GOODRICH, Aaron, jurist, born in Sempronius, Cayuga County, New York, 6 July, 1807. His father moved to western New York in 1815, and the son spent part of his minority on a farm. He studied law in Buffalo, New York, and Dover, Tennessee, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Stewart County, Tennessee he was a member of the legislature in 1847 and 1848, and a presidential elector in 1848, having taken an active part in the canvass of that year, as a Whig. He was appointed by President Taylor in 1849 chief justice of the recently organized territory of Minnesota, and served three years. Subsequently he practiced law in St. Paul, and after the admission of Minnesota into the Union, in 1858, he was appointed by the legislature one of a commission to revise the laws and prepare a system of pleading and practice. Two years later he was made chairman of a similar commission. Judge Goodrich continued to take an active part in politics, and was a delegate to the National Republican convention at Chicago, 1860, where he warmly supported his friend, William H. Seward. In March, 1861, at Mr. Seward's suggestion, he was appointed by President Lincoln secretary of legation at Brussels, which office he held eight years, serving repeatedly as charge d'affaires at his post, and as bearer of dispatches to and from his government. He is the author of "A History of the Character and Achievements of the so-called Christopher Columbus" (New York, 1874).