Godfrey Nims (d. 1705) may have been of Huguenot origin, according to a family tradition. He was living in Northampton, Massachusetts, by 1667, and settled in Deerfield by 1679. He married twice, to Mary Miller Williams, and Mehitable Smead Hull, both widows with children, by whom he had children of his own. He was survived by four of his children.