Thomas Godwin

Who was Thomas Godwin?

Thomas Godwin 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.

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.

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.

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

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. 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.