Wood & Torbert Families - Henry Barnes Goldthwaite

Henry Barnes Goldthwaite

b. 10 April 1802, d. 19 October 1847

Henry Barnes Goldthwaite was born on 10 April 1802 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
According to the 1878 City Directory and History of Montgomery, Alabama: "The dramatic talent among the early inhabitants was soon developed. In the fall of 1822, a Thespian Society was ortganized that gave its first public performance on the night of the 17th of December, at the 'Montgomery Hotel.' On this occasion, Shakespeare's great tragedy of Julius Caesar was produced with: Julius Caesar, Benjamin Fitzpatrick; Octavius Caesar, G. W. B. Towns; Marcus Antonius, Henry Goldthwaite. . . Of the twenty-three citizens who represented parts in the play. . . [t]hree of them afterwards obtained high distinctions, to wit: Mr. Fitzpatrick became Governor of the State and United Sttes Senator, Mr. Towns, Governor of Georgia, and Mr. Goldthwaite, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. . . ."
In 1839 he was made a judge of the Supreme Court of Alabama, which position he held until his death.
He married Elizabeth Isabella Witherspoon, daughter of John Ramsay Witherspoon, on 10 April 1839 in Greensboro, Hale County, Alabama.
Henry Barnes Goldthwaite died on 19 October 1847 at age 45 in Mobile, Alabama, of yellow fever.
His wife Elizabeth Isabella Witherspoon became a widow at his death.
He was interred at Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama.
A short biographical sketch of Henry Goldthwaite appears in Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men, from 1540 to 1872.