Henry Goddard (1823 - 1904)

Born 4 Oct 1823 in Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Ancestors

Died 12 Jan 1904 at age 80 in Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Biography

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. It's a rough draft and needs to be edited.

Census

1880

Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

11 SEP 1850

Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

31 JUL 1860

Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

13 JUL 1870

Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Marriage

FAM

@I1342@

@I1339@

@I1340@

to Father: Natural

to Mother: Natural

@I1344@

to Father: Natural

to Mother: Natural

@I1343@

to Father: Natural

to Mother: Natural

@I1346@

to Father: Natural

to Mother: Natural

@I1341@

to Father: Natural

to Mother: Natural

07 FEB 1822

Millbury, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA^[1]

• Fact: Residence (1880) Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
• Fact: Residence (1900) ED 1722 Precinct 3 Worcester city Ward 2, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
• Fact: Burial (1904) Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch

Henry was a son of Benjamin Goddard, and was born in Worcester, 4th of October 1823. He received a liberal education in the best institutions in the city and early followed in the parental footsteps in the choice of a life calling. At the age of twenty-one in 1844 he entered the factory of the Worcester Wire Company in South Worcester of which his father was manager and from the outset gave every evidence of both inherited and acquired mechanical talents. His first work was in the capacity of a wire drawer and he was advanced successively until the death of his father, whom he succeeded in charge of the works. He was thus engaged until 1867, when the factory was destroyed by fire, when he was removed to the Grove street mill, returning the following year to the rebuilt South Worcester works. These were closed in 1869 and he was re-transferred to the Grove street factory, in the capacity of foreman of the wire drawing and nail department, of which he had charge until his voluntary retirement on account of failing health, in October 1898, on his seventy-fifth birthday. He had then been connected with the works of this one company for the remarkable period of nearly sixty years. Beginning as a young man, he showed from the first such ability that he was marked for speedy advancement and rose from the ordinary routine of manual drudgery to directing the finest and most skilled operations. A man of inventive turn of mind he was quick to discern opportunity or improved processes and some of his devices were place in practical use, their introduction greatly lessening the expense of production and working as a corresponding increase of product. He became so thoroughly identified with the institution that one of its greatest departments came to be known by his name. His individuality was so impressed upon the entire personnel of the establishment that his retirement was attended with significant demonstrations of respect by all connected with it, proprietors, fellow-workman and subordinates alike. Death came to Mr. Goddard with the wearing out of his physical powers on January 12th 1904 when he was entering upon his eighty-first year and the warm affection in which he was held was attested by the attendance of a large and deeply affected assemblage of people of all ranks upon the occasion of the funeral. He was Particularly beloved by the Masonic fraternity of which he was a distinguished representative, being at the time of his death the oldest member of the order n the city of Worcester. As was said of him, standing at the head of Worcester Masons, Mr. Goddard occupied a highly honored and deserved place in the fraternity. The oldest surviving past master of Morning Star Lodge, he was the representative of patriarchial masonry in the heart of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Made a member of MorningStar Lodge on 4 August 1847, he was elected worshipful master in 1852 and was twice successively re-elected. Masonry was then in its infancy in Worcester and the lodge numbered only about twenty-five members. He became a charter member of Montacute Lodge at its institution and then aided in forming a third, Athelstan and was its first master in 1866 and elected to the chair again in 1880. He was most excellent high priest of Worcester Chapter, Royal Arch Masons from 1858 to 1864, both years inclusive - a longer period than any other officer of that rank. He was a pat master of Hiram Council, Royal an Select Masters and past eminent commander of Worcester Commandery, Knights Templar. In the larger fields of the Masonic order he was a permanent grand master of the grand lodge of Massachusetts, a member of the grand royal commander of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Masonic fraternity of Worcester. He was also a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, Independent Order Odd Fellows, in which he had passed the chairs. He was an attendant of Union Congregational Church and lived a life of unimpeachable practical Christianity, his religion being that type which found expression in action rather than expression. He was an exceptionally generous man, thoughtful of others and while he frequently and generously contributed to organized benevolences, he was noted for his quiet way of relieving the necessities of his fellows by unsought for gifts of money or articles of comfort and the large body of workmen connected with the same factories with himself were particularly the objects of his regard in these respects.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S82

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 21 March 2017, 16:15), entry for Henry Goddard(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KZ5J-CZM); contributed by various users.
• Source: S82 Author: Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp. Title: Massachusetts Marriages, 1633-1850 Publication: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.Original data - With some noted exceptions all marriage records in this collection can be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and may be available through Fam;

Acknowledgments

Thank you to David Smith for creating WikiTree profile Goddard-1180 through the import of Smith Family Tree-2RGS_2013-04-28.ged on May 5, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by David and others.