Goodrich – Village founder, early Michigan lawmaker and village postmaster. Attributes of Enos Goodrich whose efforts to settle the area more than a century ago are forever etched in the community’s history.
Recently, new information about the life and works of Goodrich, who died in 1897, were discovered in a safe donated by the great-great-grandson of Enos and village resident Ronald Snyder. The safe was given to the Goodrich/Atlas Historical Society in 2006 and since that time, hundreds of documents have been studied and catalogued.
Seven months before Enos died in 1897, he wrote on the inside front cover of a book found in the safe:
‘This book was opened in 1788. The book was kept by my mother’s oldest brother John Skinner at East Hartford, Connecticut, whose wife was Chloe Sherman, daughter of the honorable Roger Sherman, one of the signatures on the Declaration of American Independence. He visited our family at Clarence, Erie County, New York when I was about 10 years old; that being the only time I saw him.?
Goodrich’s reference to Roger Sherman, an early American lawyer and politician, the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, who served on the committee of five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He was also the only delegate in the Continental Congress who signed all four of the great state papers, the Declaration of 1774, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.
Carol Powers, secretary of the Goodrich Historical Society, said more than 500 pieces of local history were found in the safe.
‘There are receipts, deeds, trading cards, ledgers and lots of newspaper articles,? said Powers. ‘I have lived in Goodrich all of my life and this town is my whole life, so all of this means so much to me.?
Dawn Bastian, vice-president of the Goodrich Historical Society, was also pleased with the information found in the safe.
‘Going through 170 years of items placed in the safe was overwhelming at first,? said Bastian. ‘It has been an honor to peek into the lives of these early pioneers in Goodrich.?
The safe was moved several times before Snyder received it in 1982. In the early 1900s it was moved to the Elmdale Farm on Green Road in Goodrich. In 1956, the safe was moved to the home of Dean Cummings on Rhodes Road in Goodrich.
In some of the other writings found in the safe, Enos expressed how important it was to record the passage of time and during that time, Enos made some history of his own.
In September 1835, Enos came from Clarence, Erie county, New York, and purchased more than 1,000 acres in the village. He settled on a farm with his parents and brothers, where the village is today.
That is when Enos began his life’s work.
Enos was the founder of the Goodrich Bank, and established the first post office in Goodrich in 1846 as its first postmaster.
In the fall of 1846, Enos was elected to represent his constituency in the Lower House of the Michigan Legislature. He also took an active role in the struggle for the removal of the state capitol to Lansing. His success in that endeavor helped him to get elected to represent the county in the State Senate in 1852.
Another item found in the safe was a newspaper marking the 60th anniversary of the settlement of the Goodrich family in Michigan. The family observed this milestone with a family reunion. At the time, Enos Goodrich, 83, was the oldest living member of the family. He presented a written address to his family a year before his passing.
The following passage was found in the safe:
‘Friends and kindred of the Goodrich family; We have assembled to commemorate an epoch in the family history. Sixty years ago a family emigrated from the Empire State to find for themselves a home in Michigan.?
‘Our early opportunities of education were limited, but our parents had both been teachers of common schools, and their children were early instructed in the rudiments of book knowledge, and that toil which strengthens the body, if not too arduous, is sure to give vigor to the mind. As a result we grew up a family of workers and also of thinkers. We carefully studied the opinions of those around us and scrutinized our own opinions, as they were crystalizing into form, and whether inborn or inbred, a spirit of inquiry became characteristic of the family.?
‘The Goodrich family have made their mark, and have left their impression upon this part of God’s foot stool that will not soon be effaced. Coming here in May, 1836, and settling on lands of untrodden wilderness, we had one hundred and fifty acres of fertile land turned before the breaking up plow share, before the leaves fell in the autumn of 1837.?
‘No new country was ever settled without its trials, its tribulations and privations. General Cass once declared in the United States Senate, that it required more courage to settle a new country than to face an enemy on the field of battle.?