My Genealogy Hound

DAVID J. GODSHALK, editor of the South Bethlehem Star, was born in Williams Township, Northampton County, Pa., December 23, 1836, within a hundred yards of the house in which his mother, Anna Rosina (Unangst) Godshalk, was born in 1809. His father, Benjamin Godshalk, was a native of Bucks County, Pa., and a son of Samuel and Sidney (Kelley) Godshalk, of New Britain, in that county. When the subject of this sketch was an infant, his parents moved to Easton, the shire town of Northampton County, where they lived many years, the father dying in that city in 1873. The mother died in Bethlehem in 1891.

In early boyhood David J. was a pupil in the public schools of Easton, but in 1849 he was sent by his father to Doylestown to learn the printer’s trade with his uncle, Frank P. Sellers, who there published a temperance paper called the Olive Branch. During the daytime he was employed at his trade, while the mornings and evenings were spent in running errands and in omnivorous reading. After a short time the Olive Branch plant was taken to Norristown, where it was changed to an Abolition journal and sold to Mr. Moyer. At Norristown the young printer made excellent progress at his trade, and also made numerous essays into the field of reportorial and story writing, with an occasional dash into the realms of rhyme. In 1851 he relinquished his employment with his uncle and returned to Easton, where he remained with his parents for a time. In looking for an opening in the great city of New York, he came across an advertisement for a young fellow about his age to set type, etc., at the printing-house of John A. Gray in that city. His father took him to the metropolis, where he commenced work for Mr. Gray. Afterward he was employed in various offices, filling different positions, including those of compositor, proof-reader and occasional correspondent of the New York Times. Occasionally he became interested in journalistic ventures in the country. At one time he went to Kennett Square and aided B. F. Coles in the reportorial, editorial and general business management of the Kennett Square Free Press, a newspaper owned by the late Dr. Frank Taylor, and to which Barcley Pennock (a companion of Bayard Taylor in some of his travels), Dr. Stebbins and others were contributors.

Returning to Norristown about 1860, Mr. Godshalk took charge of the National Defender, owned by an intimate friend of his boyhood, Edwin Schall, who afterwards became Colonel of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, and was killed at the head of that regiment in the Battle of the Wilderness. He took with him to Norristown his young wife and infant daughter, he having been married in 1858, in New York City, to Susan A. Seely, a native of Orange County, N. Y. Returning to New York, he was employed as compositor and proof-reader on the New York Times, and in other offices during the exciting political period which preceded the election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency. His wife died in 1861, leaving an only daughter, who is now her father’s right hand in the literary work of the South Bethlehem Star. In 1863 Mr. Godshalk enlisted in Company I, Twenty-second Regiment New York National Guards, and was assigned to the United States service, where he remained three months, being with his regiment in front of the enemy at various points in Maryland, and at Harper’s Ferry and Winchester, Va. At the expiration of three months the Twenty-second was sent home to assist in quelling the draft riots in New York, under General Canby.

In 1863 the regiment formed a part of the provisional corps of Gen. “Baldy” Smith at Gettysburg, but was not actively engaged.

Returning to New York, Mr. Godshalk engaged in newspaper work again, but some time afterward, on account of poor health, he retired temporarily and visited his parents in Easton. Shortly afterward, in association with William Eichman, one of the founders of the Easton Daily Express, he started a job-printing office in that city. In the same year, at the suggestion of Gen. W. E. Doster, Godshalk and Eichman moved the office to Bethlehem, and commenced the publication of a weekly paper called the Chronicle. On Mr. Eichman’s withdrawal from the firm, General Doster took his interest, which our subject later purchased. February 4, 1865, he issued the first number of the first daily newspaper in Bethlehem. He remained at the head of the Times, as the paper was called, until 1887, when it became the property of the Times Publishing Company.

From Bethlehem Mr. Godshalk went to Trenton, N. J., where for less than a year he was joint proprietor with Edward Fitz George, of the Trenton Times. Selling his interest in that publication, he became half-owner, with Hon. Howard Mutchler, of the Easton Daily Express, but his health partially failing, he withdrew from his connection therewith, intending to relinquish newspaper work. This he did, but only for a time, as in 1889 he purchased the South Bethlehem Star of M. S. Grim and J. B. Harlacher, and has since been its editor and proprietor. He is fitly called the Nestor of journalism in the Lehigh Valley, owing to his long years in harness.

Though always taking an active part in politics, Mr. Godshalk has never held any office except that of Councilman in Bethlehem. Prior to Greeley’s campaign for the presidency, he had been an independent Republican, but since that time he has acted with the Democrats. At this time, 1894, he is actively engaged in his newspaper work, and under his control his paper has taken front rank among the newspapers of the Lehigh Valley.

Mr. Godshalk became a Mason in his early manhood, and is a Past Master of Bethlehem Lodge, F. & A. M.; Past High Priest of Zinzendorf Chapter, R. A. M.; Past Thrice Illustrious of Bethlehem Council, R. & S. M., and a member of Hugh de Payen’s Commandery, of Easton. He is also a member of J. K. Taylor Post, G. A. R., in which he is a Past Commander, and belongs to various beneficial and charitable organizations, in which he takes an active part. In all public matters he takes a lively interest, and never loses an opportunity to commend the good and condemn the evil, both with tongue and pen.

Editor Godshalk has made his home in Bethlehem since 1865, and for seventeen years has resided on the corner of High and Wall Streets, a pleasant location in the residence part of the town.