Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Godfrey, Herbert A 
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Author: Past & Present Will County, 1907

Herbert A. Godfrey is one of the extensive landowners of the county, now 
living retired from business cares save for the supervision which he gives to 
his invested interests. He is a man of excellent business ability, of genuine 
personal worth and of strong and admirable traits of character, and well 
deserves mention in this volume as one of the leading residents of Will 
county. A native son of the county, he was born in DuPage township in 1859. 
His father, Austin Godfrey, who for a long period was a leading farmer and 
dairyman of Lockport and DuPage townships, was born in Erie county, New York, 
August 31, 1822. His father, Henry Godfrey, was a native of Vermont and when 
only three years of age was left an orphan. His advantages in youth were few 
but he nevertheless became a man of fine character and excellent standing. 
Settling in Erie county, New York, he took up a tract of timber land about 
twenty-five miles from Buffalo and brought it under a high state of 
cultivation. He was in Buffalo at the time the city was burned during the war 
of 1812, serving as a quartermaster in the army. While living in New York he 
married Candace Warren and unto them were born four sons and two daughters, of 
whom Austin was the youngest. Mrs. Godfrey was a daughter of Jabez and Hannah 
(Sumner) Warren, the latter of an old family prominent in the Revolutionary 
war. Jabez Warren's mother married a second time and her husband, who was an 
Englishman and a loyalist, prayed daily for the success of King George. This 
was more than the patriotic spirit of young Jabez could brook and at the age 
of sixteen he ran away from home, enlisting in the colonial army and 
participating in many of the hotly contested battles of the war. He finally 
settled in Vermont, where he reared his family, and afterward removed to 
Aurora, Erie county, New York. On the 1st of October, 1833, Henry Godfrey 
removed with his family to Will county, Illinois, Austin Godfrey being then a 
lad of eleven years. The father and his eldest son each secured one hundred 
and sixty acres of land in what is now DuPage township. When Austin was 
fourteen the land was divided and he and his brother next in age conducted 
what was known as the Godfrey farm on the stage line between Chicago and 
Ottawa. They also had charge of the tavern and stage horses, and they 
continued in business together until the property was divided when Austin 
Godfrey was twenty-five years of age. He continued upon the old homestead and 
there carried on general agricultural pursuits until 1874, when he removed to 
Joliet for the purpose of providing his children with better educational 
advantages. After two years, however, he resumed the management of the farm 
and in 1886 he bought two hundred and forty-seven acres comprising the old 
Hawley farm. At different times he purchased other farm lands, which he 
rented. In his later years his attention was given more especially to the 
dairy business, in which he was very successful. On his home place he kept 
many head of cows of the Holstein breed and his business grew and developed, 
winning him a goodly measure of prosperity. In politics Austin Godfrey was 
always a stalwart republican and was recognized as a local leader in his 
party. He served as supervisor, highway commissioner, school director and 
trustee, filling each office with the intelligence and energy noticeable in 
the conduct of his private affairs. By his first wife, Lavinia Warren, Mr. 
Godfrey had two children, of whom one is living: Emma A., now the wife of 
George W. Potter of Joliet. After losing his first wife Mr. Godfrey married 
Miss Lucy Denton, who was born in Henryville, Canada, December 3, 1837, a 
daughter of Captain John and Sylvina (Harrington) Denton. The latters mother 
was a sister of Rev. Hosea Ballou, the noted Universalist divine, who was of 
French-Huguenot descent. Her grandfather was state surveyor in Vermont and 
belonged to a noted family, in which were many professional men. Captain John 
Denton, who was a son of William Denton, a Revolutionary soldier, was born in 
Massachusetts and became an exhorter and local preacher in the Methodist 
church. He spent many years in Canada, during which time he took part in the 
Canadian war of 1837 as a captain in the British army. From Canada he removed 
to DuPage county, Illinois, in 1847 and settled on a farm near Naperville, 
where he died two years afterward at the age of sixty. His wife, a native of 
Vermont, and a member of an old and influential family of that state, died in 
Lockport when almost eighty-two years of age. When Mrs. Austin Godfrey was 
nine years of age she accompanied her parents on their removal to DuPage 
county, Illinois, in 1847, and has since spent much of her time in Will 
county. In early life she taught school for three years. In religious faith 
she is a Congregationlist. Mr. Godfrey, who was a most respected and worthy 
citizen, passed away July 26, 1900, and his widow is now living in Lockport. 
Their children were: Herbert A., of this review; Howard, deceased; Daisy C., 
the wife of Arthur Jones, a resident of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Carrie, the wife 
of William Monroe, also of Fort Smith; Arthur M., who resides in Lockport 
township; and Guy R. and Roy S.. who are also residents of Lockport township. 
Herbert A. Godfrey, spending his boyhood days in his parents' home, acquired 
his early education in the public schools, was afterward a student in Joliet 
for two years and later continued his education at Normal, Illinois. He was 
early trained to the work of the home farm and continued to assist in its 
development until twenty-eight years of age and eventually became the owned of 
a part of this property. Following his marriage he began farming the home 
place on his own account, being busily engaged in improving the farm, which 
comprises seven hundred acres of valuable land. In 1891 he left the old 
homestead and engaged in the dairy business for two years at Joliet, but later 
moved to his present home just south of Lockport on the electric car line from 
Joliet. Here he has a beautiful residence and thirty-four acres of ground. He 
likewise has one house and lot in Joliet and two hundred and forty acres of 
land in Iroquois county in addition to his interest in the old home place. In 
1886 Mr. Godfrey was married to Miss Henrietta L. Lang, who was born in La 
Salle county in 1862, a daughter of Webster and Phiania Lang. The father was a 
native of New Jersey. His first wife was Paulina Halsted and his second wife 
Phoebe Mosher, while the mother of Mrs. Godfrey was the third wife. They were 
married in New York state and came to Illinois in 1853. By each of his three 
wives Mr. Lang had first a son and then a daughter and all six of these 
children are now living, but one daughter by his last wife died in infancy. On 
removing to the west he located in La Salle county, where he followed farming 
for many years and then lived retired until his death, which occurred in 
Marseilles, Illinois, in 1876, his widow surviving him until 1884. They were 
members of the Society of Friends and in political faith Mr. Lang was a 
republican. Their three children were: Lucinda, deceased; Charles W., who was 
born in the state of New York in 1852 and owns a farm of one hundred and 
twenty acres in Benton county, Indiana; and Mrs. Godfrey. Unto our subject and 
his wife have been born a daughter and son: Charles Herbert, who was born in 
December, 1886, and died in 1887; and Irene, who was born May 24, 1892. Mr. 
Godfrey is a republican with independent tendencies. He has displayed in his 
life work unfaltering energy and perseverance and for a long period was 
classed with the most prominent and representative farmers of the county. He 
is well meriting the rest which he now enjoys, for he displayed excellent 
business qualifications and in all of his dealings was strictly reliable. He 
is today numbered among the wealthy residents of Loekport township and is most 
pleasantly situated in a beautiful home in the midst of a fine park upon a 
hill overlooking the canal and commanding a splendid view of the surrounding 
country.

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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