Goddard and Townsend

[1] Twenty-one members of successive generations of these two intermarried families worked as cabinetmakers over a period of 120 years, selling their products not only in New England but also in the coastal trade and in the West Indies.

The so-called Block-and-shell motif, a block-front topped by a carved shell in alternating concave and convex pattern, is one of the key features.

However, this alone is not proof of Goddard or Townsend origin- recently rediscovered cabinetmakers such as Benjamin Baker (1734–1822) of Newport or Grindal Rawson (1719–1803) of Providence are also known to have used the carved shell pattern when constructing case furniture.

A single mahogany secretary bookcase made by Christopher Townsend (John's father) in 1740 sold at auction in New York for $8.25 million.

John Goddard made a famous six-shell desk-bookcase for Providence merchant Nicholas Brown, Sr.

18th century home of the Goddard family on Second Street in the Easton's Point neighborhood of Newport, Rhode Island
Goddard-Townsend set of drawers with shells
John Townsend label from an 18th-century clock