REFERENCE: 536 Va Cous
Hon. John Goode, No. 536 in Va Cousins was educated at New London
Academy, and Emory and Henry College, where he was graduated, 1848. An
eminent lawyer, who has held many public positions, and was appointed
May, 1885, Solicitor-General of the United States.
Read law for two years with Hon. J. W. Brockenbrough at Lexington, Va.
and was admitted to the Bar in 1851 and began practice at Liberty, Va.
At 22 years of age John Goode was elected to the Virginia House of
Delegates, as a Democrat over a representative Whig. He was a
presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852 and 1856, a member
of the Virginia Convention of 1860, and an enthusiastic advocate of the
Ordinance of Secession.
Volunteering at the outbreak of the war, he was assigned to duty on the
staff of Gen. Jubal A. Early with the rank of Captain. His military
career was brief, however, for on Feb. 22, 1862, he took his seat as a
member of the Confederate Congress, and remained a member of that body
until the close of the war.
In the winter of 1865 he removed to Norfolk, and the following year was
again elected to the Virginia legislature. From 1868 to 1880 he served as
a member of the National Democratic Committee. He was elected to the 44th
Congress, and re-elected to the 45th and 46th Congresses.
Says Burton's Norfolk. - "November 3, 1874, occured the most exciting
election ever held in this Congressional District. It was the day on
which the Hon. John Goode, Jr. one of Virginia's noblest and most gifted
sons, defeated the notorious Vermont carpet-bagger, James H. Platt, Jr.
for Congress."
p. 180, Va Cousins
He was President of the Yorktown Centennial Association., and to his
efforts much of the success of the celebration was due.
He served in Congress for two years as Chairman of the Committee on
Education, and has been prominent in Virginia educational work, being a
member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia, William
and Mary College, and the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
He was a member of the National Democratic Convention in 1868 and 1872.
In 1884, he was Elector at Large on the Cleveland and Hendricks ticket in
Virginia, and President of the Board of Electors. In May, 1885, he was
appointed by President Cleveland, Solicitor-General of the United States,
the position next in dignity to that of a member of the Cabinet, and has
several times served as acting Attorney-General.