Godbey, Russell

Born: 1800-11-02 Montgomery County, Virginia

Died: 1888-12-25 Menard County, Illinois

Alternate name: Godby

Godbey lived in Indiana for one year before settling in Sangamon County, Illinois, in July 1830. He purchased land and made the immediate acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln, who was the surveyor of his property. On December 10, 1822, he married Elizabeth Brown with whom he had eight children. After Elizabeth died, Godbey married Eleanor Carpenter with whom he had two more children. Godbey was a Baptist, a life-long Democrat, and served as a justice of the peace. In 1850, he was a farmer in Menard County, Illinois, with $6,000 in real property.

The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 743; Gravestone, Rose Hill Cemetery, Petersburg, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Menard County, IL, 307; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Menard County, IL, 109.