_ published James Logan's letters
to Edmund Halley establishing Thomas Godfrey's claim to the invention of
"Hadley's quadrant." Thomas Godfrey, a glazier by trade, was one of the
original members of Franklin's "Junto," and boarded in Franklin's house
on High Street. He was born in Bristol, Pa., in 1704. While working for
James Logan, at Stenton, he accidentally discovered the principle upon
which he constructed his improvement upon Davis's quadrant. The new
instrument was first used in Delaware Bay by Joshua Fisher, of Lewes.
"Mr. Godfrey then sent the instrument to be tried at sea by an
acquaintance of his, an ingenious navigator, in a voyage to Jamaica, who
showed it to a captain of a ship there just going for England, by which
means it came to the knowledge of Mr. Hadley" (_American Magazine_, p.
476). The Royal Society of England, after hearing James Logan's
communication, decided that both Godfrey and Hadley were entitled to the
honor of the invention, and sent to Godfrey household goods to the
value of two hundred dollars.

In spite of the clearest facts and undoubted dates, the quadrant is
still persistently miscalled by the name of its English appropriator.[3]

[3] The remains of Thomas Godfrey were removed by John Watson from the
neglected spot where they were laid to Laurel Hill Cemetery, and in 1843
a monument was erected over them by the Mercantile Library Company of
Philadelphia. Near by, and close to the river, is the grave of Charles
Thomson, "the man of truth," the Sam. Adams, of Philadelphia, marked by
an Egyptian obelisk of granite.

"Junius" is the signature to a neat poem called "The Invitation" in the
_American Magazine_ for January, 1758, and appended to it is the
following editorial note: "This little poem was sent to us by an unknown
hand, and seems dated as an original. If it be so, we think it does
honor to our city; but of this we are not certain. All we can say is
that we do not recollect to have seen it before." This poem, which
William Smith thought to be an honor to Philadelphia, was the
composition of Thomas Godfrey the younger, then a youth of twenty-one
years. Editorial encouragement won from him an "Ode on Friendship" in
August, and an "Ode on Wine" in September. Young Godfrey was apprenticed
to a watchmaker, but through the friendly influence of the Provost of
the College he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the provincial
forces raised against Fort Du Quesne. He died of fever w