A. J. Godfrey, druggist and grocer, was born in Kent County Mich., April 15, 1840. Removed with his parents to Indiana in 1841. Enlisted in the United States Army in Company B, Seventeenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, May 28, 1861, and was discharged August 12, 1865, when he returned to Noble County, Ind., and was married to Miss Sarah Gilbert, January 18, 1866. Removed to Iowa in 1868. Came to Jewell County, Kan., in August 1870, and took a homestead, a part of which is the town site of Burr Oak. In the fall of 1872 Mr. Godfrey caused the said town to be laid out and platted. Was elected the first County Commissioner from his district in 1871; was elected the first Justice of the Peace in Burr Oak Township in the fall of 1870; and the first post-office was opened in his house in 1871, and Mr. Godfrey was assistant postmaster. He is a member of the Masonic Order. His family consists of himself and wife and three living children – two boys and one girl. Two children are dead, the first a girl – Cora Leota, born September 8, 1870, the first white female child born in Jewell County, died April 7, 1871.
