William Tracy Gould (October 25, 1799 – July 18, 1882) was an American lawyer and founder of the
Augusta Law School, the first
law school in the
Deep South.
Gould, son of Judge
James Gould and Sally McCurdy Tracy, daughter of the Hon.
Uriah Tracy
Uriah Tracy (February 2, 1755July 19, 1807) was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He served in the US House of Representatives (1793 to 1796) and the US Senate (1796 to 1807). From May to November 1800, Tracy served as Preside ...
, was born in
Litchfield, Conn., October 25, 1799, and entered
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
at the very early age of thirteen. Immediately upon graduation he began to
read law in his father's school,
Litchfield Law School
The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Wh ...
, and was admitted to the bar on arriving at the age of 21. In 1821 he settled in
Clinton, in the central part of Georgia, and in June, 1823, he removed to the city of
Augusta, where the rest of his life was spent, and where he ranked for forty years with the best lawyers of the community. He opened the Augusta Law School and maintained it with good success until it was interrupted by the affliction caused by the death of his eldest son in 1854.
He declined to enter political life, but accepted in 1851 an election to the judgeship of the City Court of Augusta, and discharged the duties of that office for fifteen years. A severe fall several months before his death fractured a hip bone and confined him to a bed of suffering, until he died on July 18, 1882, when he had nearly completed his 83rd year.
He was married, October 7, 1824, to Anna McKinne, the widowed daughter of James Gardner, Esq., of Augusta. She died October 6, 1860, having borne him two sons (the elder a graduate of Yale in the Class of 1845) and one daughter. He was again married, September 20, 1864, to Virginia H., daughter of Wimberly J. Hunter, Esq., of
Savannah, who survived him with several children.
External links
*
''Litchfield Ledger''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, william tracy
1799 births
1882 deaths
People from Litchfield, Connecticut
Yale College alumni
Litchfield Law School alumni