George L. Godfrey

George L. Godfrey, about 1841-1899
Cannery Manager
 
Buried in Rosedale Cemetery, exact location unknown

 (Generic image created using Bing’s DALL•E 3)

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George L. Godfrey was born about 1841 in Madison County, New York, to Albert Godfrey and Rosina Putnam. When the federal census was taken in 1850, the Godfreys were living in Camden, Oneida County, New York, where Albert worked as a millwright. In 1860, he was recorded as a "carpenter and joiner."
 
On September 22, 1864, George Godfrey joined the Union Army as a private in Company K, 189th New York Infantry. In less than two months, he was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Company L, 15th New York Engineers--possibly a recognition of mechanical or engineering skill. The regiment served at the siege of Petersburg and was present for Lee’s surrender at Appomattox before being disbanded on June 13, 1865, at Fort Barry, Virginia.
 
Immediately after his discharge, Godfrey returned home to Camden to support his widowed mother and unmarried sister, crafting chairs in the family’s workshop. Around 1868, he married Louisa A. Wightman.  By 1870, he was employed in a local canning factory.
 
The federal census of 1880 found Godfrey still working at the corn cannery. By then, the household included not just his wife, young son George Ernest and widowed mother, but also a couple of nieces and nephews. The Godfreys welcomed a daughter, Gertrude, in 1881.
 
Although the 1890 federal census has not survived, Godfrey’s name appears in the veterans’ schedules, which did. He filed for a Civil War pension on September 18, 1890.
 
Godfrey’s years of experience in the canning industry appear to have advanced his career. In 1891, he was managing a corn-packing plant in Faribault, Minnesota. Although he suffered a financial setback in 1892 when he was sued for failure to fulfill a contract, by 1895 he was planning to open another cannery in nearby Owatonna.
 
Toward the end of 1897, George and Louisa Godfrey moved to Phoenix, Arizona.
           
George died in Phoenix on April 13, 1899, at his home on East Van Buren Street. He was buried in a Roman Catholic section of Rosedale Cemetery, though no grave marker survives and the exact location of his grave is unknown. His name is commemorated with a brick in the PMMP memorial garden.
 
After his death, Louisa Godfrey applied for and received a widow’s pension.

© 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 29 May 2026.
 
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