:
1829
Other Education:
Attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
Litchfield, CT in 1830
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1836-1837
State Senator (CT) 1860, 1862
Local Posts:
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Litchfield, CT) 1851-1855
Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
Litchfield County, Litchfield County Court Papers by Subject: Admission to the Bar
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1848), 23. ; Goodwin, Hiram Gould. "Manuscript notes of lectures by James Gould at the Litchfield Law School ... 1829-1830."Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law
Secondary Sources:
Goodwin, James Junius. The Goodwins of Hartford, Conn. Hartford, CT.: Brown & Gross, 1891; Loomis, Hon. Dwight and J. Gilbert Calhoun, The Judicial and Civil History of Connecticut. Boston: The Boston History Company Publishers, 1895.
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