Transcription of letter from (Rev. and) Jane Goddard.  dated Nov. 30th 2000 to Charles Russ in Vancouver

My father-in-law, Captain Leonard Morse Goddard, was one of eight (or ten) children.  The family seemed to come in two sections.  The first was born and growing, when they were all wiped out, probably by diphtheria or some such childhood disease.  Tragically, we don't even know their names.  Their parents were well-respected educated people, and we have large photos of them, dressed in elegant attire of the day.  Then came the last four (or six ) children.  These apparently were all raised, until about the age of eight (for Leonard), when both his parents passed away at the same time - maybe a railway accident, or illness.  This left the four (or six) as orphans ‑ at least two girls and two boys.  Jessie was one of the sisters, and there was a brother to Leonard, named Cecil.  So, what to do with the children? I believe they were placed in some Sisters' care for a while, and then it was proposed that Leonard be sent to his cousin's home, that is, the home of the uncle who was Leonard's father's brother, a Goddard.  It was here where Capt.  Goddard was offered not only a home, but to be trained for the Law, as this was going to be the training for most of the sons, Raynor, who became the Lord Chief Justice, and Theodore, who was connected with the Wallis Simpson case.  Then there was Claude, who was a racing enthusiast.

As Leonard advanced in his childhood years, he became obsessed, at a very early age, with the sea.  He used to go down to the docks regularly to admire the ships and dream about the sea.  Nothing could persuade him otherwise, and so he rejected the offer of a formal education, and begged his uncle to let him go to sea as a career.  Accordingly, (we have the papers) he was apprenticed with a Scottish merchant line, and was launched upon the infant beginnings of a wonderful career.  He was a strong, resolute lad with a great sense of duty and adventure, and he stuck it out (bad food and no pay, etc.) all during his teens, learned the art of seamanship, and by the time he was a man, he had sailed many times around the world, undaunted by the dangers of the Horn, and revelling in all the aspects of weather, etc.  From sailing ships, he finally moved to steam, when he joined the Canadian Pacific Steamship fleet.  He was mainly on the Pacific runs of most of the Empress Line, moving up the gradation of tonnage, as he went.  As he grew up, he moved up the ranks to Staff Captain, and had achieved his Masters Papers in both sail and steam by the age of 24.

I am now writing his biography.  What a gold‑mine of adventure! We have the three wartime diaries ‑ Boer War, W.W.1 and W.W.2!  We've got 30 albums of photos - all the terrible fighting war years fraught with danger, but then, in between, the glamour years of gracious passenger travel of the 1920's and 30's - Fantastic stuff!  He was in every country except two, in the world.  He was made of the stuff of strong character of the old schools, nothing daunted him.  So we get incredible descriptions of the rescue by his ship of the English women and children from both Hong Kong and Singapore! - The wild trip home to England, chased by subs and bombed just before they reached England.  It is an enormous privilege to be able to handle this material.  The trips through sub-infested waters of the convoys (including the Queen Mary), carrying troops to Africa from N.Z.  and Australia, are incredible.

Now, on a more personal level, since Leonard was always away at sea, he did not marry until late in life.  This was where your Father was mistaken!  The lady he was visiting next door to the Russ family was not his wife!  She must have been the wife of maybe a friend or acquaintance of some other circumstance.  I believe that she was introduced to the Russ children as "Auntie", maybe because they had no Mother.  The little girl was obviously and totally no relative!  So, your father may have forgotten who Leonard's real wife was! - because Leonard married a Canadian lady, one of two sisters travelling to Japan to tour the Orient.  Her name was Frances Emma Anson-Cartwright.  Her sister was Una Lobb (widowed - W.W.1) and their family home was here in Grafton, where we now live.

They were people of distinction, with a fabulous naval history background, having been descended from Admiral Anson and Admiral Vernon [sp?] of great British fame in the 18th Century.  Frances was short and vivacious and lovely-looking, and Captain Goddard and she "hit it off' from the very start.  Morse was the only child from this marriage, as they both married late in life.  Frances was a patient naval house wife, who seldom had her husband home, but proved to be an impeccable hostess, and they had a wonderful marriage.  The strange part is that your Dad knew who Leonard had married and even met her, so we can not account for the mix-up.  But poor old Morse has not quite forgiven him for not acknowledging his existence! Oh, well .....

So, Cecil ended up in the States, and Leonard many a time visited people, both friends and relatives, in England.  When I first met him, I was in awe, but he was friendly and jolly, and he got along famously with my Dad, - an Army man (W.W.1-Vimy Ridge, and W.W.2), (finally a Major).

I hope this "epistle" has straightened things out.  Everybody in the family is so proud of Patrick Russ' s career.  It was truly marvelous ‑ a fabulous writer.

Early References 
Name of Goddard‑ French origin, believed to have come over with William the Conqueror 

Goddard Arms and Crest‑ granted to William Goddard, Dec.  2, 1536(?), again granted during a visit by Barker [sp?] Garter Principal King of Arms, 1634.  

Scottish and French origins‑ name means a person of good nature or amiable.  

Earliest English mention circa 1100, (no earlier traces) married into nobility often.  Motto: "A Stay not a Slave”, or "Cervus non Servus", also, "Always the same" 
Coat of Arms: presented by William the Conqueror when a Godard came from Normandy with him.  Red cloak, gold fringe and tassels.  Griffin with red eye and gild cap.  Red scrolls around gaskets, red chevron between wheat sheaves, they being light blue.  Dark blue background for gold griffin, heads and lozenges.  Dark blue background for "Toujours le meme" Gilt outline of shield.  Gasket silver and gold.  Dark blue and gold bar below griffin head.

Another description of a Coat of Arms
Godard Bearetta for Lis: Coat Armour thus: The field azure fire lozenges in feso between three hawks Head erazed in gold.  Crest: On a wreath of the colours above a helmet, a Hawk's Head erazed or holding in his beak a leur (sic) Gules cap and string vert.  Impaling as wife the coat armour of Powell as thus.  The field Argent a chevron Gules between three Garbs vert.  Crest: A Hawk's Head of Gold, holding in the beak a lure gu capped vert., garnished of the first.  stringed of the second.
Another Goddard Crest Arms: "Gules, a chevron vaire between three crescents argent Crest: " A Stag's head coupee at the neck and affrontee gules attired in gold"

Goddard References in History
‑ mentioned in Leicestershire 1100, Norfolk 1233, London 1273, Cambridgeshire 1273, Norfolk 1292, Somerset 1307, Surrey 1307, Norfolk 1358, Wiltshire 1379, also mentioned as being in Yorkshire, London and Essex.

Famous Goddard Names in History 
Dr. Goddard: Physician to Prince Albert 
(Uncle) Morse Goddard: Provost Marshal] of the British Army 
Theodore (Tod) Goddard: Solicitor who represented Mrs.  Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor.  (made many Atlantic crossings during the case) 
Lord Raynor Goddard(l877‑1971) Baron of Aldebourne, Solicitor, later Chief Justice of England after W.W.2, (known as the hanging judge) County Seat Wiltshire, England.  
Claude F. Goddard: Horseman, Realtor, Coaching Racer, winner of Berkely Stage Marathon (1920's) (had 5 stages and 4 blacks) 
Samuel Finley Breese Morse: (connection with Goddard definite but not researched yet) 1791-1872 Yale graduate, American, invented the Morse Code System, proposed the Atlantic Cable 1837, famous painter.