Leaving his Massachusetts home at the tender age of nine, Benjamin Godfrey set off across the Atlantic Ocean to work in the shipping industries of Ireland. That life agreed with him and he later commanded his own ship, traveling to Mexico, New Orleans and the West Indies. Godfrey eventually settled in Alton, IL. In 1833 he built the beautiful stone church known as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

He and his business partner Winthrop Gilman owned the Godfrey Gilman Warehouse on the Mississippi River. Gilman was an abolitionist who allowed Elijah Lovejoy to hide his printing press in the warehouse. On November 7, 1837, an angry pro-slavery mob attacked the warehouse and Lovejoy and a member of the mob were killed. Many consider Lovejoy to be our nation’s first martyr to the freedom of the press.

Godfrey had fifteen children, seven sons and eight daughters. He felt it remiss that there were few education opportunities for women. In 1838, he invested $53,000 to found Monticello Seminary for Women, today known as Lewis and Clark Community College. Godfrey and his attorney, Abraham Lincoln, worked diligently to bring the Alton-Sangamon Railroad to the area. This feat led to Alton becoming a transportation hub, forever changing the trajectory of our local history.