There’s more to Godfrey than meets the eye.

Jeff Green | Nov 11, 2020

For vehicles speeding along Road 38, Godfrey is merely an intersection with two or three businesses on one side of the road and the Westport Road on the other. However, not only was it once the location of a major stop on the K&P rail line because of a nearby iron mine, it was also named for the one person who was most responsible for opening up Frontenac County to development.

It is also a common surname in various communities in Frontenac County.

Warren Godfrey did the survey work on the development of the Portland Road, and then the Frontenac Road, which went north from Godfrey all the way to Vennachar, along the route of the current Road 38, the Long Lake Road, the Frontenac Road, Bell Line Road, the Ardoch Road, North Road and Buckshot Lake Road.

Craig Godfrey, who is a descendent, is conducting genealogical research into the family as part of the background work he is doing for a novel screenplay he is creating around the life and legacy of Frontenac County pathfinder Warren Godfrey.

What Craig Godfrey already knows about Warren Godfrey, is enough to establish how integral he was to the settlement up and down Frontenac County and his original home base of Wolfe Island.

Warren Godfrey was found abandoned on the south side of Wolfe Island in 1812, at the age of 11 or 12. He was taken in and raised by the Cape Vincent Ferry operator Samuel Hinckley and family.

The Hinckleys were ferry operators, and were road builders as well on Wolfe Island, between 1812 and 1840. Warren learned his trade, building the main road across the centre of Wolfe Island from Hinckley Point to what is now called Marysville; which was named after Warren’s sister in law, Mary.

Warren married Emeline Hinckley, Samuel’s daughter, in 1821 and they raised their seven children on Warren and Emeline’s farms, Concession 5, lots 3 and 4, and his other farm, Concession 6, lot 8, Wolfe Island.

In 1840 they moved across to Kingston and started the journey up Frontenac County. Warren’s daughter, Mary Abigail, (Polly) married Alex Badour in the 1840s and settled on the Frontenac Road, somewhere north of Soles’ Corners, south of Ardoch. His first daughter Olive Amelia married John McKnight, and settled somewhere in the former Portland Township (Verona/Harrowsmith area).

Six of Warren and Emeline’s children reached adulthood. They were born on Wolfe Island; then married settlers and started families in Frontenac County. Their names, (and birthdates?), were Edmund Lovel Godfrey - 1824 (Arabella McKnight), Chester Hooker Godfrey - 1827 (Margaret Kennedy), Olive Amelia Godfrey – 1829 (John McKnight Jr.), Warren Godfrey – 1831 (Mary Dennison), Coleman Hinckley Godfrey – 1831 (Sarah Jemima Walker), and Mary Abigail (aka Polly) Godfrey - 1835 (Alex Badour).

During his research this past year, Craig Godfrey came upon a gravestone in the Piccadilly cemetery that was completely covered by a bushy tree. When he approached Central Frontenac Township, they removed the tree to reveal an impressive headstone.

It was the headstone of Warren’s son Chester. Warren had been the first registered landowner in Hinchinbrook Township, and Chester and his wife Margaret raised their family on the Godfrey farm. They donated the land for the K&P train station and post office.

One of the strands of the family that interests Craig Godfrey, comes from the Hinckley side. Emeline Hinckley was a direct descendent of Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole, original pilgrims from Plymouth Rock in the United States. Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole’s descendants also include George Bush and Barack Obama.

But what interests Craig Godfrey right now is the extension of the family tree from Warren and Emeline Godfrey’s six children.

He has discovered connections to names that are common throughout the region, not only Godfrey, but Deyo, Cox, Freeman, Uens, Vance, Brown, Nichol. Snyder, Knight, McKnight, Cronk, Drew, Smiths, Badour, and others.

To complete his research, he is looking to contact more people.

If you think you might be a descendant of Warren Godfrey and Emmeline Hinckley, Wolfe Island then North Frontenac, and would like to add anecdotal family tales to the project, you can contact him via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – with Warren in the subject line.

(Craig Godfrey was a long-time resident of Central Frontenac who now lives in Kingston, and has a cottage near Mountain Grove. He wrote and produced the North Frontenac Little Theatre production of Turtle Crossings)