Allen H.
Godbey
A Biography
by Clarence H. Brannon
Dr. Allen H. Godbey was a prolific author and a member of
the faculty of the School of Religion (now the Divinity
School) of Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. His
notes and letters on the Godbey family are an important
part of this web site.
Clarence H. Brannon, a student of Dr. Godbey, wrote his
biography in 1949, which was published by the Christopher
Publishing House of Boston. The entire biography is of
interest. He writes, for example, "Dr. Godbey never owned a
horse, an automobile or a radio." I quote the first two or
three pages from his book, in which he describes the
history of the Godbey family:
Allen Howard
Godbey was born on November 21, 1864, in Cooper County,
Missouri. This is the official record which appears in
Who's Who, but Allen Godbey was actually born in a log
cabin across the county line in Pettis County. The county
line went through the farm of Dr. Allen H. Conkright, where
Allen was born and form whom he was named.
The Godbeys were originally from England. [Footnote: The
name "Godbey" (Guthe-By or Gudh-By) was originally Danish,
dating from the Danish occupation of Leicestershire. The
Danish name originally meant anyone from the village of
"Guhe-By" (or Gudh-By), and did not mean that all of that
name were related.] Thomas Godbey came to America on the
ship Deliverance in 1608, and settled in Elizabeth City
County, Virginia, where he died in 1628. There is a record
of two Thomas Godbeys, the son and grandson of the
passenger on the good ship Deliverance, as settlers on the
Elizabeth River, Lower Norfolk, Virginia.
The Godbey family moved to Christ Church Parish, Middlesex
County, Virginia, where Edward, the grandson of the first
Thomas Godbey, died in about 1707. The Godbeys then moved
to CAroline County, Virginia, where John, the great
grandson of Thomas died in 1761. There were more than one
hundred distinguished preachers, educators and editors
among the descendants of this John Godbey.
The second John Godbey was born about 1752 and became a
soldier in the American Revolution. He was converted by
Francis Asbury after which he freed his slaves. None of his
descendants were ever slave owners through they lived in
slave states. They were, however, unalterably opposed to
pulpit abolitionism.
William Godbey, son of the second John, moved from Caroline
County, Virginia, to Casey County, Kentucky, in about 1803,
and lived o be 96 years of age. Four of William's sons
became Methodist Preachers. Of these four sons, John Godbey
and Josiah Godbey, each had four sons who were Methodist
Preachers.
Rev. Josiah Godbey, the grandfather of Allen H. Godbey,
moved to Cooper County, Missouri, in 1851. Josiah's wife's
grandfather was a Catholic (Kelly), but he was converted in
the New River Hills of Virginia, before he went to
Kentucky. Josiah dropped out of the ministry and farmed for
a while but Missouri put him back to preaching. He had a
makeup much like that of Drummond, and his is said to have
been the best o all the Godbey preachers. Josiah was not an
educated man but he stuck to certain basic convictions
which no one could dispute. here are men who will somehow
know the things worth knowing and Josiah was one of them.
William Clinton Godbey, the father of Allen H. Godbey, was
one of Josiah's ten children. In 1858, when William was 21
ears o age, he ran a subscription school at Arator,
Missouri, about 18 miles from Smiths' Chapel, near the
Cooper-Pettis County line. Several of William's younger
brothers and sisters were paying members of this private
school. It was not a grammar school; mostly high-school
subjects being taught there.
The next year (1859) found William as St. Charles College,
Missouri, where he remained until the college was closed at
the outbreak of the Civil War. William strapped his Lain
book on a plow and learned that and several other subjects
before entering St. Charles.
William married Caroline Smith, of Smith's Chapel, Saline
County, Missouri, a direct descendant of Captain John
Smith's brother. Caroline attended Howard High School at
Fayette, Howard County, Missouri, founded by Nathan
Scarritt. Howard County was called "Little Virginia"
because many of its pioneer settlers came from the Old
Dominion. It is now a famous apple
section.
-- Brannon, Clarence H., Allen H.
Godbey, a Biography, pp. 13-15 (Christopher
Publishing House, Boston, 1949)