Portrait courtesy of the Library of Congress.
A four-term U.S. Representative from Alabama, attorney Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt was also a multi-term state representative and senator from his home city of Birmingham. Like several other politicians profiled recently, Hewitt (along with his congressional counterpart Goldsmith Fox Bailey) are true "old guard" strange names, this author first locating their names via the Biographical Directory of Congress in 2000.
A lifelong Alabama resident, Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt was born in Elyton (now Birmingham), Alabama on February 14, 1834, the son of James Highnight (1804-1858) and Eleanor (Tarrant) Hewitt (1804-1854). Hewitt would receive his unusual name in honor of his paternal grandfather Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt (1766-1846), a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Hewitt's formative years were spent in Jefferson County, where he attended school. He would turn to law studies during his youth and entered the law office of local Judge William Swearingen Mudd (1816-1884) in the early 1850s. Hewitt continued his studies at the Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was admitted to the Alabama bar in 1856.
In 1858 Hewitt married his first wife Sarah J, Morrow, to who he was wed until her death in 1863. This union produced one child, John J., and in 1868 he remarried to Harriet Earle (1835-1927), who survived him. The couple had three daughters, Eleanora (born 1869), Harriet Hampton (born 1872), and Pauline (1875-1877)
Goldsmith W. Hewitt established himself in practice in Birmingham, joining the firm of Ernest and Earle. He later partnered with future state representative John Calhoun Morrow in a firm that extended until Hewitt's enlistment in the Confederate Army in 1861. A private in Co. B. of the Tenth Alabama Infantry, Hewitt was later promoted to captain in Co. G. of the 28th Alabama Infantry, and saw action in the battles of Seven Pines and Murfreesboro. He was wounded in action at the Battle of Chickasaw in September 1862, and these injuries proved so severe he was "disabled for further service."
Following a period of recuperation, Hewitt returned to practicing law and in 1869 entered politics with his election to the Alabama House of Representatives from Birmingham. He served in the session of 1870-71 and in 1872 was elected to the state senate. The 1872-74 term saw Hewitt as a member of the committee on Local Legislation and a "joint committee to visit States prison and States prison convicts." In 1874 he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 6th congressional district, and after winning the Democratic nomination was opposed by incumbent Republican Joseph Sloss in the November general election. Hewitt would defeat Sloss by a near 6,000 vote margin, and took his seat in January 1875.
Hewitt's first house term saw him named to the Committee on Invalid Pensions and also introduced a bill (by unanimous consent), "for the relief of settlers on lands claimed by the North and South Alabama Railroad." Hewitt also introduced legislation aimed to "secure impartial administration of justice in the state of Alabama" by removing political influence from the state court system.
Hewitt as he appeared during his congressional service. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
In November 1876 Hewitt was elected to a second term, unopposed, and would again serve on the committee on Invalid Pensions. During the 1877-79 term Hewitt introduced further legislation, including a bill that would pension veterans of the Mexican American War and the Oregon Indian Wars, "and to repeal the act forbidding pensions to all except those who took the union side in the civil war". He retired from Congress at the close of the session and wasn't a candidate for re-election in November 1878. He would be induced to run for Congress again in 1880 and that November was elected unopposed. He would win a fourth term in 1882, and these back to back terms saw him author a number of pieces of legislation, including:
"One to monetize silver, to prohibit the retirement of greenbacks, and to prohibit banks of issue, to suppress polygamy in Utah, to improve, by federal aid, the rivers and harbors of Alabama."Hewitt remained busy during his final house term, opposing the Reagan Interstate Commerce Bill as well as the senate amendments to the Mexican Contingent Fund. After leaving office Hewitt would remark that by lobbying against those amendments "he believes that his resistance saved a billion of dollars to the government." He would not be a candidate for reelection in November 1884.
After his return to Alabama Hewitt joined the law firm of Hewitt, Walker, and Porter in Birmingham. Hewitt wasn't out of the political spotlight for long, however, and in 1886 was reelected to the Alabama House of Representatives. He served one four year term and was named to the committees on the Judiciary; Penitentiary and Criminal Administration; and Rules. He continued to reside in Birmingham after leaving office, and in November 1894 began to suffer health problems. These illnesses continued into the following year, and on May 28, 1895, Hewitt died at his home, the cause of death being given as heart disease. He was survived by his wife Harriet and was interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Birmingham. One week following his death, Hewitt was memorialized by his fellow bar members in a lengthy resolution in his memory, stating:
"His services as a legislator and as a soldier were so many and so valuable that they neither require nor permit detail at this time. His honorable scars and halting gate and the benefits of useful laws which he helped largely to enact, all of them in the interest of justice, honesty, and the common welfare, are an indefeasible title to the gratitude and loving remembrance of those whom he served so long, so faithfully, and so well."
From the Marshall County Independent, June 7, 1895.
Portrait from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Past and Present, 1887.
A decade prior to Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt's arrival on the national political scene, the voters of Massachusetts' 9th congressional district elected their own "Goldsmith" to the U.S. House of Representatives. That man was Goldsmith Fox Bailey, an attorney residing in Fitchburg. Prior to his congressional service Bailey had published a newspaper in Vermont and following settlement in Fitchburg won election to both houses of the Massachusetts legislature. With a bright political career ahead of him, Hewitt died while serving in Congress at the age of just 38, a victim of consumption.
Born in East Westmoreland, New Hampshire on July 17, 1823, Goldsmith Fox Bailey was the son of Ebenezer and Lucy (Goldsmith) Bailey. Left fatherless at an early age, Bailey removed with his mother to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where he attended school. After attaining maturity he relocated to Bellows Falls, Vermont to learn the printing trade, and joined the staff of the Bellows Falls Gazette. By the early 1840s he had become the publisher of that paper, and in 1845 left printing behind to focus his efforts on law studies.
After a period of study in Westminster, Vermont Bailey relocated back to Fitchburg, where he completed his studies in the law office of Torrey and Wood. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1848 and soon afterward joined the firm of N. Wood and Co. in Fitchburg. He practiced law in that city for several years afterward, and in 1856 was awarded an honorary Masters of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.
Bailey entered Bay State politics with his appointment as U.S. Postmaster at Fitchburg, serving in that capacity from 1851-1853. In 1856 he received a nomination for the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was elected in the fall of that year. In November of the following year, he won his first term in the state senate and was elected to a second term in 1859. His time in that body saw him as a member (and later chairman) of the Judiciary committee.
Goldsmith W. Bailey achieved statewide political prominence in November 1860 with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Constitutional Union candidate Eli Thayer by a vote of 9,745 to 7,949. At the start of the 1861-63 session he was named to the committee on Resources, but Bailey's "long delicate" health prevented him from taking an active part in congressional proceedings. Several months prior to his death he visited Cuba and Florida in the hopes warm climate would improve his health, but it failed to do so. He soon returned to his home in Fitchburg, where he died of consumption on May 8, 1862, aged just 38. A lifelong bachelor, Bailey was interred at the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg and his brief career in national politics was memorialized by the Fitchburg Reville and the Brattleboro, Vermont Phoenix, noting:
"We cannot, within the brief limits of a newspaper article, do justice to the mind and character of Mr. Bailey; it is only those who knew his life and had access to his inner heart, who can truly appreciate his talents and worth. Yet even to strangers his power was obvious, whether as a lawyer, legislator, or in the social circle."
From the Brattleboro Phoenix May 22, 1862.
Portrait from the History of Delaware County, Indiana, 1881.
Regarded by many as the founding father of Muncie, Indiana, Goldsmith Coffeen Gilbert was a native of New York who, following his removal to the Indiana Territory, became a pioneer settler and business figure in formative years of Muncie. The owner and operator of several business concerns in his adopted home city, Gilbert entered politics in the twilight of his life, winning election to two terms in Indiana House of Representatives from Delaware County.
Born in Washington County, New York, Gilbert's birth-year is variously given as 1793, 1795, and 1797. Following his mother's death, he was sent to live with his uncle and namesake, Goldsmith Coffeen, with whom he resided in Jefferson County. The pair later removed to Lebanon, Ohio circa 1813, and sometime later Gilbert traveled back to New York, where he married Mary Bishop (1797-1828), to who he was wed until her death. The couple had at least two children, Goldsmith (died 1836), and Mary Jane (1825-1904). Gilbert would remarry after his wife's death at an unknown date to Rachel Jewell, who survived him.
Desiring to move westward after his marriage, Gilbert and his wife relocated to the Indiana Territory, and by 1823 he is recorded as operating a trading post on the Mississnewa River. Trading goods with the local native population, Gilbert's home, and trading post were later set aflame by intoxicated natives, and after receiving monetary compensation for his loss from the government, used those funds to begin the purchase of 672 acres of land called the "Hackley Reserve". This extensive acreage was owned by Rebecca Hackley, a mixed-race granddaughter of Little Turtle (ca. 1747-1812), a former chief of the Miami Indian tribe. Despite Gilbert's initial promise of $960 dollars for this land, it took many years for that sum to be paid in full to Hackley.
Within a short period, Gilbert had gone to work in earnest, dividing up portions of the 672 acres into lots, which evolved into what was then known as Muncietown. Gilbert would "dig a mill race on the peninsula of north Muncie" and later established a mill. Through the succeeding years, he saw the area blossom into a thriving community and had a hand in many of its early businesses. Amongst these businesses, the 1881 History of Delaware County denotes his involvement in the operation of a "saw-mill, a woolen factory, a distillery, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, and was a partner in a dry goods store."
In 1827 Goldsmith C. Gilbert further aided his community when he became one of three men to donate land to be used as a construction site for the Delaware County seat. In 1841 he entered the political life of his state with his election to the Indiana House of Representatives. Taking his seat at the start of the 1841-43 session that December, Gilbert was named to the committee on Claims and advocated for legislation that would have chartered a railroad that connected Muncie to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He won a second term in late 1843 and served on the committee on Elections into January 1844.
With a bright career ahead of him in state government, Goldsmith Coffeen Gilbert died in office of pleurisy on January 20, 1844, his death occurring in Pendleton, Indiana following the close of the 1843-44 session. He was survived by his wife and daughter and was returned to Muncie for burial at the Beech Grove Cemetery. Nearly 180 years following his death, Gilbert remains a far from a forgotten figure in Muncie, having a street and a historic district in that city named in his honor, the latter being named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
From the Arkansas legislative composite, 1925.
Three months following the publishing of the above article, another politically active "Goldsmith" has been located on August 29, 2020--Goldsmith Blachley Oliver Jr. of Arkansas. A two-term member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Clay County, there is an extreme dearth of resources mentioning Oliver, hence his brief profile here. Born in Corning, Clay County, Arkansas on June 20, 1892, Goldsmith Blachley Oliver Jr. was the son of Goldsmith B. Oliver Sr (1856-1935). and the former Lillie Harb (1866-1946).
An attorney that practiced in both Corning and Little Rock, Oliver was elected to two consecutive terms in the Arkansas state legislature, serving from 1923-27. Little else is known of his life, excepting mention of his being the chairman of the Arkansas Fish and Game Commission in 1938. He died aged 66 on December 28, 1958, and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock.
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