John W. Goff (1848–1924)
Fenian, Lawyer, and New York Supreme Court Judge
Early Years
John W. Goff was born on January 1, 1848 in Gorey, Co. Wexford, in the throes of the Great Hunger. Other than his date of birth little else is known of his early years other than that he survived the Great Hunger and that he came to the United States at some time in his early years. The two accounts most often used to account for those "lost' years are as follows. The first account hat he came to the United States with his parents as a child and settled in New York. The second account has it that his parents died when he was still a child and was cared for by an uncle in the north of England where he received a basis education before coming to the United States at the age of sixteen.
The researched information for this biographical narrative supports the version that his parents died when he was still a child and that he was cared for by an uncle in the north of England. This is the account published in the Dictionary of Irish Biographies as well as in obituaries published in various newspapers on his passing in 1924. What lends some credence to this account is that both his parents may very well have been amongst the million plus people who died from starvation or disease during the Great Hunger years of 1845 t0 1852. If on the other hand he came to the Unites States with his parents as a child, information to that effect would be more readily available as to where the family lived and where he attended school. No information to that effect is available.
Early years in the United States
Goff arrived in the United States as stated above at the age of sixteen alone with few resources other than a basic education i.e., a mastery of reading, writing and arithmetic. By today's standards he was still a child in a strange land having to fend for himself. Not to belittle such a daunting undertaking by one so young it's nevertheless highly unlikely that he booked passage, travelled across the Atlantic and on arrival found food and shelter all on his own. What happened in such cases was that lone children traveled in the company of a family known to him and that they was cared for by trusted compatriots on arrival.
His first task was to find a job, which he did when hired by the A. T. Stewart dry goods company as a cashier. Landing such a job at the age of sixteen and just off the boat was a testament to his resourcefulness and inherent intellect, traits he exhibited throughout his life.
The owner of the dry goods business, Alexander Turney Stewart, was an Irish-born American entrepreneur who made a vast fortune in the lucrative dry goods business. By all accounts, Stewart was a shrewd and honest businessman, an example of perseverance and success that may have motivated Goff to strive for success beyond his humble beginnings.
Once established, Goff attended adult night classes at Cooper Union where he took courses in applied science and the humanities. Cooper Union was founded in 1859 by American industrialist Peter Cooper one of the richest businessmen in the United States. Cooper was born into a working class family and had less than a year of formal schooling. His motivation in founding the college was to give talented young working class individuals a good education in an institution that was open and free to all. A good education was the only privilege that he himself lacked.
On finishing his education at Cooper Union, he took a job as a junior clerk in the law office of Samuel G. Courtney, a former US attorney for Albany County (1856 t0 1859) where he learned the ins and outs of the legal system and in so doing established himself as a legal scholar. Armed with his credentials from Cooper Union plus his ‘on the job’ legal apprenticeship, coupled with law courses taken at the Metropolis Law School or a similar institution, he qualified to sit the American Bar Association examination. Having passed the exam, he was admitted to the bar in 1879.
The Irish Revolutionary Movement and the Catalpa Rescue
Like many of his fellow countrymen, Goff was a committed Irish nationalist who advocated for Irish freedom and the total separation of Ireland from England as avowed by Wolfe Tone on October 18, 1791 at the founding meeting of the Society of United Irishmen. In support of that advocacy, he joined Clan na Gael (Clan) in the early 1870s and shortly afterwards was appointed a district officer for New York.
The precursor to the Clan, the Napper Tandy Club, was founded by Jerome J. Collins in 1867 in response to the fractioning of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) after the 1865/7 Uprisings. After some tweaking and name changes, the Napper Tandy Club was eventually renamed Clan na Gael by Sam Cavanagh in 1870. The individuals elected to lead the Clan included John Devoy, Daniel Cohalan, and Joseph McGarrity.:
As the Clan expanded across the United States, its membership and the number of branches in major population centers increased accordingly. By 1994, as many as eighty six branches were set up and operating in major population centers.
Collins and Cavanagh were newcomers to the United States. Collins was an IRB operative who fled England post haste in 1866 after the British police uncovered a plot to free Fenian prisoners from Pentonville Prison in London. Cavanagh was also an IRB operative allegedly responsible for the killing of George Clark in February of 1866. Clarke was an informer who alerted British intelligence to the location of a pike-making operation in Dublin.
Most of the imprisoned Fenians who had participated in the 1865/67 Uprisings were released in 1869 and 1871 on the condition that they leave Ireland and never return. A small group of “military” Fenians (British Army deserters) were not released. In 1874, Devoy received a smuggled letter from one such prisoner, James Wilson, imploring Devoy to rescue him and his fellow prisoners who otherwise would spend the rest of their lives rotting in prison.
In July of 1874 at a Clan na Gael convention in Baltimore, Devoy proposed that an attempt be made to rescue Wilson and his fellow prisoners. The proposal was agreed to by the attending delegates who selected a committee of ten members to come up with a plan and, if deemed possible, carry out the rescue. The committee was headed by John Devoy. The other active members were James Reynolds, Patrick Mahon, John C. Talbot and John W. Goff. The fundraising effort was spearheaded by Goff. Due to his high profile and tenacity, the project became known as "Goff’s Irish Rescue Party.”
In mid-March 1875 the Catalpa, a New Bedford whaler, was purchased and outfitted to carry out a rescue attempt.
In the meantime, John Mitchel, former Young Irelander passed away in Newry in Co. Down in Ireland in March of 1875. A Memorial committee was set up by Clan na Gael to memorialize Mitchel hat included both Denoy and Goff. During the arrangements, a bitter feud broke out between Devoy and Goff over the selection of speakers. During that ensuing flare-up, disagreements festering within the prisoners rescue also broke open. The feud ended when Devoy pulled rank on Goff, a move that essentially ended their relationship.
Despite that parting of ways, both men were on board the Catalpa for the first forty miles of the journey when it left port on April 29, 1875. When the Catalpa arrived in New York in August of 1875, members of the rescue planning committee that included Goff, Devoy and John Boyle O’Rielly were there to greet the recued prisoners.
After the flare-up with Devoy, Goff departed ways with the Clan. Afterwards he had little or no involvement in the Irish revolutionary movement. However, in the mid-1880s he assisted Devoy counter the corrupt ‘Triangle’ faction within the Clan Executive.
Goff married Catherine O'Keefe in May 1881 with whom he had two children, a son and daughter. His son, John Jr. was a lawyer, and his daughter, Innis was a member of the Ursuline Sisters.
Legal Accomplishments
After his admission to the bar in 1879, Goff established himself in a law practice with Francis W. Pollock specializing in criminal law. Over time many of his Clan n a Gael associates became his clients. His high profile involvement in the Catalpa rescue helped grow his practice and cemented his reputation as a tenacious and reliable fighter for one’s cause.
Goff became assistant district attorney for New York City in 1888 to 1890. He ran for the office of district attorney in 1990 but failed to get elected allegedly due to gross fraud by election officials. In 1894 he was appointed chief counsel for the Lexow committee to investigate corruption in the police department and the city administration. During the lengthy inquiry he displayed great ability at cross examining and extracting the truth from recalcitrant witnesses. The charges of blackmail and bribery were clearly substantiated, resulting in many of the higher officials and a large number of the rank and file being disgraced and or fired.
As a result of the investigative skills and legal acumen he displayed during the Lexow committee inquiry, he was elected to the post of Recorder for the city of New York in November of 1894 for a period of twelve years. During his tenure as Recorder, he reformed legal practices in the city courts.
In November 1906, he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court of New York, 1st District, for a fourteen-year term. He continued to sit on the bench till January of 1919 when he retired, having reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy.
Irish Nationalism.
After parting ways with the Clan, Goff did not turn his back on Ireland. Fiercely anti-British he continued for the rest of his life to advocate for Irish nationalism causes. He was a strong support of Charles Stewart Parnell and the Land League.
In March of 1916 he chaired the Irish Race Convention in New York where he spoke in favor of rebellion in Ireland in response to British intransigence and deceit and refusal to set Ireland free. At the Irish Race Convention Philadelphia in 1918, Goff proposed a petition supporting Irish independence and later acted as spokesman for Irish Americans trying to convince President Wilson to give Sinn Féin representatives a seat at the Paris peace conference.
During de Valera visited the United States in 1920, Goff took de Valera’s side in his dispute with Devoy. He backed the anti-treaty side in the Civil War and afterwards chaired the Irish Republican Soldiers’ and Prisoners’ Dependents’ Fund. The fund was financed by fundraising tours of the United States by Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Muriel MacSwiney and other republican women from October of 1922 to May of 1923. The tours were arranged by Goff and other members of the Prisoners Dependents Fund.
Death.
In July of 1923 Goff was struck and injured by a car while walking on Riverside Drive in New York. On receiving notice of her father's accident, Innis (Sister Hildegarde,) who was residing in Rome, requested and was granted a dispensation to return to the United States to care for her father. On her return, she found her father in bad shape and somewhat neglected by his caregivers. Her presence changed his outlook and resolve to survive his injuries, resulting in a marked increase in his strength, physical fitness and mobility.
On a cold November 4, 1924, Goff walked to the polling station, against his daughter’s advice, to cast his vote in the New York state and presidential election. As a result, he came down with a cold and a few days later developed pneumonia. He died on November 9, 1924 in his home in New York at the age of 76. He was preceded in death by his wife Catherine who died in 1911.
Contributed by Tomás Ó Coısdealbha
cemetery
Name: Kensico Cemetery
ADDRESS: 273 Lakeview Ave, Valhalla, New York
HEADSTONE AND REMEMBRANCE PLAQUE
Photos by George McLaughlin
