Goodrell, Stewart

Born: 1815-08-09 Pennsylvania

Died: 1872-11-12 Des Moines, Iowa

Flourished: Iowa

Stewart Goodrell was a state legislator and federal government official. His spent his early years in Pennsylvania, working as a mechanic. In 1842, he moved from his native state to the Iowa Territory, settling in Washington County. He became active in territorial politics and the Whig Party. In the spring of 1846, Washington County voters selected him to represent the county at the constitutional convention which framed the constitution under which Iowa became a state in December 1846. In that same year, Goodrell won election to the Iowa House of Representatives. Securing reelection in 1848, Goodrell served until 1850. In 1856, he was among the commissioners appointed to move the state capital to Des Moines. Goodrell purchased property in the new capital city and moved there. After the demise of the Whig Party, he moved into the Republican Party, and in 1859, Des Moines and Polk County voters returned him to the Iowa House of Representatives. From 1861 to 1864, he served as register of the U.S. General Land Office in Des Moines, and in March 1864, he became receiver.

Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: Century History, 1903), 3:460, 461, 473; Journal of the Convention for the Formation of a Constitution for the State of Iowa (Iowa City: Abraham H. Palmer, 1846), 24; J. M. Dixon, ed., Centennial History of Polk County, Iowa (Des Moines: State Register, 1876), 103, 112, 139; "Stewart Goodrell," The Iowa Legislature, accessed 24 April 2020, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=1&personID=5564; Gravestone, Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, IA.