Godwin was born in Radnorshire in Wales. Her maiden name was Weaver and it was thought, although incorrectly according to her biographer Robert Thomas Jenkins, that she was a child of the Puritan minister at Radnor named John Weaver. She married the controversial academic Samuel Jones.[1] He had founded an academy at Tewkesbury in 1713 which faced difficulties and he had turned to drink.[2] Jones married Godwin shortly before his death at Tewkesbury on 11 October 1719 aged thirty-seven.
Godwin was a noted correspondent who later married Edward Godwin, her husband's former student, in 1721.[3] She held non-conformist views and she was described as "quasi-Methodist". Her friends included Vavasor Griffiths, Howel Harris and Lewis Rees who were all independent ministers. Howel Harris was a religious reformer and they had a long friendship during which they exchanged over 40 letters.[3]
Godwin died in Watford, Hertfordshire, on 25 January 1746.[3]