Abraham Godwin Jr.
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Abraham Godwin Jr. (July 14, 1791 – August 18, 1849) was the first
Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
of the expedition to
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in
1812 Events January–March * January 1 – The ''Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (the Austrian civil code) enters into force in the Austrian Empire. * January 19 – Peninsular War: The French-held fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo Siege of ...
led by Generals
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and Izard. He later rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the
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state militia. In 1816 when his eldest brother Henry committed suicide, he became
Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
of Paterson, a position he would hold until 1829, and briefly again before his death in 1849. In 1821, he was elected to the
New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...
, of which he served until 1832. In November 1840, Abraham was tasked to take the
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
votes to Washington, D.C. for the
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.


Personal life

He is the son of
Abraham Godwin Abraham Godwin (July 16, 1763 – October 5, 1835) was a representative in the New Jersey General Assembly, former fife major in the American Revolutionary War, and brigadier general during the War of 1812. Personal life Abraham Godwin was b ...
, Grandson of Captain Abraham Godwin, Husband of Martha Parke & father of three sons. His eldest was famous
Parke Godwin Parke Godwin (January 28, 1929 – June 19, 2013) was an American writer. He won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1982 for his story "The Fire When It Comes". He was a native of New York City, where he was born in 1929. He was the g ...
, his second son Henry was a lawyer in
Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
, and disappeared in the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, and the youngest son
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
, was a house painter, captured at The Battle of Wilderness and died a prisoner of the Confederacy in
Andersonville, Georgia Andersonville is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 237. It is located in the southwest part of the state, approximately southwest of Macon on the Central of Georgia railroad. ...
. At the Godwin Hotel on the Passaic in 1828 he created
Passaic County Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...
. He was elected an officer for the State of New Jersey at the New York Convention on October 26, 1831. He lived in the house his grandfather built and his grandmother Phebe turned into a Tavern known as the 'Widow Godwin Tavern', right down the street from the Passaic Hotel/Godwin Tavern. An old resident of Paterson recalls back to their youth about their memories of Abraham as the Postmaster:
It was a very fine coach, hung on straps, and comfortable to ride in. It had room inside for nine, and two more passengers could be accommodated on top. A rack for trunks and packages was fixed behind. it bowled along the turnpike drawn by four speedy horses. this was all before the railroads came. The driver was a man of pleasant address, and well thought of by all. How proud we boys were to grab up the mail bag when he threw it down in front of the tavern and run with it across to the postoffice, where its contents were emptied and sorted. He always promised us something when he came up the next time. After the pouch, the only one carried, and still containing mail for other villages, had been returned to him, and he had watered his horses, and rested and warmed himself, the stage was off. Its going left the village corners again quiet for a day or two. He made an interesting picture, his genial stage-driver, with his high beaver hat surmounting his cherry read face, and his great muffler and brown overcoat. Strange to say, he died of consumption some years later, brought on by long exposure to severe and treacherous weather. I remember his being helped down from the seat one winter's day, when the thermometer was said to have been eighteen below.
He commanded the martial music at his father's funeral and Revolutionary War hero
William Colfax William Colfax (July 3, 1756 – September 9, 1838) was a Revolutionary War figure who served as Captain of George Washington's Life Guard beginning on March 18, 1778. William was the fifth child born to George Colfax (born: December 25, 1727) ...
's funeral in 1838. He inherited his fathers epaulets. In 1820 Abraham became partners with Thomas Rogers and went into business running a cotton mill. They leased several mills over the years and worked together until 1830 when Thomas Rogers decided to go on his own. Soon after he founded the
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the w ...
. On 2 March 1831 books to receive stock in the "Paterson and Hudson River Valley Railroad Company" were commissioned by Abraham at the Godwin Hotel, which was being run by Abraham's sister Maria and her husband Henry Post. This railroad would go on to split Godwin Avenue in two, creating Godwin Street.


Death

Abraham died in the Widow Godwin Tavern on August 18, 1849, from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, and was buried in
Cedar Lawn Cemetery Cedar Lawn Cemetery is a rural cemetery in Paterson, New Jersey, and is also considered one of the finest Victorian cemeteries in the USA. Cedar Lawn Cemetery officially opened in September 1867, and recorded its first burial on September 27, 186 ...
in