Biographical Sketches

Edward Powell Gould

EDWARD POWELL GOULD, the member of the House from Erie City, County of Erie, was born in Springfield, in that county, March 6, 1834.  Much of his early life was devoted to agriculture in the vicinity of his birth.  After receiving an ordinary education in the common schools he attended the Kingsville Academy, Ohio, the West Springfield Academy, Erie County, and the University of Rochester, New York, from which he graduated in the fall of 1859.  He read law in that city with J. D. Husbands until the spring of 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company E, Twenty-seventh New York Volunteers, commanded by Col. Slocum, who afterward became a Major General in the United States Army.  On the organization of the regiment Mr. Gould was elected its Second Lieutenant.  He served until the expiration of his term, having been mustered out at the expiration of his term on May 21, 1863, as Captain, after having participated in all the battles in which the regiment took part.  Being connected with the Army of the Potomac he was in the first Bull Run battle.  He was commissioned by the Governor of New York September, 1863, to raise a regiment for the Union Army.  After having performed some work in that direction, but before the regiment was organized, he was commissioned by the United States Government to take charge of the recruiting services in Western New York, with headquarters in Rochester, in the performance of which duties he continued until January 1, 1865.  He then engaged in mercantile pursuits and continued in that business about two years.  In 1867 he began the practice of law in Rochester and kept it up until January 1, 1872, when he was appointed chief clerk in the office of Secretary of State of New York, which position he held two years, when the success of the Democratic Party compelled his retirement.  Mr. Gould resumed the practice of law in Albany, where he was specially employed to represent certain corporate interests.  In 1875 he removed to Erie City, in which place he has practiced law ever since.  He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by a plurality of 811 in a city normally Democratic.  Mr. Gould is a trustee of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home of Erie and was appointed by Speaker Walton a member of the committee to investigate the management of the Norristown and Wernersville insane hospitals.  He is also a graduate of the Albany Law School and had the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him by his Alma Mater in 1863.  He is also an active and influential member of the G. A. R., and is a member of the U. V. L.  Among the Committees on which he served is the Judiciary General.  Mr. Gould is a ready debater, and on a number of important questions of legislation made a marked impression as a cogent reasoner.

Source: Transcription from the book, Portraits and Sketches of Heads of State Departments and Members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, compiled by Wm. Rodearmel, published in 1895; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org), accessed 14 January 2026.

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