Leroy A. Goddard was born in Marion, Illinois, June 22 1854, the son of James T. and Winifred (Spiller) Goddard. His grandparents from Virginia settled in 1832 near where Marion was afterwards located. Mr. Goddard’s father opened a general store in Bainbridge, near Marion, in 1841, and later moved to Marion and erected a three story brick building where the Marion State and Savings bank was located.
Leroy was educated in the public schools in the winter time, working at odd jobs in the summer until sixteen years of age, when he quit school to devote his entire time to clerking in stores until he was twenty-one.
In 1879, Goddard established a bank in Marion called “Goddard’s Exchange.” He served as Mayor of Marion in 1879 through 1882. When the Marion Building and Loan Association was organized in 1887, Goddard was among the incorporators and served as the association’s first President. After getting married in 1888, the couple moved to Mt. Carmel in 1890 where he organized and was president of the First National Bank of Mt. Carmel, Ill.
On August 1, 1892, he assumed the position of cashier of the Fort Dearborn National Bank of Chicago; and later was elected vice-president, filling both positions until January, 1903, when he was elected president, he resigned June 1, 1908, to accept the vice-presidency of the State Bank of Chicago; was elected its president May, 1909, and in June, 1919, resigned as president to accept a position as chairman of the Board.
Mr. Goddard was two years president of the Chicago Clearing House Association, two years treasurer of the Chicago Stock Exchange, a year president of the Bankers’ Club of Chicago, also of Union League Club of Chicago, for several years president of the Chicago Peace Society, and member of the Executive Council, American Bankers Association. In 1919 he was president of the Illinois Bankers’ Association and a member of the Normal School Board of Illinois.
He was elected city treasurer of Marion at the age of twenty-one and mayor at twenty three and was re-elected two years later serving from 1879 to 1882.
He was an active member for Illinois Supreme Council thirty-third degree Masons, and treasurer since 1912; Grand Master of Masons of Illinois in 1894 and 1895, and Grand Treasurer since 1903; Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons in 1905.
In 1917, the Civics Committee of the Marion Woman’s Club approached the former Marion resident with a request for help in constructing a Chapel. Goddard in correspondence with Marion Mayor C.B. Jackson agreed to build a Chapel “worthy of the location” if additional acreage were added to the Rose Hill Cemetery east of Route 37 in Marion. After twenty-seven acres were added, Goddard visited the cemetery along with John A. Nyden, a Chicago architect, on January 5, 1918. Work soon began on the project and six months later, the cornerstone dedication was held.
On May 30, 1919, in celebration of the return of Williamson County soldiers from World War I, the newly completed Goddard Chapel was dedicated as part of a Memorial Day ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Goddard and other family and friends attended.
In 1929, Goddard established a trust fund for the maintenance of the Goddard Chapel.
November 14, 1888, he married Anna Breidenthal of Vincennes, Indiana. She was born and raised in Louisville, Ky. where her father, Colonel H. Breidenthal was a pioneer miller. Her mother, Elizabeth Hall Breidenthal, was a direct descendant of Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Not being blessed with children of their own, Mrs. Goddard was active in the education of other children and in philanthropic work. Besides various committees, she has served as president of the League of Religious Fellowship, treasurer of the Chicago Woman’s Club, trustee of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, president of Robert Browning Study Class, fitting up a Browning Room in Abraham Lincoln Center, and is a member of Board of Trustees of the Crippled Children’s Home of Chicago.
Leroy Goddard died on January 22, 1936 and was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Anna passed away in June 1949.
(Data from Williamson County in the War; Goddard Chapel data; photo is copy of Goddard portrait from the local Masonic hall; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 07/19/2013)