Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 231.  Jefferson County.

JOHN KEMP GOODLOE, on the public life of Louisville, left an indelible
impression.  No citizen of the community was ever more respected and no man
ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people or more richly
deserved the esteem in which he was held.  In his lifetime the people of
his state, recognizing his merit, rejoiced in his advancement and in the
honors to which he attained, and since his death they have cherished his
memory, which remains as a blessed benediction to all who knew him.
Honorable in business, loyal in citizenship, charitable in thought, kindly
in action, true to every trust confided to his care, his life was the
highest type of Christian manhood.  He was one of the great lawyers of the
southern bar who lives in the memories of his contemporaries, encircled
with the halo of a gracious presence, charming personality, profound legal
wisdom, purity of public and private life, and the quiet dignity of an
ideal follower of his calling.  He was many years in active practice at
the Louisville bar, and comparatively few men endear themselves to so great
an extent to their professional associates and to those with whom they come
in contact in the discharge of public duties.
     Mr. Goodloe was born in Columbia, Missouri, February 15, 1823.
While yet an infant his widowed mother removed to Kentucky and he grew to
manhood in the old commonwealth of which his ancestors helped to lay the
foundation, devoted many years of his life to her service, and rests with
her distinguished dead.  He was descended from an honored and
distinguished line, prominent in all the upper walks of life, and in those
labors which developed the western civilization.  The Goodloe family, of
Saxon origin, was founded in America by George Goodloe, who, with his
brother Robert, left England about 1740, and took up his residence in
Spotsylvania county, Virginia, then a province of Great Britain. He married
a Miss Minor and his son Henry married a Miss Kemp, a relationship which
is indicated in the names handed down in the family.  Henry Goodloe had
three sons who removed from Virginia to Kentucky during the pioneer epoch,
two of the number becoming residents of Hopkins county.  The other brother,
Vivian Goodloe, the grandfather of John Kemp Goodloe, located in Woodford
county, where he had large landed interests and dispensed the old-time
southern hospitality for which Kentucky homes have ever been so justly
noted.  He married Dorothy Tompkins, sister of Judge Christopher Tompkins,
an eminent lawyer and United States senator.  Their son, Kemp Minor
Goodloe, father of our subject, was a soldier of the war of 1812, being a
member of the famous company commanded by Captain Nat. Hart, which was
mustered into Colonel Lewis' Kentucky regiment, August 14, 1812.  Henry
Clay delivered an address to this company at Georgetown, Kentucky, from
which place it marched to Big Bone Springs, in Boone county, crossed the
Ohio river and proceeded northward to give battle to the combined British
and Indian forces on the northern frontier.  Captain Hart and all but
thirteen of the company fell in the battle of the River Raisin January 22,
1813.  Mr. Goodloe was one of the survivors and was taken prisoner by the
British and their Indian allies under command of Colonel Proctor.  Kemp
Minor Goodloe married Harriett Harris, one of the most brilliant and
accomplished women of the south.
     On the maternal side Mr. Goodloe was descended from an ancestry
renowned alike in England and America.  His mother was a granddaughter of
Colonel John Logan, who three times represented Kentucky in the Virginia
legislature, before the administration of the commonwealth into the Union,
became the first treasurer of the state and aided largely in molding the
policy and shaping the government of Kentucky.  Mrs. Goodloe has seven
brothers who were distinguished at the bar, and came of a family which has
been represented in one branch or the other of our national congress since
the establishment of that body.  Far back into the history of Great Britain
the ancestry of the Harris family can be traced.  The earliest
representative of the family of whom there is authentic record lived in
Glamorganshire, in South Wales.  They were ancient Britons who suffered
persecution on the account of their religious faith, and in consequence
were forced to fly to Brittany.  Retaining their language, customs and
religion, they remained in Brittany after it became a part of France and
were numbered with those French Puritans who received the name of
Huguenots.  When that sect was driven out of France, the Harrises fled to
England, where they remained for a time, and in 1690 John, Edward and
Jordan Harris came to Virginia, taking possession of a tract of land ten
miles square on the James river, in what later became Powhatan county,
which had been granted to them by William and Mary, then the reigning
monarchs of England.  From John Harris was descended Mrs. Kemp Minor
Goodloe, whose great-grandfather married Elizabeth Washington.  Through
this union she was a descendant also of the renowned English family which
gave to the country to first president of the United States.  The
Washingtons served with distinction under various English sovereigns and
were especial favorites with King Charles I.  In 1657 John and Lawrence
Washington were participants in a revolt against Cromwell, and soon
afterward, finding it necessary to leave the country, they came to America
and settled in what afterward became Westmoreland county, Virginia.  From
this John Washington was descended in direct line Elizabeth Washington, the
great-great-grandmother of John Kemp Goodloe.
     Every family is proud--and justly so--of an honorable ancestry, and
John Kemp Goodloe sprang from such.  The blood of courageous men and true
women flowed in his veins, and his intellectual abilities were brilliant
and versatile.  During his childhood he enjoyed the advantages of the free,
untrammeled life of the farm, learning from nature of liberty, beauty and
strength.  As a boy he attended the common schools of the neighborhood, but
afterward pursued a classical course of study which awoke within him a just
and unusual appreciation of what was best in literature.  He was eminently
fitted for professional life and chose that calling to which many of
Kentucky's most gifted sons have devoted their energies--the law--beginning
his studies in the office of Judge Thomas B. Monroe, of Frankfort, who
carefully directed his reading until he was prepared for active practice.
Mr. Goodloe was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in
Versailles, Kentucky, when twenty-one years of age.  For two years he
continued his active connection with the bar and then entered the soldier's
camp as a defender of his country, at war with Mexico.  In was in 1846
that he joined his forces with the regiment in command of Colonel Humphrey
Marshall.  Mr. Goodloe made for himself a military record conspicuous for
his gallantry and valor.  When he learned that his company would not be
engaged in the battle of Buena Vista, he joined a command that was ordered
to take part in the engagement and was in the thickest of the fight until
badly wounded.  His meritorious conduct and bravery won him the
commendation of his superior officers.
     In 1847 Mr. Goodloe returned to Kentucky and again became a
practitioner at the Versailles bar, where he soon attained to distinctive
honors.  He was also called to public life, and rendered to his district
able service in the lower house of the state legislature, where he was
recognized as a valued and influential member.  He served continuously
from 1856 to 1861 in the house of representatives, and in the latter year
was elected to the state senate, retaining that incumbency until 1864.
Thus he was a member of the general assembly during the momentous period
preceding the civil war and while that struggle was in progress.  Here the
true character of Mr. Goodloe was shown in all its nobility.  Before the
war he was a recognized leader among the legislators of that period,
serving on the most important committees, particularly the judiciary, and
was active in promoting the legislation which his sound judgment told him
would best promote the interests of the commonwealth.  When the question
of secession became the paramount issue he took his stand in defense of
the Union which his forefathers had aided in establishing, and which he, as
a public official, had sworn to uphold.  He was a lover of justice, an
opponent of oppression, a man of broad, humanitarian principles, and at
the beginning of the war he offered to his slaves their freedom, which,
however, they refused.  What higher tribute to his kindly and beneficient
nature could be given than the statement of this fact,--the refusal of
those in bondage to accept their liberty at the hands of one from whom
they had never received aught but kindness and generosity?  Believing it
his duty, as well as his pleasure, he ever afterward assisted in providing
for those who had thus manifested their loyalty and gratitude to him.
     With the outbreak of the rebellion Mr. Goodloe, chivalrous by nature,
offered his service to the military department, receiving a staff
appointment as colonel; but the Union leaders of the state urged him to
retain his place in the senate, where he wielded such a potent influence
in behalf of the Union.  All through those trying times he stood firm in
defense of the national government, and many others were led to follow
his example and that of other eminent leaders of the legislature until
Kentucky finally announced her loyalty and offered her allegiance to the
national government.  Though not in active service, Mr. Goodloe was aide
to General Robert Anderson when in command of the Union forces in Kentucky,
and in the autumn of 1861 he joined Generals Shackleford,  Bristow and
Jackson on Green river, and was engaged in forming brigades, getting
battalions ready and otherwise fitting the troops for active service in the
field.  The south was his country and he loved its people, its customs and
its associations, although regretting its attitude toward the national
government at that period.  If it had been possible, he would have
preferred honorable and just concession rather than war; but it was not to
be, and he stood firm in his loyalty.  As a leader of the senate this idea
was ever uppermost in his mind, and his diplomatic methods, his courteous
treatment of those who differed from him in his political views, his keen
perception of the trend of events, his constant vigilance and prompt action
when necessary, combined to make him one ofthe most powerful factors in
shaping the events of that period in Kentucky.  Strong as were his
convictions that the rebellion should be suppressed, he would vote for no
legislation which he deemed unauthorized by the state and national
constitutions, and hence he refused to support what was termed the
expatriation law of 1862.
     Notwithstanding the feeling of bitterness which prevailed during
those years, Mr. Goodloe commanded the respect and admiration of his
political opponents as well as those who were allied with him in that
great struggle.  One who was most familiar with this portion of his
career has said: "I do not recall a single instance of an unkind word
being said about him in my presence.  If he had been an insignificant man
of merely negative qualities, this might have been in no wise astonishing,
but in thinking it over, it has seemed to me that such a fact was, of
itself, a most exalted and rare tribute to a man of high intellectual
endowment, enriched by study and reflection, and whose convictions upon
every great public question were strong and positive, and of the character
likely to be found in one who had inherited moral and intellectual
strength and fiber from the good old pioneer stock, to which Kentucky is
so much indebted.  I attributed the fact I have mentioned to the
circumstances, namely, that his characteristics of head and heart were of
the noblest sort, and that his justness, his cheerfulness and his urbanity
were abiding and unfailing."
     For a time before the close of the war Mr. Goodloe resumed his labors
in connection with his profession and occupied the position of assistant
United States attorney for Kentucky.  Just before the close of the
sanguinary struggle he was appointed, by President Lincoln, United States
district attorney for the state of Louisiana.  For one year he discharged
the duties of that office with marked fidelity and ability, after which he
returned to Kentucky, locating in Louisville, where he  remained in active
practice until the close of his life.  For some years he was associated
professionally with Hon. John W. Barr, who later became judge of the United
States court for the district of Kentucky.  Alexander P. Humphrey and Hon.
John Roberts also practiced in partnership with him.  Later he formed a
partnership with John W. Barr Jr., son of Judge Barr, previously mentioned,
and this relation was continued until Mr. Goodloe's death, February 12,
1892.  Great thoroughness characterized the work of Mr. Goodloe in every
walk of life and was an important element in his professional success.  His
clientage was extensive and of a high character.  He was thoroughly versed
in every branch of the law and his knowledge of science of jurisprudence
was most profound; but his attention was given mostly to corporation law,
the intricate questions giving ample scope for the exercise of his
peculiarly powerful legal talents.  He was entrusted with the handling of
large estates and the involved interest of extensive corporation.  All
recognized his ability, his skill as a practitioner, his knowledge of the
law, his sound practical judgment and his absolute integrity. At all times
and on all occasions he fully upheld the majesty of the law.  In the
courtroom he had that quiet and calm demeanor which arises from thorough
familiarity with the points at issue and indicates a reserve force which
nothing can conquer.  His love of justice and right was inherent, and with
the intensity of a strong nature he abhorred wrong and dissimulation in the
abstract, while possessing the broadest charity for the misguided one.  A
friend said of Him: "When contending for the rights of his clients, his
fine countenance would glow with animation, and the strength of feeling
beneath the perfect self-control and calmness of his manner presented the
finest type of true, effective oratory."  As a corporation lawyer, having a
practice as large, perhaps larger, than any other member of the Kentucky
bar, be became closely identified with corporate interests and held many
official positions in leading southern corporation.  Aside from these,
however, he declined all official preferment.
     Mr. Goodloe was married in the year 1848 to Ann W. Lockett and they
had two children, both now deceased.  Mrs. Goodloe died in 1852, and in
1863 Judge Goodloe married Mary L. Shouse, of Woodford county, who with two
sons and three daughters survives her husband.  She is a granddaughter of
Goodloe Carter, a descendant of that family so eminent in Virginia history.
     Mr. Goodloe was a consistent member of the Christian church, and
although his business made such heavy demand upon his time he ever found
opportunity to carry into practice the principles he believed, and made
manifest his religion in a quiet but liberal charity.  His companionship
was sought by the highest and most able men of the state, who prized his
friendship and counsel.  One who knew him well said of him: "His natural
endowments were a quick and strong temper and a warm heart, a gentle
manner and a quiet courtesy.  To control the first and to make his life
the flower and expression of the other traits was the task which nature
had assigned him.  We know nothing of the struggle, but were daily
witnesses of the victory.  Kindness was the motive of his life.  He had a
well-spring of affection and a quick and generous sympathy which increased
by giving, and became richer by being a very spendthrift.  Death came to
him in the midst of a useful career.  With the hope of improving his
health he went to Georgia, but died, in Thomasville, that state.  The
remains were brought to Louisville and laid to rest where tender tributes
were paid to the memory of a life so noble and so honorable.  Of him it
was lovingly said that "his death brought regret to the entire community
in which his engaging personality, his lofty character and exceptional
attainments made him observed of all men.  With face clean-cut as a
cameo in a setting of snow-white hair, he was a man that no observer of
men passed on the street without a second look and a favorable impression.
Like all who walk through life on a higher plain than the great majority
of his fellows, his companionship was select, rather than large; but the
many who looked up to and respected him realized as fully as did the few
who were nearer him that a true man had fallen."

Goodloe Minor Kemp Tompkins Logan Washington Harris
Monroe Lockett Shouse Logan Carter
=
Hopkins-KY Woodford-KY Westmorland-VA Powhatan-VA GA MO
England France

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/jefferson/goodloe.jk.txt