Thomas Godwin (politician)

Thomas Godwin (died 1677/8) was a Virginia politician and landowner. He served in the House of Burgesses 1654–55 and 1659, and was its Speaker in the June 1676 session that preceded Bacon's Rebellion.^[1]

Godwin's birth and early years are undocumented. He partnered with Richard Axom to patent land in York County, Virginia in 1650. By April 1654 he was a member of the Nansemond County Court, and he represented the county in the House of Burgesses that year and next. He was also elected to the session of 1659.^[1][2]

Among his other land purchases, he patented a tract in Chuckatuck parish in 1668. This farm was expressly included in Nansemond County when the Assembly drew its boundary with Isle of Wight County in 1674.^[1]

In March 1676 he was identified as colonel of the Nansemond militia when he was authorized to raise a force to fight Indians.^[2]

Godwin was not a member of the General Assembly of 1661–76. When it was dissolved and a new Assembly met in June 1676, he was elected Speaker of the House.^[1] This Assembly, which met just before the outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion, had all its acts annulled by the Assembly that met the following year, although a number of them were reenacted by that same session.^[3]

Godwin's will was dated March 24, 1677 (old style). He named three children as heirs.^[2]

Notes

References

• Kukla, Jon (1981). Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1643–1776. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library. ISBN 0-88490-075-4. 
• Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Lewis Historical Publishing Company.