Reverend Charles Augustus Goodrich (1790 – June 4, 1862) was an American author and

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister, who popularized the motto "a place for everything and everything in its place". His uncle was

Chauncey Goodrich Chauncey Goodrich (October 20, 1759August 18, 1815) was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut who represented that state in the United States Congress as both a senator (1807 to 1813) and a representative (1795 to 1801). Biograp ...

; his siblings included a brother

Samuel Griswold Goodrich Samuel Griswold Goodrich (August 19, 1793 – May 9, 1860), better known under his pseudonym Peter Parley, was an American author. Biography Goodrich was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut, the son of a Congregational minister. Goodrich was la ...

, and a sister, Abigail Goodrich Whittlesey.

Life and works

Goodrich graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1812, studied theology and was ordained in 1816 and became pastor of the 1st Congregational Church in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. In 1820 he moved to

Berlin, Connecticut Berlin ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,175 at the 2020 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of Connecticut is located in the town. Berlin is residential and industrial, a ...

, and in 1848 to

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, where he held a pastorate. He was also a member of the

Connecticut Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

. Goodrich was associated with his brother

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

(who published as Peter Parley) in writing books for the young. He was the author of several books: ''View of Religions'' (1829); ''Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of independence'' (1829); ''History of the United States of America'' (1822); ''Family Tourist'' (1848); ''Family Sabbath-Day Miscellany'' (1855); ''Geography of the Chief Places mentioned in the Bible'' (1855); ''Greek Grammar'' (1855); ''Child's History of the United States'' (1855); ''Bible History of Prayer'' (1855); ''Great Events of American History''; ''Outlines of Geography''; and ''Universal Traveller''.

Epigram

Goodrich is known for having the first printed citation of the

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

: "Have a place for every thing, and keep every thing in its proper place. The phrase was published in an article called "Neatness" which Goodrich published in '' The Ohio Repository'' (

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

), in December 1827. The idea that everything should have a place, and that everything should be returned to this place subsequently appeared in later texts: *In 1841 the phrase was used in a modified version in an item headed "Brother Jonathan's Wife's Advice to her Daughter on her Marriage", in the '' Hagerstown Mail'',

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

: "A place for everything and everything in time are good family mottos." *In '' Masterman Ready, or the Wreck of the Pacific'', in 1842,

Frederick Marryat Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848) was a Royal Navy officer, a novelist, and an acquaintance of Charles Dickens. He is noted today as an early pioneer of nautical fiction, particularly for his semi-autobiographical novel ...

wrote, "In a well-conducted man-of-war every thing is in its place, and there is a place for every thing." *It appears also in a book printed in 1857 by D. Appleton & Co. of New York with the same title: A Place for Everything and Everything In Its Place".

Honors and memberships

Elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1820.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodrich, Charles Augustus 1790 births 1862 deaths Yale University alumni American male writers People from Berlin, Connecticut Writers from Hartford, Connecticut