On the 9th of May, 1846, Alva B. Goodrich and Almira C. Evans applied for a marriage license in Ottawa.
Five days later they made good use of it, as reported in the Ottawa newspaper:
MARRIED – At this place, on the 14th inst, by J. Fitch, Esq., Mr. A. B. Goodrich to Miss Almira C. Evans, all of Dayton.1
Alvah Goodrich came to La Salle county in 1844. He worked in the Greens’ woolen mill in Dayton, having learned the trade in the woolen mills of his hometown. In 1849 he went with the Green party to California and spent two years working in the mines. He returned to Dayton and spent an additional year working in the woolen mill. He then bought 88 acres and turned to farming. After he retired, he lived in Miller township, where he died on February 3, 1893
Obituary
DIED. – At his home in Miller township, Friday morning, the 3d inst., Alvah B. Goodrich, at the advanced age of nearly 76 years. Mr. Goodrich was born in Clinton county, New York, February 14, 1817, and passed his boyhood days in his native state, emigrating to Illinois nearly fifty years ago and settling in Dayton township, where he married Miss Almira Evans in May, 1846. Of this union two children were born, Emma L. and Willis J., who both survive, the daughter living on the old homestead and the son in Macon county, Missouri. During the gold excitement in 1849 Mr. Goodrich accompanied the Green expedition to California in search of gold and after nearly two years’ absence returned to his wife and little daughter and settled on a farm near where the village of Wedron now stands.
Here he resided for five years, removing to his late home in Miller township in 1857, where he spent the remainder of his days, honored and respected by all. Ten years ago last September the wife of his youth was laid to rest in the “churchyard on the hill,” leaving her companion and family nearly brokenhearted. Now they sleep side by side awaiting the last call. So one by one the “old settlers” are passing to the great beyond.2
- The Ottawa Free Trader, Friday, May 15, 1846, p. 3, col. 1.
- ibid, 18 Feb 1893, p5, col 2
Dayton and the Greens 