Goodwin, Ichabod, 1794-1882

Dates

• Existence: 1794 - 1882

Biography

Ichabod Goodwin was born on October 8, 1794 in Berwick, Massachusetts. He became a merchant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire working in the counting house of Samuel Lord, becoming master and part owner of several ships, and eventually the owner of two railroads, two banks, and a textile factory. In 1838, 1843, 1844, 1850, 1854, and 1856 Goodwin was elected as a State Representative as a Whig. He became a Republican in 1859 and won his bid for governor and again in 1860. Goodwin was elected a State Representative, running as a Whig, in 1838, 1843, 1844, 1850, 1854, and 1856. In 1856 he ran, and lost, as the last Whig candidate for Governor of New Hampshire. He switched parties, becoming a Republican, and won his bid for governor in 1859, and again in 1860. He was a delegate at large from New Hampshire to the national conventions at which Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott were nominated by the Whigs for the presidency, serving as vice-president of the first two bodies.

During his tenure, the New Hampshire legislature did away with the Courts of Common Pleas, transferring their duties to the State Supreme Court. Goodwin supported a legislative resolution opposing the extension of slavery, and an anti-immigrant act aimed at the defining of police courts' powers to suppress "intemperance." He also supported efforts to regulate railroads. In May 1861, as the Civil War began, Goodwin responded to the first calls for soldiers by borrowing funds against his own name to equip two regiments. The legislature affirmed the Governor's action when they came into session the following month. He died on July 4, 1882.

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