A British officer described Godin as having "a man of some consequence and had a commission as Major of Militia.

In 1749, at the outbreak of Father Le Loutre’s War, Godin became the official leader of the Acadian militia on the Saint John River.

Godin was taken prisoner by the Rangers and brought, after having been joined by his family, to Annapolis Royal.

[5] Godin's official statement to the French Crown states: "The Sieur Joseph [Godin] [Sieur de] Beauséjour of the Saint John River, son of Gabriel (officer aboard the king`s vessels in Canada (in Acadie) and of Angélique-Roberte Jeanna), was major of all the Saint John River Militia by order of Monsieur de la Galissonnière, from the 10 April 1749 and always was in these functions during the said war until he was captured by the enemy, and he owns several leagues of land, where he had the grief to have seen the massacre of one of his daughters and her three children by the English, who wanted, out of cruelty and fear to force him to take their part ... he only escaped such a fate by his flight into the woods, carrying with him two other children of the daughter."

He and his wife spent the remainder of their lives in Cherbourg, Normandy, France where they received 300 French Livres of annual revenue as compensation[6][7][8][9] Joseph had a brother named Jacques Phillipe dit Bellefontaine Godin, they were married to sisters.