Mary Ann Goodrich

Mariann Wolcott was born on February 16, 1765. She was the fourth child of Oliver Wolcott and Lorraine (Laura) Collins. She had two older brothers, both named Oliver (the first died young), and an older sister, Laura. Frederick was her younger brother by nearly two years.

During the Revolution, when the statue of King George III was brought to the home of her father, she helped to melt the statue down into bullets. She is on record as having created the most bullets out of King George.

In October of 1789, she married Chauncey Goodrich of Hartford. He was the eldest son of the Reverend Elizur Goodrich. Chauncey graduated from Yale, got his law degree, was a member of the State Legislature, and a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Mariann died on March 12, 1805, at the age of forty.

List of Burials, Center Church Burying Ground, Hartford, Connecticut Name Mary Ann Goodrich Date March 15, 1805 Inscription: "wife of Chancey Goodrich; daughter of Gov. Oliver and Lorain (Collins) Wolcott;"One of the most famous beauties of her time""; aged 40 years" "born in Litchfield, Feb. 16, 1765"

Women of the Republican Court
MARY ANN WOLCOTT GOODRICH (1765-1805) Born to Declaration of Independence signer and Connecticut Governor Oliver Wolcott and his wife Lauren Collins, Mary Ann Goodrich was described by Rufus Griswold as “one of the most distinguished beauties of her time.” Growing up in Litchfield, Connecticut, in a revolutionary family, Mary Ann and her siblings once helped to make bullets out of a melted statue of King George III in 1776 to help the colonial cause. When Mary Ann was inoculated with smallpox at age twelve, her father wrote to his wife, saying: But I hope the Small Pox will giver her no uneasiness, tho’ it may have a little hurt her Complexion, as there is no valuable or lasting Beauty but what exists in the Mind; and if she cultivates these Excellencies, she will not fail of being beloved and esteemed. Years later, after her marriage to Chauncey Goodrich (1759-1815) in 1789, a British minister announced at a dance that Mary Ann “would be admired even at St. James” for her charm, culture, intellect, and refinement, indicating that, in his opinion, she would be welcome among the British aristocracy. Early in their marriage, the couple lived in Connecticut, where Goodrich practiced law and served in the state’s house of representatives. Mary Ann first became known to New York society while visiting her brother Oliver, who was the comptroller of the United States Treasury prior to succeeding Alexander Hamilton as treasury secretary. By 1795, when her husband was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Mary Ann was already “the centre of an admiring crowd” in New York City, a crowd that admired her for “the vivacity of her wit.” Indeed, in letters to her brother Frederick, which are preserved in the Litchfield Historical Society, one can see that Mary Ann had quite a lot of wit (and one might even say sarcasm). In one instance, she writes to him, saying: I wish to know whether it was crossness or indolence, or head ach [sic], that prevented your writing to me, so that I may know how to apply the remedy the first of these disorders, may be cured perhaps, by Olmstead's flute, or his more melodious voice “By Music minds are equal temper know/ Nor swell too high nor sink too low” If you are troubled with the malady of Laziness, I would advise a pitch plaister to be applied to your back. This I experience is a great stimulus to action. The head ach is not so easily cured but I imagine that a very pretty Wife, with six hens, & a rooster & half a score of Sheep & three children would be some help to you and I advise you to try it… Mary Ann Goodrich died at the age of forty, having established herself as a mainstay in social circles in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., as she had followed her husband to these cities while he represented Connecticut in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Congresses, and later in the Senate (1807-1813). The couple never had children, although several of Mary Ann’s many nieces and nephews were named, in some capacity, after her or her husband.

Written by Annie Turner.