This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Godfrey, Davison, DeHart
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Hi.2ADI/1432
Message Board Post:
I thought you might like this bio for your web site at Rootsweb. I'm not related to
this family but do extensive research for western Iowa and have a nice library of books
and materials. If I can help your visitors with Iowa queries, please let me know.
Mona Sarratt Knight : MonaNAriz(a)aol.com
Here is a biography for CLARKSON GODFREY taken from the 1891 Biographical History of
Pottawattamie County, Iowa, The Lewis Publishing Company, pages 645-46.
CLARKSON GODFREY. Among the many successful citizens of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, we
find the above named gentleman who, by his own exertions, has risen to a position of
wealth and influence. Mr. Godfrey was born ten miles west of LaFayette, in Tippecanoe
Co., Indiana, July 17, 1836. ELIJAH GODFREY, his father, was born in Maryland, a son of
JOSEPH GODFREY, who was of English ancestry. ELIJAH GODFREY was married in Ross Co.,
Ohio, to ELEANOR DAVISON, a native of that county and daughter of FREDERICK DAVISON. They
subsequently moved to Tippecanoe Co., Indiana, making the trip on horseback and carrying
some household goods and two children on pack horses. They were among the early pioneers
of that part of Indiana. Of the two sons and seven daughters born to them, the subject of
this sketch was the fifth child. When he was 14 years old, his mother died. The father
afterward moved to Warren Co., Illinois, where he died at the age of 82 years. His whole
life was spent!
on a farm. He was an honored and esteemed citizen, a member of the Republican party, and
a believer in the Gospel.
CLARKSON GODFREY spent his youth on a frontier farm in Tippecanoe Co., where he learned to
clear land and do all kinds of farm work and where he was educated in the common schools
of the period. At the age of 19, he went to Warren County Illinois where he engaged in
farming until 1873. In that year, he came to Waveland Township, Pottawattamie County,
Iowa. During the War, Mr. Godfrey entered the service of his country, enlisting in the
spring of 1865 in the 47th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was in the battles of Spanish
Fort and Fort Blakely. At the close of the War, he was honorably discharged and returned
to Illinois.
Mr. Godfrey was married in Warren County, Illinois, March 14, 1868, to Miss ELLEN E.
DeHART, a lady of education and culture and a successful and popular teacher. She was
born in Brown Co., Indiana, but was reared in Warren Co., Illinois. In 1873, as already
stated, Mr. Godfrey came to his present location. He first bought 160 acres of wild land
in section 19, Waveland Township, and became one of the early settlers of the
neighborhood. His efforts have been rewarded with prosperity. More land has been added
to his first purchase and he now owns 565 acres of well improved land. Four hundred forty
acres are in a body in Waveland Township, and 125 acres are in Grove Township. He has
three good tenant houses on his land, and his own house is a comfortable story-and-a-half
frame cottage, pleasantly located on a natural building site. His home is surrounded by a
grove and orchard of five acres. Other improvements on his farm are a good barn, 26 X 48
feet, cattle sheds, fe!
ed lots, modern wind pump, etc. Mr. Godfrey is engaged in stock raising and is one of the
most extensive farmers in the township, and it would be difficult to find a better large
tract of land in the township than his.
Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey have seven children: Maud, Isabelle, Franklin, Albert, Nellie,
Ernest and Emma. They have lost three by death: their first born, an infant son;
Charlotte Jane, at the age of six months; and a baby girl. Mr. Godfrey is a Republican
and has served the public as Township Trustee. He is a man in the prime of life, is well
posted on the topics of the day, is outspoken and affable in manner, and is regarded as
one of the popular citizens of Waveland Township. Mrs. Godfrey is an active member of the
Evangelical Church, of which her husband is one of the most liberal supporters. (end)