Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/337

 GODDARD

GODKIN

gresses, 1801-05. He removed to Norwich, Conn. ; was a member of the governor's coiuu'il, 1807-15; a presidential elector in 1812; a dele- }<ate to the Hartford convention in 1814; judge of the superior court of Connecticut, 1815-18 ; district attorney for the county of New London, 1818-23; and mayor of Norwich, 1823-40. He <lied in Norwich, Conn., May 2, 1842.

OODDARD, William Giles, educator, was born in Jolmston. R.I., Jan. 2, 1794; son of Wil- liam and Abigail (Angell) Goddard; and grand- son of Dr. Giles Goddard of New London, Conn., and of Gen. James Angell, a descendant of one of Roger Williams's companions. William, the , -^ father, was born in

" New London, Conn.,

m 1740; removed to Pro\ idence, where in 1703 he established the first printing ofBce in the town and edited the Provhlciice. Gazdte and Country Jom nal ; edited at diffeient periods,

new spapers in New \oik city, Phila- delphia and Balti- -, more; was appointed

t^ ^ lin, surveyor of
 * ^^^^»^i(^zs^4^ by Benjamin Frank-

post-roads and comptroller of the post-office in 1T75; returned to Rhode Island in 1792 and died in Providence, Dec. 23, 1817. William Giles was graduated from Brown university, A.B., 1812, A 51., 1815; was a law student in Woi-cester, Mass., and associate editor of the Worcester i^xiy, 1812-13; editor of the Hhode Island American, Providence, 1813-25; professor of moral philosophy and met- aphysics at Brown university, 1825-34; and of belles-lettres. 1834-42; was a trustee of Brown university, 1842—43; and a fellow and secretary of the university, 1843-40. On May 22, 1821, he was married to Charlotte Rhoda, daughter of Thomas Poynton and Hope (Brown) Ives of Providence. He received the honorar}- degree of LL.D. from Bowdoin college in 1843. He is the author of two volumes of political and miscellaneous writings, edited and published by his son, Francis W.. in 1S7I). He died in Providence, R I.. Feb. 16, 1846. GODFREY, Benjamin, philanthropist, was born at Chatham, Mass., Dec. 4, 1794. In 1803 he ran away from home, shipped before the mast on a merchant vessel and made a voyage to Ire- land, wliere he remained till 1812. He then re- turned to the United States and served during a part of the war of 1813 in the U.S. navy, and lived for a time in the town of his birth, where he acquired a fnir education. Afterward be

became captain of a merchantman and made many foreign voyages till he was shipwrecked near Brasos, Santiago, about 1824. He then be- came a merchant in Matamoras, Texas, and accumulated a fortune of about 8200,000, which in the form of silver he attempted to carry across the countrj' on the backs of mules. He was robbed by guerillas and making his way to New Orleans once more started in business. In 1833 he removed to Albion, 111., where he engaged in business, became an elder of the Presbyterian church and interested himself in education and charities. In 1838 he founded and endowed Mon- ticello seminary "to be devoted to the moral, intellectual and domestic improvement of fe- males," and when the institution was granted a charter he acted as a trustee till his death. He was twice married: first to Harriet Cooper of Baltimore, Md., on Nov. 37, 1817, and secondly to a Miss Petit of Hempstead, L.I., on Aug. 15, 1839. He died at Godfrey, 111., Aug. 13, 1862.

GODKIN, Edwin Lawrence, journalist, was born at Moyne, county Wicklow, Ireland, Oct. 2, 1831; son of James and Sarah Godkin. He was graduated from Queen's college, Belfast, in 1851, and while a law student in the Middle Temple, London, was sent by the Daily Xews to the Crimea as war correspondent in 1853. Leaving the east in 1856 he travelled in the United States as the representative of the same journal, was admitted to the bar in New York in 1858, f and during the civil i, war acted as corre- i spondent for the Lon- don Daily Neics. In " ^ ' ^^ i-' 1865 he became editor ' of the Xation in New /^,-J-, / ^^toi^ York city and in the

following year its proprietor. In 1881, when the Nation was made the weekly edition of the New York Evening Post, he assumed the joint editor- ship of the latter with Horace W^hite. He re- signed the editorship of both the Xation and the Ereninri Post on accomit of ill health in October, 1899. He was made referee in Tilden heirs' claims Jan. 5, 1900. In 1872 he received the honorary de- gree of A.M. from Harvard college, and in 1897 that of D.C.L. from Oxford university, England. Among his publications are: Histoi-y of Bnvoary, A.D., :iOO-lS.'iO (1856) : Problems of Modern De- mocracy (1896); Peflections and Comments (1896); Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (1898); and Retrospect of Forty Years (1899). He died in Brixliani. England, M.iy 20, 1902.