Goddard, William
WILLIAM HENRY GODDARD

Prominent among the energetic, enterprising and successful business men of Wallingford is William Henry Goddard, the president  and  treasurer  of  the  Wallingford Lumber Company.    He was born at West Granby, Connecticut, February 22, 1861, and represents one of the old families of the state.    His father, Henry M. Goddard, was also a native of  Granby and was a wheelwright by trade.    He removed to South Hadley Falls in 1862 and then to Wallingford in 1871, in the employ of the Wallingford Wheel Company, which was sold to the Naugatuck Wheel Company in 1874.    Mr. Goddard accompanied the business on the removal and in 1879 he returned to Wallingford, when the business became the Wallingford Wheel Company.    He was active along that line to the time of his death, which occurred in 1881 when he had reached the age of fifty-one years.    He married Josephine A. Converse, a daughter of Enoch Converse, of South   Hadley Falls, Massachusetts.  She passed away in 1883 at the age of forty-one years.

William H. Goddard spent his boyhood to the age of ten years in South Hadley Falls and acquired his early education in the public schools there, while later he continued his studies in Wallingford. At fourteen years of age he removed to Naugatuck and entered the wheel shop, thus starting out in the business world, but in the winter of 1882-3 he took a course in a business college at Poughkeepsie, New York, and in the fall of the that year he joined the office force of the Wheel Company during the absence of Mr. Hill. He afterward spent four years in North Carolina, operating a mill and buying timber for the firm. While there he was offered the position of bookkeeper by H. B. Todd & Son, lumber dealers of Wallingford. Accepting, he entered upon the work and four years later, when Mr. Todd died and the business was reorganized in 1895, he was made the treasurer, in 1903 he became the president and treasurer and the name was changed to the Wallingford Lumber Company. This business has continuously claimed the attention and energy of Mr. Goddard and its success is attributable in substantial measure to his enterprise, his progressiveness and his thorough understanding of every feature of the lumber trade. It was on the 30th of July, 1890, that Mr. Goddard was married in Southington, Con-necticut, to Miss Mary E. Hart, a daughter of Charles C. Hart of that town, and they have become the parents of four children: Marjorie A., twenty-four years of age; Stanton Hart, twenty-one; Wendell C., fifteen; and Geanne M., twelve. The family resides at No. 17 Beaumont avenue.

In his political views Mr. Goddard is a stalwart republican and he has represented Wallingford in the general assembly of 1909, of 1911 and of 1917. In 1909 and 1911 he was one of the committee on education and in 1917 he was made a member of the committee on incorporations and the committee on joint rule. He gave very careful consideration to all the questions which came up for settlement and his support of a measure was the expression of his belief in its worth to the commonwealth. He studies closely the ques-tions and issues of the day and keeps well informed on all the vital points which come up for settlement in connection with political affairs.
 

Fraternally Mr. Goddard is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has passed through all of the offices of lodge and encampment and has contributed in substantial measure to the upbuilding of the organization. In Masonry, too, he is well known, being a past master of Compass Lodge, No. 9, A. F. & A. M. He has also filled the chairs in Lockwood Chapter, No. 48, R. A. M., of Wallingford. Five years ago a tract was purchased and a Masonic building erected thereon. Mr. Goddard became one of the leaders in that movement and was elected the president of the Masonic Temple Corporation, in which position he served for three years and since that time he has been one of its directors. He is a member of the First Congregational church and has been most active and earnest in promoting its welfare. He held the office of deacon for twenty-four years or for eight terms, and for ten years was clerk of the church, while for the past two years he has been on its board of trustees.

Mr. Goddard is deeply interested in everything that pertains to the material, intellectual, social, political and moral progress of his community and his worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged. Starting out in life for himself at the early age of fourteen years, he has since been dependent upon his own resources and whatever success he has achieved is the direct reward of his labors. His sterling worth is acknowledged by all and Wallingford numbers him among its best citizens.
 
 


Modern History of New Haven
and 
Eastern New Haven County

Illustrated

Volume II

New York – Chicago
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 
1918

pgs 123 - 124

 
Return to New Haven County Page

THANKS FOR VISITING
NEW HAVEN 
COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
pages / text are copyrighted by
Elaine Kidd O'Leary & 
Anne Taylor-Czaplewski
May 2002