York in American history: The rise and fall of Edward Godfrey Portsmouth Herald Notes: The story of the ruination of Edward Godfrey is a classic tale that reads like a Dickens novel. Did he deserve his fate of losing his land and dying in prison or was he just a victim of the fluid, fickle twists of history? The details in James Kences' compelling story suggest Godfrey may have brought it about himself, having lost touch with the times and his fellow adventurers. By James Kences "The first that ever built or settled there." So wrote an indignant Edward Godfrey to the political leadership of Massachusetts in the autumn of 1654. In this letter, composed on the eve of his return to England, a trip from which he would never return, Godfrey described how the land he rightfully possessed had been taken over by his neighbors.