Leven Shreve Goodrich was born on 6 August 1829 at
Greenup County, Tennessee.
2 He was the son of
Justus Buck Goodrich and
Jane Hillman.
1 He married
Louisa Ross Carter on 19 July 1851.
3 He died on 8 September 1886 at age 57.
2 Transcribed from Case: "from early childhood his whole thought was to become skilled in the manufacture of iron, the business in which his father - though a resident physician - and his maternal uncle were jointly engaged. while pursuing his boyhood studies in the public school, he watched the methods of the manufacture of iron and studied them carefully in detail, and in 1848, at the age of nineteen years, he took charge of the Fulton furnaces Nos. 1 and 2, and so conspicuous was the executive ability here manifested, and so prompt was he in all business engagements, that in 1851 he had three very liberal propositions from outside parties to engage with them. Though barely passed his minority, it was insisted by his near relatives that he should go into business on his own account, and as an inducement for him to do so, his maternal uncle, Daniel Hillman, offered him a one-fourth interest in the Mt. Etna property, consisting of thirty thousand acres of land in Hickman County, Tenn., with the proviso that he should take the charge of it, "bear all losses, and share all gains."
Making a careful inspection of the property, he found ample supplies of material for the business; everything was promising, with but a single drawback, the great distance from market - forty miles by wagons; but this he believed could be overcome by the navigation of Duck River, for which a company was organized and an appropriation secured from the State. In anticipation of this, Mr. Goodrich pushed forward his work on the Etna Furnace; but when about ready to kindle its fires, the navigation company failed, with its work only partially complete, leaving Mr. Goodrich without his anticipated transportation; but still, nothing daunted, he built his fires and began work, the products of which proved of the very best quality, and abundant in quantity. But all hopes of success were blasted by being shut off from market. In 1853, when buyers were offering from sixty to seventy-five dollars per ton for iron, Mr. Goodrich had over two thousand tons ready for the market, on which he could realize nothing. As a result, in December, 1854, the fires of the Etna were extinguished, and he was called to Centre Furnace, Kentucky, recently erected by his uncle, where he remained until 1861, when he returned and rebuilt the fires of the Etna Furnace, and began a most successful work. In December, 1863, using his own words, "a Federal force swooped down on us like a mad eagle, and in less than three hours cleared the place of mules, wagons, and negroes, leaving the furnace to run by itself." This was the last blast of this furnace.
Mr. Goodrich was not a politician in a political sense of the word, he certainly was not a secessionist; it also may be claimed that his sympathies were not with the North; however that may be, it must be admitted that his motto was "the Union and the Constitution one and inseparable." He took no active part in the war of the Rebellion, quietly attending to business until his works were destroyed, when he engaged for a few years in the manufacture of woolen goods, doing an extensive business. Disposing of this interest, he turned his attention to the building of the Duck-River Valley Railroad. In this enterprise he was the leading spirit, and the work was rapidly pushed forward under his superintendence from Columbia. While engaged in this enterprise, in 1873, he was appointed superintendent of the Oxmoore Furnace, in Alabama. It was here his skill as a manufacturer of iron rose to its zenith. So marked was his success, that the president of the furnace company, in his annual report, said: "By comparing results with those of former years, the product has been doubled, the cost reduced one-half, and the iron produced improved in quality as much as in quantity."
In 1876-8, Mr. Goodrich was induced to lead his influence to an undertaking for building the Nashville and Tuscaloosa Railroad. He became the animating spirit of the enterprise. In 1880, the Warner Furnace, in Hickman County, Tennessee, was built under his superintendence; its fires were kindled on Nov. 25, and in the following April, 1881, this furnace had produced twenty-two hundred and sixty tons of the best quality of pig-iron. He accomplished during that year what had never before been done in the State: the furnace, built for a twenty-ton furnace, was by him made to yield forty-five tons daily, a success as yet unequalled. It is not saying to much of him to say that as an exponenet of this industry no one ranked higher. In his decision of all questions of doubt he was seldom at fault; but he was in advance of the times. Birmingham, Ala., is today what Mr. Goodrich predicted years since it would be, and what even then it might have been if its mines of iron-ore had only been developed. He was also interested in and one of the directors of the Arrow Steamship Company, which is now building its first vessel -
the Pocahontas - at their ship-yard, Alexandria, Va.
While he was ambitious to become a skilled manufacturer, he had also and ambition that was more exalted still, and that was to live a devoted Christian life. He made all business interests bend to this. It is said of him that he would discharge a man from his employ for uttering an oath as soon as for not performing his work. He was always ready with a word of encouragement and sympathy for the needy ad distressed. In all his enterprises his sole reliance was upon "if God will." His kindness of heart, his urbanity, his deference and respect for the opinions of others were marked characteristics of his life. He took an active interest in collecting materials for a genealogy of the Goodrich family, and was at the time of his death a member of the executive committee of the Goodrich Family Association."
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