Godfried Josué was born in Siegburg, Prussia. He married Johanna Henriette Juliana Engels on November 19th, 1845. They had five children.

The family emigrated to America in around 1855. They settled in Winona, Minnesota where Godfried partnered with several other German emigres in an extensive brewery in pastureland at the mouth of Gilmore Valley. It was the first brewery in Winona and it produced lager beer.

By 1858 he was senior partner of the firm. But in November of 1859 it all came crashing down. Josué's wooden brewery and home caught fire and two of his daughters burned to death. The property had little insurance, and the village on the Mississippi River likely no longer felt like home. Godfried and Johanna retreated far away, to Argentina, where they lived out the rest of their days.

A notce appeared in the Winona Weekly Republican describing the brewery vaults of Josue's Gilmore Valley Brewery.