George Thomas Goldthwaite

b. 10 December 1809, d. 16 March 1879

George Thomas Goldthwaite, 1809-1879
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite was born on 10 December 1809 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
  • He married Olivia Price Wallach, daughter of Moses Wallach and Mary Robbins, on 30 November 1835 in Washington, District of Columbia.
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite and Olivia Price Wallach appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Montgomery, Alabama, the latter three children of his deceased brother Robert Henry Goldthwaite. Also in the household was Ellen Wallach, probably the unmarried sister of Olivia.. Other members of the household included George Goldthwaite, Anne Goldthwaite, Richard Wallach Goldthwaite, Mary Robbins Goldthwaite, Henry Goldthwaite, Robert Wallach Goldthwaite, Sarah Goldthwaite, George Goldthwaite and Charles Goldthwaite.
  • He was judge of the 8th circuit, according to the 1850 census.
  • He was listed in the 1850 Slave Schedule at Macon County, Alabama, with 96 slaves.
  • On Tuesday, 9 November 1852, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Hon Judge G Goldthwaite came this morning," and on the following day, "I went to day with Judge Goldthwaite to look at the Goodrich land in Sanjacinto." And on Friday, the 12th, "Road up to Abercrombie's with Judge Goldthwaite."
  • A quarter of a league of land situated on the waters of the San Jacinto in Montgomery County, originally granted to Thomas Corner as a colonist of Austin’s Colony, sold at public auction at the Court House door in the Town of Montgomery by court-appointed Commissioners on 7 November 1854, for the sum of $5,512, was purchased by Green M. Wood as the special authorized agent and attorney in fact of George Goldthwaite of Montgomery County, Alabama, containing 1,111 acres more or less (save 111 acres of Zarelda and Miles Elkins). Said land was in error conveyed by deed to Green M. Wood in place of the said George Goldthwaite, and subsequently was conveyed to Judge Goldthwaite on 25 January 1855.
  • Evelina Wood wrote on 28 May 1855, to her daughter Lizzie Powell: ". . . Some persons are hauling corn from Houston to the Trinity paying $1.75 per bushel in Houston -- Judge Goldthwaite will have to get corn in Houston, it is not to be had in the country, the cry is corn, corn -- James Mitchell got nearly one hundred bushels of corn to grind last Saturday. . . ."
  • According to the Montgomery County, Texas, tax records, W. H. Wilson was agent for George Thomas Goldthwaite (Thomas Corner property), for the year 1856.
  • On Sunday, 3 February 1856, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Judge Goldthwaite came this evening." A few days earlier, on 27 January, Green Wood sent hands to help to load Jesse McCaleb's river boat. J. E. McCaleb was listed as "agent" for the Goldthwaite plantation in the 1860 census slave schedule.
  • On Saturday, 12 April 1856, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Planted my last years potato ground in selected cotton seed, manured in hills three feet, covered with hoes, one bushel of Boyed seed, present by Judge Goldthwaite."
  • On Sunday, 25 January 1857, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Judge George Goldthwaite left here yesterday."
  • On 20 February 1860, Absalom Jackson wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:
              Mayhew, 20 Feb 1860
    Dear Sir,
         Sometime ago I informed you that I felt it due to the memory of your late sister and the interest of her and my children to ascertain what might be their legal right if any to a distributive share in the Estate of their cousin Margaret Baily dec'd. I have confered with Judge Goldthwaite one of the Codifiers of the laws of Alabama and lately one of the Judges of the Supreme Court on the subject and he is of the opinion that they have no legal right to any part of said Estate. Whatever equitable and just right I may have supposed them to have I at once yield to the law; and with the assurance that all I have done in the matter was the result of the performance of conscientious duty and not with the view of throwing obstacles in the way of a settlement and distribution of the Estate
              I am yours Truly
                   Absalom Jackson
    Maj. Bolling Hall
         Administrator of Estate of Margaret Baily deceased
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite and Olivia Price Wallach appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Montgomery, Alabama. Other members of the household included George Goldthwaite, Anne Goldthwaite, Richard Wallach Goldthwaite, Mary Robbins Goldthwaite, Henry Goldthwaite and Robert Wallach Goldthwaite.
  • He was an attorney, according to the 1860 census.
  • He was listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule at Montgomery County, Alabama, with 24 slaves and 4 slave houses.
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Montgomery County, Texas, F. H. Gholston agent (adjacent to F. H. Gholston household, and very near the McCaleb household). Value of real estate $38,425, personal estate $65,800.
  • George Goldthwaite is listed twice in the 1860 Slave Schedule in Montgomery County, Texas:
         -- with 93 slaves (41 of whom were age 10 and younger, and 2 of whom were age 60 and older) and 18 slave houses, with F. H. Ghoulston acting as his agent, and
         -- with 102 slaves (36 of whom were age 10 and younger, and 12 of whom were age 60 and older) and 15 slave houses, with J. E. McCaleb acting as his agent.
  • On Tuesday, 13 August 1861, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Started my Waggon (Ben driving) Doctor Campbell and Judge Goldthwaite Waggons to Nibletts Bluff Sabine river to meet Captain R. M. Powell & company & take them to Berwicks Bay."
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite and Olivia Price Wallach appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Montgomery, Alabama, enumerated near Milton Paul LeGrand. Other members of the household included Annie Paul Nesbitt. Also in the household were a number of domestic servants.
  • The following appeared on 14 December 1870 in The Galveston Tri-Weekly News: Judge Goldthwaite, who has just been elected to the United States Senate from Alabama, is an old citizen of the State, a man of decided abilities and fine character. He has filled with eminent usefulness the highest political positions in his State. If Congress will permit the South to be represented by such men as Vance and Goldthwaite, the interests of not only their section but of the whole country will be subserved.
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite became a widower at the 13 July 1878 death of his wife Olivia Price Wallach.
  • He was interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.
  • George Thomas Goldthwaite died on 16 March 1879 at age 69 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
  • He was interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.
  • A short biographical sketch of George Goldthwaite appears in the Montgomery County section of Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men, from 1540 to 1872:
         George Goldthwaite is also a distinguished citizen of Montgomery. He is a younger brother of Hon. Henry Goldthwaite of Mobile, deceased, and was born December 10, 1809, in Massachusetts. While a youth in Boston he attended a grammar school of which Charles Sumner, R. C. Winthrop and Geo. S. Hilliard, since distinguished in the history of the country, were pupils. Appointed to a cadetship at West Point at 14, he was a classmate of the late Lieut. Gen. Polk, while President Davis, and Generals R. E. Lee and J. E. Johnston were prosecuting their studies there in other classes. After passing his third year he abruptly quit the college in consequence of a "hazing" freak. He at once came to this State (1826) and read law in Montgomery in his brother's office. Admitted to practice at the age of 18 years, he located at Monticello, Pike county, where he remained several years. He then returned to Montgomery, where he practiced with increasing reputation till December 1843, when he was elected to the circuit court bench over the incumbent, Hon. Abraham Martin. He continued on the circuit bench (the people re-electing him in 1850 over Jefferson Jackson, esq., late of this county) till January 1852, when he was elected a justice of the supreme court. By the resignation of Judge Chilton, January 1856, Judge Goldthwaite became chief justice; a dignity he held only thirteen days. Resigning, he returned to the practice. When hostilities began between the States, he was appointed by Gov. Moore adjutant general of the State, and held the place about three years. In 1866 he was elected judge of the circuit court, over Hon. George S. Cox of Lowndes and Hon. Francis Bugbee, but was ejected from office by an act of congress in 1868. In 1870 he was elected to the senate of the United States.
         Judge Goldthwaite is stoutly built but short. His phrenological developments are striking and almost peculiar. He is sociable but not cordial in his deportment. As a lawyer he ranks among the most learned in the State, and before a jury is so concise and clear that it seems as if a word added to or taken from his remarks could only detract from the perfection of his sentences. His long career on the bench has established his reputation as a profound jurist, with no eccentricities or vagaries to alloy the wisdom and dignity of his official deportment. His conversational powers, too, are rare, and embrace a more extensive range than might be expected from one who has devoted his life to a single profession.
         Judge Goldthwaite married a sister [sic] of the late Mayor Wallach of Washington, D.C. Capt. R. W. Goldthwaite of this county, who so long commanded Semple's battery, is his son. Judge Arrington and Major Emmet Seibels of this county married daughters of Judge G.
  • For additional biographical information, see The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  • Last Edited: 12 Nov 2016

Family: Olivia Price Wallach b. 19 February 1810, d. 13 July 1878