Daniel W. Gooch

United States Congressman

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

United States Congressman, Massachusetts State Legislature member, Lawyer, Boston Vigilance Committee member

Place of Birth:

Wells, Maine

Date of Birth:

January 8, 1820

Place of Death:

Melrose, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

November 11, 1891

Place of Burial:

Wyoming Cemetery

Cemetery Name:

Melrose, Massachusetts

Prior to serving in the United States Congress, Massachusetts lawyer Daniel Wheelwright Gooch participated in the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee.

Born in 1820, Daniel W. Gooch grew up in Wells, Maine. He graduated from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1843, then studied law in South Berwick, Maine. After some time in Portland, Gooch moved to Boston where he opened a law practice and became involved in antislavery politics. He married Hannah Pope in 1848, and together they had a son. The family settled in Melrose, just outside of Boston.¹

With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Gooch and other Bostonians called for a public meeting at Faneuil Hall “to consider the condition of the Fugitive Slaves and other colored persons of this city, under the new Fugitive Slave Law.” At this meeting, participants created the third and final Vigilance Committee to assist freedom seekers escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad. Though his specific contributions to the organization remain unknown, Gooch joined the Vigilance Committee and included his name and address on the official broadside which listed members. This act signified his public support for its work.²

An early member of the Free Soil party, Gooch began his service as an elected official in the early 1850s. He served one term in the state legislature in 1852, then served as a member of the state constitutional convention a year later. Like many Free Soilers, Gooch soon joined the newly formed Republican party in the mid-1850s. In 1858, Gooch became a United States Congressman.³

Despite Gooch’s public support of the Vigilance Committee and his antislavery politics, radical abolitionists, such as fellow Vigilance Committee member William Lloyd Garrison, criticized him for not advocating for the immediate end to slavery. Upon Gooch’s election in 1858, Garrison’s Liberator stated that “Mr. Gooch foolishly, and without occasion, avows that he will wage no opposition against slavery, as such – he will only resist its extension.”⁴

The critiques of the radicals, however, did not deter Gooch’s service and success as an US congressman. He served four terms, mostly through the tumultuous years of the Civil War. According to one account, Gooch “was among the most active on the floor of the house and in the committee room, and made himself a great power by his patriotic services in the dark days of the rebellion.” He served on the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War which, among other responsibilities, reviewed military contracts, investigated treasonous activities, determined reasons for military defeats, and supported Lincoln’s policies on emancipation and the use of Black soldiers.⁵

Gooch temporarily left Congress in 1865 and became a naval agent for the port of Boston. He later returned to his law practice before serving one more term in Congress in the early 1870s. After an unsuccessful reelection campaign, Gooch worked as a pension agent for ten years. Following this position, he once again returned to his law and engaged in literary pursuits.⁶

Considered “one of the most prominent statesmen of the past generation,” Gooch passed away in 1891. 

His remains are buried in Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.⁷
 

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Footnotes

1. Gooch is mapped at his business address from 1850, 14 Massachusetts Block, his home in 1850 is located in Melrose; "Daniel Wheelwright Gooch," Find a Grave, Daniel Wheelwright Gooch (1820-1891) - Find a Grave Memorial; “Hon. Daniel Wheelwright Gooch,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 2, 1891, 5; “Marriages,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 9, 1848, 2.
2. "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society, Austin Bearse, Remininscences of Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston, (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), 4; “The Fugitive Slave Law,” Liberator, October 18, 1850, 2.
3. "Daniel Wheelwright Gooch," Find a Grave, Daniel Wheelwright Gooch (1820-1891) - Find a Grave Memorial; “Hon. Daniel Wheelwright Gooch,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 2, 1891, 5; “Political,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 21, 1852, 2.
4. “Mr. Banks Successor,” Liberator, January 15, 1858, 2.
5. “A Prominent Man Dead.” Minneapolis Daily Times, November 2, 1891, 2; Brian Getty, “Daniel Gooch, Melrose’s Link to Abe Lincoln,” Melrose Free Press, Daniel Gooch, Melrose’s Link to Abe Lincoln (wickedlocal.com) Accessed 9/9/2024.
6. "Daniel Wheelwright Gooch," Find a Grave, Daniel Wheelwright Gooch (1820-1891) - Find a Grave Memorial; “A Prominent Man Dead.” Minneapolis Daily Times, November 2, 1891, 2.
7. “A Prominent Man Dead.” Minneapolis Daily Times, November 2, 1891, 2.