Goff
NATHAN, United States senator from West Virginia, born in Clarksburg, W. Va., in 1843. He was educated at Georgetown College and at the University of the City of New York. During the Civil War he served in the Union Army, rising to the rank of major. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and in the following year he was elected to the West Virginia House of Representatives.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of the State in 1876. President Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Navy in 1881. He was United States district attorney in the following year, and was a member of Congress from 1883 to 1889. From 1892 to 1911 he was United States circuit judge, and was judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in 1912-1913. In the latter year he was elected United States senator for the term ending 1919. He died in the latter year.