By family tradition, this table was made by Thomas Goddard (1765-1858), the son of John Goddard I, who continued his father's business until his own death in 1858 when he was eulogized as "the last of his generation...the Kindest of neighbors and the firmest of friends." (Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, NY, 1957), pp. 113-14).