HOUSE, 46th General Assembly, 1889-91; representing Montgomery County; SENATE, 47th General Assembly; representing Montgomery and Stewart counties; served from Jan 5 through Mar 12, 1891; resigned to take post of clerk of TN Supreme Court, Middle Division; Democrat. Born at Livingston, Overton County, Nov 19, 1855; son of Jefferson Dillard and Sarah Jane (Dillen) Goodpasture. Attended "common schools" of Cookeville, Putnam County, and of New Middleton, Smith County; graduated, 1875, from East Tennessee University, now University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knox County; graduated in law from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Davidson County, 1877; awarded M.A. degree by University of Tennessee, 1882. Married Nov 16, 1880 to Jennie Wilson Dawson, daughter of Stephen Wilson and Martha Dawson; children – Mattie Madge, William Dillard and Ridley Rose, twins; Ernest William, Sara Jane, and Albert Virgil, Jr. Began practice of law at Clarksville, Montgomery County, 1877-91; also engaged with brother in the importation of livestock, importing first Holstein cattle from Holland to Tennessee; served as clerk of TN Supreme Court Mar 13, 1891, to resignation in 1897; operated bookstore in Nashville 1897-1913; returned to farm at St. Bethlehem, Montgomery County, where he lived for remainder of life. Secretary Tennessee Historical Society, 1903-12; named one of original members Tennessee Historical Commission, 1919. Editor, American Historical Magazine, Nashville, Apr 1902 through 1904; contributed articles to that magazine: "Andrew Jackson, Tennessee and the Union", 1896; "Moses Fisk's Historical Sketch of Tennessee", 1897; "Genesis of Jackson-Sevier Feud", 1900; "An Account of the Compilation of State Laws of Tennessee", 1902; "William Blount and the Old Southwest Territory", 1903; "A Dictionary of Distinguished Tennesseans", 1903; contributed to Tennessee Historical Magazine: "John Bell's Political Revolt . . .," 1916; "Early Travels in the Tennessee Country", 1926; "Mark Twain, Southerner", 1931; author, Life of Jefferson Dillard Goodpasture; author, with William R. Garrett, History of Tennessee. Member Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Died in Nashville Dec 3, 1942; buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Clarksville. Son of Jefferson Dillard Goodpasture; father of Ridley Rose Goodpasture; brother of John Ridley Goodpasture, sometime members TN General Assembly.

Sources: Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, Dec 3, 1942; Moore and Foster, Tennessee, The Volunteer State, II, 427; Tennessee Historical Quarterly, ii, 52; TN Vital Statistics, Death Certificate No. 26, 864; TN Supreme Court, Minute Book 18, p 80.
 

Biographies submitted by Jill Hastings-Johnson, Montgomery County Archivist