Moses Godfrey is the ancestor of Kenyan Hicks, founder of Noire Distillery. 

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Moses Godfrey

Moses Godfrey was born about 1840. We can only begin to imagine what Moses day to day life would have been. He was born into slavery. when he turned 25, he gained his freedom.

What he did from there was as mundane as it was miraculous. He worked hard, he owned land and he employed others. Monumental accomplishments against the backdrop of a legally-oppressive society

 

Moses fathered 7 children according to Census information. Somehow, he acquired the land on which he raised his family. By the 1910 Census, Moses Godfrey was listed as ’Employer.’ He was 70 years old. 

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He would have been a minority of the minority to be a Black land and business owner during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
 

During Reconstruction, Black Americans lived under ’Jim Crow.’  Moses' rights were under constant threat. 

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With this backdrop, Moses fathered the first members of his family to be registered to serve in the U.S. military. Jack and Lumpkin Godfrey both have World War I draft registration cards in the history books. The family would go on to have someone serving in the military in some way shape or form during every major American conflict. 

 

Moses fathered Josh Godfrey who would move to Michigan and work for Ford Motor Company during the Great Migration. Black Americans numbering in the millions relocated to the northern and western portions of the United States. Josh was a moment in progress himself, being one of the first in the family to be able to read and write. He took his talents to Michigan, hoping to further progress his family’s opportunities. 

 

The women who contributed to the Godfrey family story are incredible. Retha, Ila, and Bessie Godfrey all lived under Moses’ roof at some point. Godfrey women at times have made the ultimate sacrifice. On more than one occasion an expecting mother was lost at or around the time of childbirth. 

 

There are not a lot of documents illustrating actions of the women in the family, but what we can infer given the time they lived, along with birth and death certificates brings us to understand the gravity of their actions.