The William S. Godbe statement (1984) is a photocopy of the handwritten version in which Godbe describes his excommunication by the LDS Church, subsequent mining and smelting ventures in Utah Territory, his disagreements with Brigham Young, and his abandonment of polygamy. Godbe was a prominent Utah businessman. He was a member of a group of intellectual LDS dissenters that became known as the Godbeites and was excommunicated by the LDS Church in 1869.