Chauncey Allen Goodrich

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For the Senator, see Chauncey Goodrich.

Chauncey Allen Goodrich (October 23, 1790-February 25, 1860) was an American clergyman, educator and lexicographer. He was the son-in-law of Noah Webster and edited his Dictionary after his father-in-law's death.

Goodrich was the son of Elizur and Anne Willard (Allen) Goodrich. His father was a lawyer and member of the United States House of Representatives. Chauncey was also the grandson of the Reverend Elizur Goodrich. His uncle, also named Chauncey Goodrich, was also a member of the U.S. House and Senator from Connecticut.

He graduated from Yale University in 1810. After graduation, he was rector of the Hopkins Grammar School, where he had studied, but returned to Yale to study religion under President Timothy Dwight. In 1814, he was licensed to preach. Goodrich went to Boston in early1816 to replace Edward Dorr Griffin at the Park Street Church, but he returned later that year to his native Connecticut.

In October 1816, he married Julia Frances Webster, Noah's daughter and had four children with her. Goodrich returned to his alma mater as a professor of rhetoric at Yale from 1818 to 1838, also writing a textbook on the subject.

Goodrich believed that religion had to be part of Yale life and called for a separate theology department at Yale, especially needed to train ministers once Connecticut disestablished the Congregationalist Church in 1818. Successful in 1822, he worked on fund raising and eventually became a professor in the department in 1839, continuing there until his death.

Goodrich's father-in-law hired Goodrich and Joseph Emerson Worcester to produce an abridgment of his dictionary. Unlike Webster, Goodrich did not endorse many of the Americanized spellings Webster proposed and most were deleted from the 1841 edition. After Webster's death in 1843, he worked on the dictionary as editor for George and Charles Merriam, editing new editions that appeared in 1843 and 1859.