Rhoda Lavinia Goodell (1839 - 1880)

Born 2 May 1839 in Utica, Oneida, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 31 Mar 1880 at age 40 in Janesville, Rock, Wisconsin Territory, United States

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Biography

Lavinia Goodell is Notable.

Rhoda Lavinia Goodell, of Janesville, was born in 1839, Utica, Oneida, New York where she assisted her father, noted abolitionist William Goodell, in editing an anti-slavery and reform newspaper. ^[1]

Lavinia Goodell

Rhoda Lavinia Goodell, former editor and lawyer arrived in Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin from New York in 1871 with her parents. She studied law for three years with the firm of Jackson and Norcross and was admitted to practice law in Rock, County, Wisconsin. ^[2]

In 1875 thirty-six year old Miss Rhoda Lavinia Goodell applied for admission to the Wisconsin Bar and was rejected by the Supreme Court of the State at its 1876 January term stating:

"We can not but think the common law wise in excluding women from the profession of the law." "The profession (said Chief Justice Ryan) enters largely into the well-being of society, and, to be honorably filled, and safely to society, exacts the devotion of life. The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurture of the children of our race, and for the custody of the homes of the worlds, and their maintenance in love and honor. And all life-long callings of women inconsistent with these radical and social duties of their sex, as is the profession of the law, are departures from the order of nature, and, when voluntary, are treason against it." ^[3]

Chief Justice Edward E. Ryan continued in the denial of record ^[2] :

"The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurturing of the children of our race and for the custody of the homes of the world and their maintenance in love and honor. Nature had tempered woman as little for the juridical conflicts of the court room as for the physical conflicts of the battlefield. Womanhood is moulded for gentler and better things. It would be revolting to all female sense of the innocence and sanctity of their sex, shocking to a man's reverence for womanhood and faith in women on which hinge all the better affections and humanities of life, that woman should be permitted to mix professionally in all the nastiness of the world which finds its way into courts of justice; all the unclean issues, all the collateral questions of sodomy, incest, rape, seduction fornication, adultery, pregnancy, bastardy, legitimacy, prostitution, lascivious cohabitation, abortion, infanticide, obscene publications, libel and slander of sex, impotence, divorce..."

In 1879 Goodell was admited to the bar of the state Supreme Court. ^[2] By a law since passed no person can be denied admission to any court in the State based on sex; and Miss Goodell has been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. ^[3]

Rhoda Lavinia Goodell passed away from ovarian cancer on 31 March 1880 while at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ^[4] Her Will was probated 9 April 1880 at Dane County, Wisconsin. ^[5] Her interred remains were later reburied by her nephew at Berea Cemetery, Berea Madison County Kentucky. Lavinia Goodell on Find A Grave]

Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin Territory. Janesville is situated about 61 miles southwest of Milwaukee.

Sources

1. ↑ "Wisconsin Women Judges are Small, Select Group" The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) 21 November 1976, Sunday, page45. Reprinted (image record, online db) www.Newspapers.com. Accessed 4 August 2020. Subscription service.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} "Ghost of Rhoda Lavinia Goodell Resurrected at Supreme Court" Chippewa Herald-Telegram (Chippewa Falls, 8 September 1976, Wednesday, Page 3) Reprinted (image record, online db) www.Newspapers.com Subscription Service. Accessed 4 August 2020.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Butterfield, Consul Willshire (1824-1899) ed.; "The History of Columbia County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its Settlement" pg.105. Pub.1880. Western Historical Company, Chicago. https://archive.org/details/historyofcolumbi00butt/page/105/mode/1up?q=Goodell
4. ↑ Wisconsin Death Index, 1820-1907. Vol. 03; Page 04; Reel 059; Image 2112; Index Vol. 01; Sequence No., 126990. Reprinted (online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2000, Provo, Utah. Accessed 4 August 2020.
5. ↑ Wisconsin, Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987 (index). Reprinted (online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015, Provo, Utah. Accessed 4 August 2020.

See Also
"United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCBY-LFK : accessed 16 March 2015), Lavina Goodell in household of Wm Goodell, Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States; citing family 219, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavinia_Goodell