John and Mary Pittaway Godfrey 

John was born October 30, 1825 in Hanbury, Worcestershire, England, the oldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Ainge Godfrey, who were both of peasant stock, and whose families had apparently lived in Hanbury for several generations. Thomas was a farm laborer and must have had some difficulty in supporting his family, as those were difficult times for the laborer. Farm prices had fallen disastrously, for example, cows fetched fifteen pounds in 1813 but only three pounds in 1826. 

When a reform bill was passed in 1832 some quarter of a million new voters were added to the rolls and one out of six adult males now had the vote. The more such acts passed extending the individual's civil rights, the closer the poor laborer came to gaining his freedom, or at least that probably was his thoughts. The Godfrey's must have felt that they gained something from this Act. 

The factory Acts and others during this time widened the scope of earlier legislation. No one under the age of eighteen was allowed to work for more than sixty-nine hours a week. Inspectors were allowed to enter factories at all times to see that regulations were observed. This did concern the Godfreys for all the children of the family would be sent to work at a very young age. 

Bad harvests prevailed for two years and severe trade depression led to hunger, unemployment, and general unrest, The Hungry Forties, was the term applied to those lean years. 

A grain drill was invented which planted the grain evenly in rows instead of having it broadcast haphazardly by hand as it had been done previously. By about 1825 the complete iron plow made its appearance. It would seem a good guess that John was familiar with the older type of machinery, for he would demonstrate proficiency with such machinery later in his life in Utah. 

There was scant room in the laborer's life for education, which probably meant farm workers must have been at least to a degree illiterate. It was a matter of chance whether a country child could get to school at all and if there was any compulsion it was the other way, for schooling had to take second place to earning a living. 

Since the Godfreys were poor laborers it is not surprising that John would begin working at a young age. Horses played a large part in every farm. They were used for all kinds of farm work, including plowing, harrowing, and roadwork. John worked at driving horses and he drove from three to Five teams at a time. He seemed to have the ability to get them to do what he wanted. It is part of the Godfrey heritage to love fme horses. 

Mary Pittaway was born May 1, 1822 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. Her parents were John Pittaway and Ann Willis (cemetery records show "Williams" in one instance, but research seems to show Willis). Not much of Mary's life has been preserved as a young girl. We know that her brothers went to sea and were indifferent toward religion, and that her mother and father said the Church of England was good enough for them. Mary was sixteen when she had her first child, Letitia, by Abraham Louis. She married John Godfrey in the Dodderhill Parish Church in September of 1845. 
	
Since John and Mary spent much of their life in the village of Wichbo1d, reputedly the ancestral home of the Pittaways, it seems logical that they might have met there. John worked in this community on a large farm for about four years after their marriage and it would seem to be a reasonable conclusion that he might have been working there prior to their marriage, thus being in the vicinity of the home of his future bride and giving the couple an opportunity to meet and become acquainted. 

Farm laborers had one outstanding characteristic - they were all poor. The cash wage had fallen and with wages being low, so were the costs of living. Cottage rents were about one shilling a week and for this a tenant had a garden where he grew his own vegetables. Sometimes farmers would allow their help extra ground for growing potatoes. Most cottages kept a pig or chickens and some kept a rabbit. Skim milk was often available from the farm dairy at very slight cost, and the family food supply was further supplemented by grain gleaned at harvest time. 

The man for whom John worked required one of his hired hands to give the text of the previous Sunday's sermon, or the entire crew went without dinner. One day, as noon approached, the boys who had not attended church the previous Sunday wondered what they were going to do. Finally they elected John to give their boss the required text. When the employer made his request John replied: 
The Lord above sends down his love Sharp edged swords and sickles, to cut the throat of all such folk, That begrudge their servants victuals.

It is supposed that the hired hand's request for food was granted that day even though the required text had not been furnished. 

Mary and John had three children when they heard the gospel from the missionaries. John was twenty-three when he was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints April 2, 1848 by Charles Knight, and conftrmed by Joseph Westergard. Mary was baptized September 3,1848, in Dodderhill by Joseph Westwood. Their son, George, was baptized August 18,1850, and John's mother Elizabeth Ainge Godfrey was baptized September 28, 1850. As soon as this happened, most of his friends and neighbors turned against him. It seems that John was baptized into his new faith on Sunday and on Monday morning his foreman asked him to report to the office at the end of the day. Opposition to the Mormon Church was very high at the time and John anticipated that he would be told that his services would be no longer required, so he was not surprised when Mister Bladden, the farm owner, said that he understood that John had joined the Mormon Church, and gave him the choice of giving up his church, or his job. 

John gave up his job, and then had to search for another one. He was unsuccessful in his first attempts because he was well known in his district, and word had been sent around that John Godfrey had joined the hated Mormons, and none of the farmers would hire him. 

Since no work meant no food for his family, he went to work on the railroad where he injured his ankle and is said to have laid among strangers for some time, and then returned to his old neighborhood and worked in the salt mines. While there he served as the presiding elder in the district. While holding this position he organized two or three additional church branches. 

However, his former employer requested his return to work on his large farm, and was rehired. They had ftve more children here. To help with their income, Mary made cheese for the farmers. Often she would make one hundred fifty blocks of cheese in a season. She also raised peppermint, took the leaves to the factory that gave her juice for pay. Mary used this juice to treat illnesses. 

A woman wanted to buy their son Thomas, and Mary and John of course refused the offer. 

They suffered greatly when the same woman kidnapped their three-year-old. He was only returned when she was threatened with the law. 

Like most Mormons, after joining the church John received impressions that he and his family should leave England and join the Saints in Utah. Mary thought they could live their religion and stay in England. Some believe her reason was fear of the ocean. Counseling with his priesthood leaders John was encouraged to send his oldest son George to America and was promised that within a year Mary would be eager to leave her home and join her son in the valleys of the mountains. Mary said it was hard to leave their loved ones behind in England, knowing they would never see them again, but she said, "The spirit of gathering came over us, and we knew we had the truth, and that eased the sting of parting". 

Charles W. Penrose, a native of London and afterwards an apostle and counselor in the fIrst presidency of the Mormon Church, often visited the Godfrey home and made it his headquarters whenever he was in their part of England. It was probably no accident that when George immigrated, he went on the ship Monarch of the Sea in 1861 with President Penrose in charge of the group. 

After George had left England John spoke in tongues in a church meeting, it frightened him, as he did not know what he was saying. A sister saint interpreted and said that through his faithfulness, a way would be provided and money furnished and they could come to America within a year's time. This spiritual experience was something John never forgot. 

It looked for a while that it would be impossible for the rest of the Godfreys to follow, but the way was provided and so they did follow. They were among some eight hundred Mormons who left Liverpool on the sailing vessel The William Tapscott May 14, 1862, under the leadership of seventeen year old, Francis M. Lyman. After six weeks and three days on the ship, they landed in New York. Mary's daughter Letitia never joined the church and remained in England with her grandmother. 

The family made the trip from New York to St. Joseph, Missouri by train and from St. Joseph to Florence, Nebraska by steamboat. The family stayed at Florence from July eighth to August tenth when the journey across the plains was begun. They traveled by means of ox carts that had been previously driven from Salt Lake City to Florence. There were six hundred and sixty five persons, with a hundred wagons and eight hundred oxen; this being enough oxen to allow for four oxen per wagon, plus enough additional oxen to permit changing of the teams from time to time. John and Mary's wagon had 19 people and John walked all the way.

 After they had traveled a few days they passed a Trading Post where some soldiers were stationed. The soldiers were killing a steer and because the family had always been told that in America people did not eat the head of anything, Thomas, the second son of John, asked the soldiers if they were not going to use the head if he might have it. They said, yes, and gave him a good big piece of it for soup. All who were sick had soup made of it. Every bit that could be used was used and enjoyed very much by the company. 

This company was under the leadership of Henry W. Miller, was an experienced frontiersman who had served previously as a missionary to the Indians. During the trip each night there were six men posted as guards to prevent Indians from stampeding the oxen. There were twenty-eight who died during the trip and were buried along the way. 

John brought quantities of sewing needles to this country for friends who were sending them here for friends. He was also bringing two buffalo robes, which was the only bedding Thomas, Joseph and Johnny had while crossing the plains. These Mormons, who traveled form Europe to Salt Lake Valley were not left on their own entirely, but were on the contrary, very well organized. They were shepherded from their localities to the seaport where they would board ships chartered for ocean crossing. On the ships they were organized into temporary groups with experienced members taking charge. 

The Godfreys arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 10, 1862, over five months after leaving their homeland. The oldest son George, who had come one year earlier, welcomed them. George had purchased a lot and had built a one-room log cabin with furniture and had it ready for the family when they arrived. George had worked hauling gravel and rock for the Salt Lake temple and had done excavating work for the Salt Lake Theater, one of the big public works projects of the time. John and his second son, Thomas, worked that winter sawing wood to provide for the family. 

In the anonymous Life History of John Godfrey we are told that upon arriving in Salt Lake the family found themselves in debt for about $1400 and that John went to work with great determination and paid it all off, with interest. I am sure that this is true, but I doubt that it was completely done that first winter, as implied, or even for the next few winters - this does not seem possible at fifty cents a day.
 
In May of 1863 the family moved to "Chalk Creek," located to the east of the Weber River near Coalville, Utah. They ran a farm for Ira Hinckley, planting wheat, barley, and oats, crops they had raised in England. Their youngest child, Catherine was born in Chalk Creek. Mary was fortyone years old at the time. A severe frost came in late August or early September and killed their entire crop, so the family moved to Wellsville in Cache Valley, staying there only two months, then moving on to Mendon, a neighboring community. They farmed that year in Mendon, on shares. 

After living in a dugout for the winter, the Godfreys built themselves a log house, fourteen feet square, with a dirt roof and floor, which they traded, along with the city lot on which it stood, for a yoke of oxen when the family decided to move to Clarkston that next spring. John Godfrey went to Clarkston in the early spring of 1865 and planted a crop of grain and a garden. He is credited with being the first man in that settlement to plow the ground. Weare told that plowing was done with wooden plows drawn by oxen or horses. 

In May 1865 John moved his family to Clarkston, where they camped in the open for a few weeks until he built a small house. Mary served as a midwife, as she had done in England. The family was poor but she often said there was such a spirit of neighborliness, and such a willingness to share, that all fared alike in the little town of Clarkston. 
The year 1866 brought trouble with the Shoshone Indians. These Indians claimed all of the land west of Bear River as theirs, so they came to assert their rights. The pioneers followed counsel previously given by President Brigham Young that it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. But their supplies dwindled and they did not have enough food to feed themselves, even without considering the Indians. The Indians fmally began to kill the settlers' cows and with this they were advised to move to Smithfield, another small settlement some twelve miles to the east. 

The men spent many tedious hours traveling back and forth in their efforts to gain a harvest from the crops that they had planted the previous spring. In the fall President Brigham Young came to Logan, the county seat, and told the Clarkston settlers that they could return to their homes, provided that they would build a fort to protect themselves. With that the small band proceeded to move. Joseph Godfrey, third son of John and Mary was drowned while they were crossing Bear River on the way back. He was seventeen years old and it would seem that he had his best years ahead of him. This tragedy must have been one of the most trying situations in a series of difficult ones that the Godfreys encountered. 

When the settlers moved back to Clarkston they built or arranged houses already built in such a way as to form a fort. Mrs. Sylvia G. Loosle, in an article History of Clarkston Fort tells us that in the fort " ... babies were born, children went to school, animals were cared for, meals were cooked: In other words life went on just as it would have if they were not living in a fort. The settlers moved to higher ground after staying in the fort for three or four years. 

Mary liked to raise chickens, and took pride in them and her garden. She liked fancy quilts and although she never owned a machine, she made many by hand as well as sewing for her family. When her family came for Thanksgiving they would enjoy her English suet pudding. 
	 
Mary loved her grandchildren and they loved her. She would invite them to come in the fall and help her gather in the 	 
squash. When the work was fmished there was a treat for everyone. She always had a piece of bread and preserves for her grandchildren when they came to see her. They called her, "Granny". 

John Godfrey was, according to his biographer, a good speaker and a very witty man. He must have had some musical ability for he is listed as being one of the early choristers of the Clarkston Ward. He was energetic, hopeful, and had self-confidence, which were traits of the Victorian Englishman, and which seem to be necessary attributes of a pioneer. 

In keeping with this common practice and belief of his people at the time, John Godfrey had married Olina Thalseth as a plural wife, 1875. This was a hard trial for Mary when her husband married this young Danish girl. Mary was a clean and fussy person and the girl was not. They tried to live together, but it was no use. Mary asked John to take his wife and go. John moved with Olina to Mendon. They were parents of five children: Mary, Moses, Maria, Samuel and Andrew, with Mary and Moses dying in infancy. In 1891, John moved this family back to Clarkston where he homesteaded more land. 

John and Mary were divorced. Information is on record at the Logan, Utah Family Resource Center. Film Number 430990 Cache County Probate Record. 

After John moved to Mendon, Mary was left to make her own way. It is noteworthy that Mary's sons and son-in-laws built her a home at the time of John's second marriage, a two-room log house. She and her daughter Catherine irrigated their farm alone, and worked hard to make a living. All her other children had married and moved out. She would trade a cup of yeast for a cup of flour, and in this way they had bread. Daughter Sarah Godfrey Clark described Mary's home: "[Her] house was one room with the stove, a table and cupboard on one side. In the comer sat a box with a curtain around it, which Mary called her 'toilet stand'; their personal things were kept there. Across the other end of the room were two beds; the heads of each bed were against opposite walls but the ends nearly touched." 

Later, her grandson Ezekiel Godfrey and his new bride Agnes Wheatley would move in, shortly after Mary's death. Zeke and Agnes added on, and lived there until their deaths in In 196162. This house is just a block west of the Clarkston Church House. 

John was a seventy and a ward teacher, he died 19 Feb 1893, age 67, in Clarkston and was buried in the Clarkston Cemetery. 

Only one memory had been preserved concerning Mary as a midwife. Grandson George relates he picked her up on horseback, in the middle of the night to help his wife Elizabeth Zaugg Godfrey in delivery of Brigham Wilford Godfrey, January 25, 1897, four years before her death. 

Mary loved to go to meetings. In spite of all that came to her she never lost her testimony of the gospel. 
Daughter Sarah, never learned to read or write, not even her own name, although she could figure in her head and corrected the store clerk ifhe made a mistake on how much her butter and eggs would bring. She had a quick memory for prices, likely learned from her mother Mary. She also measured cloth from the tip of her nose to the end of her thumb, and measured lace from the tip of her middle finger to the knuckle-no doubt also learned from Mary. 

In her declining years, she suffered from dropsy. After twenty-nine years of living alone, Mary died 15 June 1901 at the age of 79 in Clarkston. 

Histories of John and Mary were combined and condensed for use in this book from histories written by Richard S. Godfrey and Elinor G. Hyde. 

A PATRIARCHAL BLESSING GIVEN TO MARY PITTAWAY 
A Patriarchal Blessing by Charles H. Hyde, upon the head of Mary Pittaway Godfrey daughter of John Pittaway and Ann Willis. Born 1 May 1822, in England. 
I place my hands upon thy head and seal on you a Patriarchal Blessing which shall be sealed in heaven for your good. 
The father has given his angels charge over thee. Thou shalt have visions and dreams to comfort you and shall see the rolling forth of this kingdom till Zion shall be redeemed in peace. The Father has preserved thy life for a great and wise purpose, that you may redeem your dead. They shall rise up in the resurrection and call you blessed. It is your privilege to live till the coming of the Son of God, sit in council with Adam and with all thy holy prophets. It is your privilege to work in the temple for the living and the dead and hear the voice of angels calling you by name, Mary, Mary. They will give you the names of your dead; for no good thing shall be held form [sic] thee. 
Thou art a daughter of Ephraim, a right to the fullness of the Priesthood, with thy companion and a kingdom with shall rise up and bless you in your old age. Thy table shall be spread with all the bounties of the earth with a fullness of exaltation with eternal lives, with all thy Father's household. To God and the Saints forever and ever. Amen 

A PATRIARCHAL BLESSING GIVEN TO JOHN GODFREY 

A Patriarchal Blessing by Charles H. Hyde, upon the head of John Godfrey, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Godfrey; born 30 October 1825, in England. 

John, I place my hands upon thy head and seal on thee a Patriarchal Blessing. Thou will yet be called to Proclaim this gospel to nation, kindred, tongues and people. Thou shall have a voice like a trumpet and do much good in this kingdom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thou shall prophesy of many things. You shall hunt up the names of your dead relatives and shall do a great and mighty work for them. Thou shall be the means of bringing many souls into the kingdom of God. No power shall stay thy hands. Thine enemies shall flee before thee, some shall say that 'he' is the servant of the living God. By thy preaching kings shall bow at thy feet. 

Thou art of Joseph, a right to the fullness of the Priesthood with wives and a great kingdom on the earth. Thou shalt have houses, lands, horses and chariots for thy comfort. You shall see the coming of the son of God. You shall be crowned with glory and Eternal life with thy Father's household, for ever and ever. Amen.