He thrice served in the House of Burgesses representing the Nansemond River area (variously Nansemond County, and later Upper Norfolk County), and was its Speaker in the June 1676 session that preceded Bacon's Rebellion.
He and Richard Axom jointly patented 1,500 acres of land in York County, Virginia in 1650 (based on paying passage for emigrants).
[6] In 1670, Godwin and a Puritan named Richard Bennett sent a letter to England identifying themselves as living in the Nansemond River area.
Since that assembly in March 1676 named Godwin, John Lear and Thomas Milner to impress men and supplies to fight Native Americans, one historian deduced he was not allied with either the Governor Berkeley/Green Spring faction, nor the Nathaniel Bacon faction that revolted.
[9] His son Thomas Godwin Jr., who married Martha, the daughter and heiress of Col. Joseph Bridger in 1686, held the rank of Major in its militia, was among three men disciplined in May 1699 for spreading false rumors concerning an election that year, and also thrice served in the House of Burgesses representing Nansemond County beginning in 1710.