Edward Goddard

Edward was born in Watertown, MA on May 4, 1698 to Edward and Elizabeth (Miles) Goddard. He was the eldest of their eleven children. Half of his siblings died in infancy, which was not uncommon for the time period.

He was one of the earliest settlers of Shrewsbury, MA, and was granted Lot No. 9 with 69 acres by the 1717/18 Proprietor's Committee. This land, south of Boston Hill, is now in Westborough. Edward was also one of sixteen men who signed the covenant to establish a church congregation in Shrewsbury in 1723. The establishment of a local church was one of the requirements to charter a new town in Colonial Massachusetts. Shrewsbury officially became a town in 1727. Edward was elected as a town Selectman in 1730.

Around 1722 he married Hepzibah Hapgood of neighboring Marlborough, MA. Their marriage was not recorded as far as I can tell. They had twelve children: Hepzabeth (1723-1781), Nathan (1725-1806), Elizabeth (1726-1808), Robert (1728-1807), David (1730-1777), Hezekiah (1732-1734), Daniel (1733/34-1807), Ebenezer (1735-1735), Ebenezer (1736-1738), Rhoda (1739/40-1820), Merriam (1742-1755), and Edward (1744/45-1811).

In the late 1720s Edward's brother Benjamin joined him in Shrewsbury, and his brother Simon came in the early 1730s. Both brothers came from Framingham, where the family had moved to from Watertown around 1720. In 1735 Simon and a few other Shrewsbury residents attempted to attend the church in Hopkinton instead of the one in Shrewsbury where they resided due to discontent with the ruling elders. Simon was supported by his brothers, and it caused a small rift between them and the other parishioners in Shrewsbury. It should be noted that it was uncommon at the time to live in one town and attend church services in another, especially since the taxes one paid went to support the town church--there was no separation of Church and State in Colonial Massachusetts. By 1737 all three brothers were attempting to join the Hopkinton church. In 1740 Edward and Benjamin desired to rejoin the Shrewsbury church along with Edward's wife Hepzibah. They were readmitted in 1742. Simon never joined the church in Shrewsbury.

The winter of 1753-1754 was harsh for many in central Massachusetts, with "The Great Sickness" taking many lives. Edward's parents died of it two days apart , and two of his brothers died within two weeks of their parents. Edward, his wife, and their children were spared.

Hepzibah died in her 60th year on July 17, 1763. Four years later on June 11, 1764 Edward married the Widow Eunice Walker of Uxbridge, MA in Uxbridge. Eunice had previously been the wife of Benjamin White and Obadiah Walker, and due to both of their ages they did not have any children together.

Edward died in Shrewsbury on October 13, 1777, and is buried in the old section of Mountain View Cemetery.

Sacred to the memory of

Edward Goddard Esq.

who departed this life,

Oct. 13th 1777 in the

80th year of his age.

As he liv'd so he died,

in full expectation of

a glorious inheritance.