THE WAUPACA POST

April 25, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Godfrey is an old pioneer name in Waupaca. 

            Thomas Godfrey was born in County Derry, on the Emerald Isle, July 13, 1823; his parents were Robert and Mary (Orr) Godfrey.  Mr. and Mrs. Robert Godfrey had a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters.  Thomas was the third in order of births.

            Thomas remained and helped on the family farm in Ireland until the spring of 1846 when he came to America.  His parents supplied him with what money he needed for his passage. He said goodbye to his parents and friends and set sail from Londonderry on the vessel “Fannie.”  The crossing took six weeks and three days before the Fannie dropped anchor in the harbor of Philadelphia.

            He had heard of the advantages and opportunities afforded in the New World, and he was willing to work at anything that would yield him an honest living.  His first employment was as a driver of an ice wagon for $10 per month.  After some time he became dissatisfied with Philadelphia and moved north to Germantown and worked as a farm hand in that locality for nearly three years.  He also served as coachman for two years for a Judge Kane who was the father of Elisha Kane, the Arctic explorer, who was spending some time at home. He often rode behind the horses that were driven by Thomas Godfrey.

            In the spring of 1851, our subject developed the urge to come westward.  He first went by boat through the Hudson River to Albany, NY, then by rail to Buffalo, by boat to Toledo, OH, by rail again to New Buffalo, MI, then across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee.

            In Milwaukee he caught a ride with a farmer from Big Foot Prairie who was returning home after taking a load of grain to market.  From this point he started out on foot in search of government land to buy.  He circled around in south-central Wisconsin, visiting Janesville, Fort Atkinson, Beloit, Johnstown Center, Watertown, Oak Grove and on to Strong’s Landing (Berlin).  He stayed in Berlin one night and then set out for Waupaca.  It has been written that he crossed the Waupaca River at Waupaca where the old electric light plant was built years later.  He struck a trail leading northwest and came to what became Sheridan.  He chose 120 acres in Section 7, which became the Town of Farmington, and 80 acres in what later became the Town of Lanark, Portage County.

            This was in 1851 and not a furrow had been turned or any improvements had been made.  The Indians roamed the area and the game was plentiful, in what was still Indian land.

            After three months Mr. Godfrey walked to Kane County, IL, where he worked for four seasons on a farm, returning at intervals to his farm west of Waupaca to make what improvements he could afford.  He gradually saved enough money to buy some stock and farm implements and soon began to cultivate his own land.

            For a time he was engaged in teaming, hauling goods for merchants from Ripon to Stevens Point.  He found time to spend a few months each year to improve his farm.  On September 27, 1861 he married Elizabeth Pinkerton in Waupaca.  She was a native of County Antrium, Ireland.  She was born September 18, 1843, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Pinkerton. She was only about four years old when she came to America with her parents.

            Thomas and Eliza Pinkerton Godfrey were the parents of 10 children:  Samuel, William, Mary, Ella, Robert, Elizabeth B., James and George.  A son, Robert, and a daughter, Mary Ann, died when less than a year old.  They are both buried on the Godfrey lot in the Sheridan Cemetery.

            Thomas Godfrey died April 19, 1899, and his wife, Elizabeth, died March 4, 1898. They are buried in the Sheridan Cemetery with other members of the family.

            Their son, Samuel P. (Sam) Godfrey, was one of Waupaca’s most successful businessmen.  He was born June 8, 1865 on the family farm in Section 7, Township of Farmington near the Portage County line, west of Sheridan.

            At the age of 17, he became dissatisfied with life on the farm, and decided that farming was not the vocation for him. He left home with the intention of attending school, but instead he hired out to work as a clerk in a general store.  After he had saved enough money to buy in on a half interest in a business, Waupaca became his new home.

            After three years in the partnership, he sold out his half interest and spent the next two years as an insurance salesman.  At the end of the two years it was evident to him that selling insurance was not for him, either.

            Sam P. Godfrey’s next venture was selling farm implements for one of the larger farm implement companies. He found that he liked this type of work.  His past experience in business had given him a thorough knowledge of the implement business, so he went out on his own and bought a large stock of farm implements.

            His first place of business was on East Union Street, located approximately midway between the old Browne Law Office and the present Waupaca Hotel, and from 1896 until 1944 he remained in the farm implement business in Waupaca.

            I have been told that when he first started out on his own, that when a representative from an implement company would make their annual round to settle up his bills, they would take inventory of returned and damaged stock.  They would begin by making two piles of merchandise.  If they agreed on the value of a particular piece, it was thrown into one pile, and if they disagreed it was put on the other pile.  That is when the real dickering began, and often lasted for hours.

            His business grew rapidly and his trade came from many miles in every direction from Waupaca.  In 1906 he bought out the stock of implements from his stiffest competition, J. F. Gallagher, and added it to his own on Union Street.  The J. F. Gallagher place of business was located at the corner of West Fulton and South Washington Streets, now the location of the Waupaca Youth and Senior Citizens Building (southeast corner of intersection).

            In 1902 Sam P. Godfrey ran such advertisements as this in the local newspaper:  “Racine Runabout buggies, a complete line of plows, seeders, drills, drags, McCormick binders, mowers, corn binders, pianos and sewing machines.”

            On October 5, 1908, Sam P. Godfrey purchased the former place of business of J.F. Gallagher from John and Mary Pinkerton.

            He had the agency for the DeLaval cream separator and McCormick Deering machinery and parts.  In 1909 his ads were for Iron Age four row potato sprayers and potato diggers.

            Mr. Godfrey claimed that he owed his success to the fact that he handled only the very best of any line that he had taken on.  His dealings with customers were fair, square and upright, and a satisfied customer was said to be his main object at all times.

            He was Waupaca’s postmaster from 1914 to 1921.  He served as director and vice president of the Farmers State Bank for 28 years, and was on the Waupaca City Council for 10 years.

            Sam P. Godfrey retired from business in 1944, and leased the building to the Thompson Implement Company and in 1953 he joined partnership with Werner Jensen and they started the Ford Implement business at that location until 1963, when they moved to their new location one mile east of Waupaca.  The building was razed to make room for a new brick building that was to become the home of the Waupaca Youth and Senior Citizens Building.  That ended another of Waupaca’s old wooden buildings.

            On January 21, 1891, Samuel P. Godfrey was united in marriage to Edna M. Plowman, daughter of Jabez and Sarah Shaw Plowman.

            To this union three children were born:  Edwin, who became a lawyer; Marjorie, who became a teacher; and Myron P., who at the age of 21, became associated in business with his father until October 1915, when he went into the automobile business for himself, selling Studebakers.

            Myron (Mike) Godfrey was married June 11, 1918, to Mabel Nelson, and they had two children – Tom and Dorothy – and the Godfrey name carries on in Waupaca.