Ancestry of
Benjamin Godfrey
(1794–1862)
-
- 1st Generation
- Ahnentafel No:
- 1
- Father:
- Knowles Godfrey Jr.
- Mother:
- Mary Ryder
- Birth Date:
- 20 May 1794
- Birth Location:
- Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
- Christening Date:
- Christening Location:
- Death Date:
- 13 Aug 1862
- Death Location:
- Monticello (now Godfrey), Madison, Illinois
- Burial Date:
- Burial Location:
- Notes:
Founder of Monticello Female Seminary (renamed Monticello College) and now known as the Lewis and Clark Community College. It is located in Godfrey, Illinois, a town named for Benjamin Godfrey.
Benjamin Godfrey was a veteran of the War of 1812 having served as a seaman on a gunboat. He was an early supporter of abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy, an advocate of free speech. He made his fortune in Mexico as a shipping merchant before settling in Illinois where he built the Alton and Sangamon Railroad.
Benjamin Godfrey
View famous kin of Benjamin Godfrey
Marriages for Benjamin Godfrey
- Spouse:
- Harriet Cooper
- Marriage Date:
- 27 Nov 1817
- Marriage Location:
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Spouse:
- Rebecca E. Petit
- Marriage Date:
- 15 Aug 1839
- Marriage Location:
- Hempstead, Nassau, New York
Scroll down to see sources.
Sources for Benjamin Godfrey
- 1 Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Illinois), 02 SEP 1915, p. 1, Obituary for daughter-in-law Lodema C. Godfrey.
- 2 Maryland, Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850, Marriage record for Benjamin Godfry and Harriet Cooper.
- 3 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1973, Vol. 127, pp. 99-101.
- 4 Roberts, Gary Boyd, The Mayflower 500: Five Hundred Notable Descendants of the Founding Families on the Mayflower, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2020), 149.
- 5 Wikipedia, "Benjamin Godfrey", (accessed 03/29/2016).