John Goddard was born on January 20, 1723/4, in Dartmouth, Massachusets. He was the third child of Daniel Goddard, shipwright, and his wife, Mary Tripp. He was a member of the third generation of his family in New England. After his birth, his parents removed to Newport, Rhode Island.
John was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker - probably Job Townsend, who left notable examples of his craftsmanship. Shortly after, he was twenty- one, young Goddard was made a freeman of the colony, April 3, 1745.
In 1764, Goddard and Job Townsend were appointed “viewers of joiners’ lumber. ” Familiar from childhood with fine woodwork, Goddard developed such skill in design and execution that by the early 1760s, he was recognized as the leading cabinetmaker in Newport. His shop was on Washington Street, near the waterfront.
In 1763, he counted among his customers Moses Brown of Providence and one of his brothers, and Gov. Stephen Hopkins. Newport at that period was important as a center of cultivation and art.
Working in the heavy mahogany of Santo Domingo, at that time supplanting walnut as a material for fine furniture, Goddard produced some pieces which for stateliness remain unequaled.
In 1782, the firm of Goddard & Engs opened a sales warehouse in Providence, “on the wharf of Mr. Moses Brown”.
Three years later, Goddard died in Newport, leaving his tools to his sons and “all my stock of Mahogany and other Stuff to be worked up” by them, “for the Support and benefit” of his wife and minor children.
Goddard was noted especially for his secretaries and knee-hole desks or “buro tables, ” but he made almost all kinds of furniture necessary for a dwelling, including tables and leather, common, and cherry chairs. He is identified with the development of the “block front, ” the most distinctively American product in woodwork, especially when the block was surmounted by the shell. Of this front - which he called “swell’d, ” although the contour is quite other than that now so named - he was probably the originator, perhaps together with his father-in-law. Certainly, he brought the style to a perfection beyond which there could be no progress. His masterpieces remain the despair and admiration of later American generations; some of them are still held in Rhode Island as most precious heirlooms, and the few minor examples coming on the market have commanded large prices. With the British occupation of Newport during the Revolution, the continuity of Goddard’s trade was interrupted and the records of his work were largely lost.
On August 7, 1746, John married Job Townsend’s daughter, Hannah. Of their children, two sons, Stephen and Thomas Goddard followed their father’s trade.
