Jonathan Godfrey (1857-1949)

He was born at Fairfield, Connecticut. He was educated at Hopkins Grammar School and graduated from Yale in mechanical engineering.  He was responsible for inventing a compressed box for packing metallic ammunition. He worked for the Compressed Paper Box Company at Bridgeport from 1882 until his retirement in 1924, by which time he was President. He owned a cranberry farm at Chatsworth, New Jersey, and was President of the Chatsworth Cranberry Association. In his spare time he liked to work with silver and semi-precious stones and in 1942 he was given an award of merit from the University of Pennsylvania for accomplishments in graphic arts and crafts.

He was a member of the Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission; State Manager of the Children's Tin Box Fund; an Executive Member of L'Alliance Francaise; and, a vestryman of St. John's Church, Bridgeport. He built The Oaks at Fairfield and was married twice: (1) In 1886, to Mary Elizabeth Giles, great-granddaughter of General Aquila Giles, of the Continental Army (2) In 1919, to Estelle, daughter of Henry Holbrook Mudge. He had two children by his first wife, both of whom died in childhood.