Nathan Goff Jr. (February 9, 1843 – April 23, 1920) was a United States representative from West Virginia, a Union Army officer, the 28th United States Secretary of the Navy during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and of the United States Circuit Courts for the Fourth Circuit and a United States senator from West Virginia.
Nathan Goff
Born 1843 in Clarksburg, VA (now WV)
Died 1920 in Clarksburg, WV
FJC ID: 874
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 9/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 21/year
U.S. Circuit Courts for the Fourth Circuit · 1892–1911Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1892–1913
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Clarksburg [West Virginia] TelegraphEditor · 1866–present
- U.S. senator from West Virginia1913–1918
- Private practice, Clarksburg, West Virginia1866–1867, 1889–1892
- U.S. representative from West Virginia1883–1889
U.S. attorney for the District of West Virginia1868–1881, 1881–1882- Secretary of the Navy1881
- West VirginiaState representative · 1867–1868
U.S. Army1861–1865
Appointments
1892–1911 · Appointed by Benjamin Harrison (Republican)Term ended: Abolition of Court- 1892–1913 · Appointed by Benjamin Harrison (Republican)Term ended: Resignation
Education
LL.B. · 1866