Clatsop-Douglas-Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Godfrey, Frank S. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 16, 2011, 9:08 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 656 - 660 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company FRANK S. GODFREY is a successful representative of mercantile interests in Seaside as a member of the firm of Godfrey Brothers, which carries a full line of shelf and heavy hardware, paints, oils, sporting goods, etc., and conducts the only exclusive establishment of the kind in the resort city. He is a native of Coldwater, Michigan, and a son of O. F. and B. W. (Williams) Godfrey, who were of Norwegian and Welsh descent, respectively. The father was born at Girard, Pennsylvania, in 1850 and the mother at Coldwater, Michigan, in 1856. It was about 1868 that O. F. Godfrey removed from the Keystone state to Coldwater, Michigan, where he met and married Miss Williams. Subsequently he made his way to Wells, Minnesota, and there engaged in mercantile pursuits until going to Chicago, Illinois, where he was connected with the dental supply business for a few years. He next removed to Kansas, in which state he was identified with mercantile interests for a few years and also hunted wild birds for the market, such as wild turkeys, quail and prairie chickens. Returning to Chicago, he was there again connected with mercantile pursuits until 1886, when he disposed of his interests in the midwest metropolis and came to Oregon, settling in Roseburg, Douglas county, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated for a few years. At the same time he bought stock in the Douglas County Bank at Roseburg, of which he was elected president, remaining at the head of the institution for ten years or until he sold his interests therein and took up his abode in Portland in 1900. In the latter city he devoted his attention to the grocery trade for seven years and then in 1907 came to Seaside, where in partnership with his three sons he embarked in the hardware business, which claimed his time and energies throughout the remainder of his life. He was accidentally drowned in the Necanicum river, in Clatsop county, in 1920, and for five years was survived by his wife, who died in 1925. They were the parents of three sons, namely: Frank S., of this review; C. M., who conducts a sporting goods store in Boise, Idaho; and A. O., who is associated with his brother Frank in the hardware business at Seaside, Oregon. The firm of Godfrey Brothers carries a complete line of shelf and heavy hardware, paints, oils, sporting goods, etc., and has a stock valued at twenty thousand dollars. Frank S. Godfrey, accompanying his parents on their various removals in his youth, acquired his education in schools of Kansas, Illinois and of Roseburg, Oregon. After putting aside his textbooks he entered the Douglas County Bank at Roseburg and advanced through successive promotions to the cashiership of the institution. When the Spanish-American war broke out he enlisted April 27, 1898, becoming quartermaster sergeant of Company B, Second Oregon Infantry, and soon afterward went to the Philippines. He fought at Manila and participated in forty-three different engagements, including the battle of Malabon and in fact all of the principal encounters. He related some of his experiences, which were most interesting, as follows: "Near Maasin, Luzon, Philippine Islands I took Colonel Summer's cook and a bugler from another company and Tim Rose, bugler of Company B and the Colonel's horse and wagon on a sweet potato hunt. We went two miles from our camp and close enough to the enemies' outpost, so that we could see them walking back and forth at their posts and hear them talking. We tied the horse up along side of the road and went about five hundred yards into a sweet potato patch; and in a few minutes discovered that about three hundred of the enemy had almost surrounded us. They had the horse and wagon and were driving off with it. There wasn't any dispute about their owning it. The cook and bugler escaped into a ravine and made their way back to camp where a detail of sixty men were sent out under First Lieutenant Frank B. Hamlin to rescue Tim Rose and myself. They encountered the enemy and were driven back before they reached the place where we were digging potatoes and returned with long faces reporting their unsuccessful attempt at rescue. But I had made up my mind to go along the enemy's front until we hit the river then work along up the river. As we were walking down a ravine, a Corporal dropped down into the ravine about thirty feet in front of us. I immediately brought my gun to my shoulder and demanded his surrender. We finally reached another sweet potato patch and made our prisoner dig a sack full and marched into camp with a prisoner and a fine bag of sweets. Our spies got some valuable information from the prisoners." Another experience, of a most unpleasant character, he relates as follows: "I was with my detail one day traveling with the wagon train. Every few miles in this tropical country it was necessary to halt and either let the water buffalos wallow in the water or pour a few buckets of water over them, as they die very easily if without water too long. After having attended to them I walked over and sat down on an old chicken coop from which a few slats were missing. Several of the boys were resting on the grass, when I saw Percy Webb with a horrified look on his face, point over towards me and say "look out for that snake." I leaned over and saw the gigantic head of a python was thrust out between the slats and between my legs; mouth wide open and tongue darting out, and my face was so close I could feel his hot breath. I was so paralyzed with fright that I couldn't get up but fell off the coop and rolled over and over until I was at a safe distance. The boys fixed bayonets and killed him. He was ten feet long and as large as my leg at the thigh." He is a member of the Spanish War Veterans and is past department commander of the Spanish War Veterans for the state of Oregon. The organization awarded him its highest military honor — the past department commander's badge for Oregon. In 1894 Mr. Godfrey was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Berry, who was born at Pine City, Minnesota, her parents being Eben and Clara (Thompson) Berry, natives of Burnham, Maine, and Detroit, Maine, respectively, and both now deceased. The father was a Civil war veteran. Mrs. Godfrey pursued a high school course in Minnesota and is also a business college graduate, being proficient in stenography. Moreover, she is an artist of no mean ability, having produced very creditable china paintings as well as landscapes in water and oils. By her marriage she became the mother of three children, two of whom, Frank and Sidney, died in infancy. Her daughter, Dorothy Vilona, born in Roseburg, Oregon, is the wife of Fred W. Otto and has three children: Roger William, Janet Eileen and Kenneth Truman. Mr. Godfrey gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has rendered valuable service to his community in behalf of good roads and improved school facilities. He gave active support to the movement for the building of the Roosevelt highway in Oregon and is chairman of the conservation committee of the Beach Communities of the state. He has made a splendid record in the office of city treasurer, which he has filled for sixteen years, and he is a charter member and treasurer of the Kiwanis Club of Seaside. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masons, belonging to Evergreen Lodge No. 137, A. F. & A. M., of Seaside, while both he and his wife are members of Maple Chapter of the Order of the Order of the Eastern Star at Seaside. Mr. Godfrey likewise belongs to Nekanikum Lodge, No. 88, of the Knights of Pythias at Seaside of which he is a past chancellor commander while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist church, in which he is serving as superintendent of the Sunday school and his wife is teacher of a Sunday school class. They are well known and highly esteemed throughout the community in which they reside, their circle of friends being almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/clatsop/photos/bios/godfrey1341gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/clatsop/bios/godfrey1341gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 8.9 Kb