Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Goodspeed, Judge Francis January 25, 1821 - April 10, 1889
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Author: Portrait & Biographical Album, 1890

JUDGE FRANCIS GOODSPEED.

The name of Judge Goodspeed was for many years a familiar one to the people of 
Will County, among whom he entered upon and finished a most worthy career. He 
was born in Tioga County, Pa., January 25, 1821, and departed this life at his 
home in Joliet, April 10, 1889. In 1847, he became a resident of this city 
which thereafter remained his home and with whose growth and prosperity he was 
intimately identified. The subject of this notice received the ordinary common-
school education in his youth, but he aspired to something better and before 
reaching his majority left home and entered the famous Genesee Seminary at 
Lima, N. Y., where he spent two years. Then coming to the West he entered the 
office of the Hon. Hugh Henderson, a former Circuit Judge, where he devoted 
his attention to the study of law and in 1848, was admitted to the bar. 
Shortly afterward he associated himself with O. H. Haven, in a partnership 
which continued until the latter's death. Subsequently he was in partnership 
with the Hon. Josiah McRoberts, and later  with the Hon. Henry Snapp and 
Augustus F. Knox, his partnership with the two latter gentlemen continuing 
until 1876. The following year upon the formation of the present judicial 
circuit he was first elected to fill the additional seat on the bench created 
by  this act, and in 1878 was re-elected for the full term of six years. In 
June, 1884, on account of failing health he resigned his office and thereafter 
battled with the insidious disease which finally caused his death. Aside from 
his regular practice Judge Goodspeed was prominent in local affairs, serving 
as Mayor of Joliet and occupying other positions of trust and responsibility. 
In 1861, he was selected as delegate to the Constitutional Convention which 
met in the city of Springfield and was an active participant in the 
deliberations of that body. He was possessed of strong intellectual powers and 
was entirely devoted to his profession, in which he labored to excel. As a 
lawyer and judge for nearly forty years he made an enviable record. No man 
stood higher in the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was a man 
of strong convictions and sympathetic nature, conscientious and truthful; and 
while he exacted much perhaps from his fellow-men, he required from them no 
more than he was desirous of bestowing in trust and integrity. Apart from the 
literature of the law he was a great student of books generally, was a clear 
and lucid writer and used his pen in connection with his sword as long as his 
failing health would permit. Politically, he was in hearty sympathy with the 
Democratic party until 1860, when he became a Republican and ever afterward 
voted and used his influence in behalf of its principles. In all political 
organizations he was prominent and his active influence was never withheld in 
behalf of those objects or persons he firmly believed to be worthy. He left 
behind him when he died a character for honor, patriotism, generosity and 
courage which is not the least prized inheritance of his descendants. Judge 
Goodspeed was first married in 1849, to Miss Esther Weatherbee, who only 
survived her wedding one month. His second wife was Lucretia Knox, to whom he 
was wedded in 1854, and who died in 1864. In 1867, he contracted a third 
marriage with Miss Frances Henderson, who is still living. Mrs. Frances 
(Henderson) Goodspeed, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., November 30, 1830, 
and is the daughter of Dryden and Maria (Coe) Henderson, who were natives of 
Herkimer County, N. Y., and who spent their last years in Steuben County, the 
same State. Their family consisted of three children. Miss Frances received a 
good education and remained a member of the parental household until her 
marriage. Charles F. and Frederick, sons of Judge Goodspeed, are now living in 
Joliet. His eldest son, John C., a young man of much promise, fitted himself 
for the medical profession but died in October, 1883. During the many years in 
which Judge Goodspeed remained a resident of Will County, he not only 
witnessed its progress from a comparatively unimportant portion of the State 
to its proud position as one of the foremost counties of Illinois, but he 
aided in its development and his history is closely interwoven with that of 
the county. His portrait, which is presented in connection with this 
biographical sketch, represents a man widely known and honored wherever known. 
His life was a busy one; realizing that, as has been said, "We have a whole 
eternity to rest in" and that the aim of life is not to merely "kill time" he 
rightly valued every moment given him, and  thus gained a reputation for 
promptness in originating plans and dispatch in executing them. Of this it 
might well be said that he was one of those 

"Who comprehend their trust and to the same 
Keep faithful with a singleness of aim;
And therefore do not stoop nor lie in wait
For wealth or honor or for worldly state;
Whom they must follow, on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all."

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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