Griffith


leek    Griffith    leek

Compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2003

"Leek", pen and ink drawing by Anne E. G. Nydam, 2004
used by permission

The leek, Ceninen in Welsh, is a traditional emblem of Wales, from whence came the Griffith family.


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          This line has been traced back to the early medieval princes Warlords and Kings whose story is told in my account of (some) of our Anglo Saxon, Irish, Viking, and Welsh Lines. For the purposes of this work, however, we begin the line just a few generations before the family emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania. The information on the earliest generations given here, and some of the later data, is taken from Thomas Allen Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, John Griffith and Griffith Griffiths (sons of Griffith John, of the Parish of Llanddewi Brefi, in the County of Cardigan, South Wales, Great Britain), who removed to the County of Chester, Pennsylvania, in the early part of the XVIIIth Century (1905). When other sources have been used, they are cited. Click on a number to see the specific citation, or scroll to the bottom to see them all.

Griffith coat of arms

          We do not have any right to these arms, of course, not having descended through an unbroken line of eldest sons. In addition, early Friends eschewed outward forms of honor such as titles, coats of arms, and other marks of social status. However, it is included here at least in part because this attractive rendition was painted by Griffith descendant, Martha Kelso Dunning Paxson6, granddaughter of Martha Ann Griffith4.

          A note on names: in Wales children took their father’s first name, so that each generation had a different patronymic. This began to change for wealthier Welsh who lived in proximity to English as early as the fifteenth century, but wasn't complete throughout Wales until the nineteenth century. It was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that yeoman (among whom most of our many Welsh ancestors would have been counted, although perhaps not all of the Griffith line) gradually made the change. Once they moved to Pennsylvania, however, they generally kept their own patronymic and made it into a permanent last name following the English custom.

          Corrections and additions will be welcome. Please contact me via e mail at . I do not intend that this page become a definitive, all-inclusive Griffith web site, however. It's main purpose is to offer as comprehensive information as possible about the ancestors of Martha Ann Griffith who married Samuel F. Balderston in 1835. Additional bits do seem to have crept in, however.



Earlier Generations in Wales

Griffith ap HughC, or Griffith Hugh, provides a good starting point. He was born in about 1601, the third son of Hugh ap Jenkin ap GriffithD and his second wife, his cousin Mary ferch Lewis. Griffith died in the parish of Nantcwnlle, probably in December of 1670. See information on the numbering system used on this web page.

          Nantcwnlle (or Nant-Gynllo) is a parish in the union of Tręgaron, County of Cardigan, eight miles north of Lampeter. It was named for the small brook that flows into the river Aëron. One hundred fifty years ago there were remains of an ancient entrenchment, called "Pen y Gaer", but I do not know if it is still visible.[1]

          At the age of 21 his father gave Griffith money to buy a farm. He purchased on 20 April 1622 one “messuage” (a dwelling house with its belongings, outbuildings, and garden), 40 acres of arable land, eight acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture, ten acres of woodland, and 20 acres of furze and heath, all for £40 in silver.[2] Griffith subsequently bought land on the borders of Nantcwnlle and Trevilan parishes, and in Llanddewi Brefi.

          Griffith married Margaret ___, who predeceased him. Griffith died probably in December of 1670 and his body was buried in the Nantcwnlle church yard. In the mid-fifth century a church had been built there, dedicated to St. Cynllo. The church, as it appeared 150 years ago, was small and plain, with a nave and chancel.[3]

          Griffith signed his will when he was “sicke in body” on 12 August, and it was proved 15 December. Griffith left 4d to the cathedral church of St. Davids, and most of his land to his oldest surviving son John, who was also named executor. His inventory included five milk cows, two steers, five “small beasts”, 35 sheep, and three horses.[4]

          Children of Griffith ap Hugh and Margaret (__):

i.     Hugh ap GriffithB, d. Oct. 1663, unmarried. His will, dated 8 Oct. 1663 and proved 29 Oct., mentions a number of relatives to whom he bequeathed lambs, etc.

ii.     Margaret ferch Griffith, m. 6 Aug. 1656 in Tręgaron Church Thomas ap John of Llanddewi Brefi. Thomas John m(2) Joan, the widow of David OWEN. Neither wife appears to have had any children by him, although Joan had a son by her first husband.

iii.     Jowan ferch Griffith, m. Edward ap David, and had a daughter, Jowan EDWARDS who was mentioned in her uncle Hugh’s will.

iv.    John ap Griffith, b. ca. 1635; d. 1681. He inherited everything else from his father, including cattle, real estate, and moveable and immovable goods that were not bequeathed to others.

v.     David ap Griffith, inherited “the tenement of lands called Tyn y Parke” in Nantcwnlle, plus £10.

vi.     Jane ferch Griffith, in her father’s will she received £26.13.4 “towards her mariadge portion” to be paid her in four payments over a four-year period.

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John ap GriffithB, the second son and main heir of Griffith ap HughC, was born about 1635, and died in 1681. He married Gwenllian ferch DAVID. John inherited his father’s lands, a considerable estate, near where the ancient boundaries of the parishes of Nantcwnlle, Trevilan, and Llanddewi Brefi meet, and in Llanfihangel Ystrad. He presumably lived from about 1674 in the portion of his estates that lay inside Trevilan. He was styled a gentleman.

          Llanddewi Brefi (Llan-Ddewi-Brevi) was a parish in the union of Tręgaron, eight miles northeast by north from Lampeter. The river Teivy runs through it. It is an ancient settlement, with ruins of the Roman town called Loventium. In 519 ecclesiastical leaders met here to suppress the Pelagian ideas they considered heretical. In 1073 the area was the scene of a bloody battle between Gronw and Llewelyn, sons of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn against Rhys ab Owain and Rhydderch ap Caradoc. There are remains of a castle built by Rhys ab Owain. In 1187 a college was founded, that lasted until Henry VIII dissolved such things. When our ancestors were there they would have attended the fairs on March 7, July 24, October 9, and November 13. They would have worshipped in the church, built in 1187 on the spot where St. David supposedly stood when he preached against Pelagianism. It has a massive square tower, and is in the early English style.[5]

          John died at his estate in Trevilan shortly before 3 May 1681. Because he left no will, his freehold lands were divided equally among his four sons. This followed old Welsh custom of equal division rather than English primogeniture in which the eldest son got practically everything. Gwenllian was granted letters of administration upon his personal estate on 3 May 1681.

          Sons of John Griffith and Gwenllian David:

i.     Hugh ap John GriffithA, b. ca. 1661/2; became a Baptist, and resided near a kinsman who was a Baptist minister. After the death of his brother Griffith, Hugh took in Griffith’s three sons, John, William, and Griffith Griffiths. Hugh’s brothers conveyed part of their father’s estate, namely 300 acres and 11 tenements in Nantcwnlle and Llanvihangel Ystrad, to Hugh.

ii.     David John ap Griffith; his signature appears as witness on various documents of his neighbors. He apparently conveyed all or part of his interest in their father’s estate to his older brother Hugh.

iii.    Griffith ap John Griffith, b. ca. 1666/7; bapt. Apr. 1674; d. 1711. He was entitled to one third of his father’s free-hold land.

iv.     John ap John Griffith

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Griffith ap JohnA, or Griffith John Griffith, third son of John ap Griffith, was born about 1666/7 in Llanddewi Brefi, Cardinganshire, Wales, but was not baptised until April 1674. He died about 1711. His name has been variously spelled Griffith John, Johns (Shones), and Jones. Griffith married Margaret JENKIN, the daughter of Jenkin ap Jones. They lived adjacent to her father, then later removed to Caron in Tręgaron. In various legal documents Griffith usually referred to himself as “yeoman” and occasionally “gentleman”.

          Tręgaron (Caron, or Tręv-Garon) is a market town and parish in Cardiganshire, 39 miles east by north from the town of Cardigan. It is on the river Berwyn and has two small lakes. The parish includes the chapelry of Strata Florida (Caron-Uwch-Clawdd), the burial place of king Caron in 219, who was later canonized. The village of Tręgaron is on the road from Lampeter to Rhaiadr. There was a market on Tuesdays. At Castell Sunnyhill there are most of the remains of a prehistoric stone circle. A bank of earth several miles long, the Cwys Ychain Banawg, or “furrow of the oxen” is very old. There are also remains at Castell Flemys of fortifications built by Flemish immigrants. The church has a nave, chancel, and embattled tower sixty feet high. It is in the later English style. There are four ancient monument stones in the church graveyard, two with inscriptions, supposedly erected in the sixth century.[6]

          Jenkin ap Jones “of Koedmawr in the County of Cardigan and of ye Parish of Llanddewi Brefi”, Margaret’s father, dated his will 28 May 1705. It was proved in 1708. In it he left to his two sons-in-law, Griffith ap Jones or John, and William ap Jenkins two houses in the village of Caron and “a great old hall” and two gardens belonging thereto until “an absolute sale be made thereof towards ye paymnt of my debts”. There was apparently litigation over Jenkin Jones’s estate.

          Probably around 1711 Griffith and Margaret moved to Nantcwnlle, where he soon died, followed almost immediately by Margaret. Two children, John and Mauld, had already been apprenticed to live with a distant relative, Morgan Thomas, in Llanddewi Brefi. After Griffith and Margaret died, the four remaining children were parcelled out among Griffith’s older brothers, Hugh and David, who had adjacent farms in the same valley with their uncle David ap Griffith’s Ty’n y Park.

          Children of Griffith and Margaret (Jones) John:

i.     William Griffith1, removed to Pennsylvania, settling in East Town, Chester Co. where he d. Feb. 1790. He was married, and a Baptist. His will was signed 23 May 1785 and pr. 6 Feb. 1790.[7] He had five surviving children: William, John, David, Sarah who m. Daniel McKACHEN, and Ann who m. John EDWARDS. Son John had a son named Benjamin John, who inherited his “uncle” David John's books in 1778.[8]

ii.    John Griffith, removed to Pennsylvania with his brothers; m. 31 Oct. 1734 Mary JOHN; d. Oct. 1774 in East Nantmeal, Chester Co., Penna. He was a Friend.

iii.     Griffith Griffiths, d. shortly before 16 Oct. 1760 in East Nantmeal, Chester Co., Penna. (he added the “s” to his last name, as have his descendants); as an orphan sent to live with his uncle Hugh John, a neighbor of the Baptist Rev. David EDWARDS. Griffith became a Baptist, along with his brother William. The family tradition is that about the year 1715 when Griffith was 16 or 17 years old, his uncle sent him with a tithe of wool to the Vicar of the established church. A dispute arose, either about the tithe or regarding Griffith’s nonconformity. The Vicar threw the bags and one hit Griffith’s head. Whereupon Griffith struck the Vicar, then fled. To escape the consequences—and his uncle’s wrath—Griffith, joined by his brothers, sailed to Pennsylvania, shortly after 12/1716/7 OS. Griffith m. 1722 Gwen, daughter of Evan THOMAS. Griffith was a member of the Great Valley Baptist Church, but in 1727 was among those who broke away over the Sabbath, and formed a Seventh Day Baptist Church in French Creek. His will was dated 29 Mar. 1748, pr. 16 Oct. 1760.[9] Griffith and Gwen had children:
a)   Abel Griffiths, b. 25 April 1723; d. 4 Feb. 1804 intestate; m(1) 1 Jan. 1763 Marget BRAMER (d. 13 Apr. 1774); m(2) Mary __. In 1746 he was part of the Ephrata Community in Lancaster Co., but left and by 1763 he was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. Abel and Marget had 8 children.
b)   William Griffiths, b. _;
c)   Evan Griffiths, b. 23 Feb. 1729; mentally ill; d. without issue.
d)   Dan [not Daniel] Griffiths, m. Rebecca __; he was a planter, justice of the common pleas in East Nantmeal Twp., Chester Co.; had children: 1. Samuel (d. in New Orleans; m. Elizabeth HOWELL; had 1 daughter); 2. David (d. unmarried); 3. Hannah (m. James KIRKPATRICK)
e)   Levi Griffiths, b. 1738; d. 30 Jan. 1825 in Fayette Co., Pa.; m. Elizabeth EVANS; fought in the Revbolutionary War;
f)   Amos Griffiths, no issue, left his estate to his nephew Dr. Amos Griffith, son of Abel.
g)   Rebecca Griffiths, m. John HOWELL of Bucks Co. and had children: Sarah (m. Abel MATTHIAS of Hilltown Twp.); Elizabeth (m. Samuel GRIFFITH); and Ann (m. Jesse HUMPHRIES).
iv.     Mauld Griffith, was apprenticed to a distant kinsman, Morgan THOMAS, to learn dairying. He left her a small bequest in his will, pr. 25 June 1712. She was probably named for her aunt, Mauld DAVID.

v.     Margaret Griffith, bapt. 8 Oct. 1704 in the house in Caron, Tręgaron, that had been bequeathed to her father by his father-in-law. Named in Welsh, Anghard, for her mother.

vi.     Rhys Griffith, b. 2 Aug. 1711.

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First Generation in Pennsylvania


John Griffith1, son of Griffith and Margaret, was born near the conjunction of the parishes of Nantcwnlle, Llanddewi Brefi, and Trevilan in Cardiganshire, Wales. He died in about October 1774 in East Nantmeal, Chester County, Pennsylvania. John married on 31 Eighth Month 1734 in Chester County Pennsyslvania, Mary JOHN, the daughter of Samuel John and his wife Margaret. Mary was born 19 Twelfth Month 1709/10.[10]

          At a young age John and his younger sister Mauld were apprenticed to Morgan THOMAS, a distant relative, to learn farming and domestic arts, respectively. Llanddewi Brefi was known as a center of Nonconformity, both Baptist and Quaker. Morgan Thomas was a Quaker, and John Griffith soon became convinced of Friends’ Truth. When Morgan Thomas died in 1712, the children were sent to Ty’n y Park with their siblings. Their guardian seems to have been their uncle Hugh John, who was a Baptist. Family tradition described the farm as in a narrow valley “where daylight appeared as a reflection on the Western mountains”. Thomas Allen Glenn, family historian, searched out the valley and found this to be an accurate description.

          Family tradition also told the story of young Griffith Griffiths, John’s brother, then a boy of about 16 or 17, being sent in 1715 by his uncle to the local parish priest with the uncle’s tithe, a sack of wool. (Baptists may not have appreciated paying tithes to the established church in which they did not worship, but unlike Quakers they did not made a public witness of refusing to pay.) Somehow an argument broke out between the priest and the teenager. The priest threw the sack at the boy, and Griffith punched the priest. Then he ran home, fearing the wrath of his uncle more than the anger of the priest. It must have been a tense and difficult time for the boys. Sometime after February 1716/7, the three oldest brothers emigrated (fled?) to Pennsylvania, settling in Chester County.

          John married at the Uwchlan meeting house on 31 Eighth Month 1734 Mary JOHN, the daughter of Samuel and Margaret (__) John. She had been born 19 February 1709/10 in Uwchlan Township, Chester County. The marriage certificate was signed by the bride’s parents and other John relatives, the groom’s brother Griffith Griffiths and his wife Gwen Griffiths, with nine men and ten women as additional witnesses.[11]

          In 1750 John and Mary removed from Goshen to Wilmington, in what became Delaware, and in 1754 returned to Goshen. Then they moved to East Nantmeal. There John’s name appears in the tax returns for six years. From 1765 through 1769 and in 1771 he was listed with between 100 and 128 acres, two to four horses, three to six cattle, none to eight sheep, and no servants. The fluctuations in livestock are assumed to reflect the realities of farming and marketing. But the variations in acreage are assumed to reflect the rather careless clerical work of the era.[12]

          John died in October, 1774, in East Nantmeal. He made his second son, John, sole executor, leaving him all his lands. The other two sons were given £100 each, and may have received acreage earlier when they married. A memorandum to the will stipulated that all debts due the estate from sons William and Samuel were to be paid out of their legacies. Daughter Anna was given £35. Son John was to care for his mother as long as she lived. The will specified that John was to supply firewood cut and brought to her upstairs room, provide a “riding creature” (presumably horse, mule, donkey, or jennet?), see that her laundry was done, give her £10 a year spending money, and give her “free liberty to pass and repass” through the dwelling house.[13]

          It is probably the widowed Mary who appears as a head of household on the 1787 tax list. She was enumerated on 19 Fourth Month, the same day as Samuel "Griffin". As a female, she was not liable for the tithe. She was listed with two cattle, no African-Americans, and no white males between the age of 16 and 21—and no "riding creature".[13a]

          Children of John and Mary (John) Griffith:

i.     William Griffith2 , b. 28/3m/1736; m. Hetty WYNNE. Res. in Chester Co., Pa.; d. fairly young.[14] They had children:
Mary, m. Joseph BRUCE;
Hannah, m. Joseph GREEN;
Hetty, m. John GUTHRIE;
other children.
ii.    John Griffith, b. 13/6m/1737; m. 11/10m/1768 Mary FAULKNER; d. 22/1m/1833; had five children.

iii.       Samuel Griffith, d. before 5/6m/1787??; m(1) Amy GEORGE, m(2) Mary LEITER or Litler. They settled in Frederick Co., Va. ca. 1777. Samuel and Amy signed the marriage certificate of Jesse LUPTON and Rebecca GEORGE at Hopewell on 13/4m/1786, as did their sons John and Richard,[15]. On 19 Apr. 1787 the tax commissioner enumerated Samuel "Griffin" as listed as head of his household with 1 horse or mule or colt, no white males between the ages of 16 and 21, nor any Blacks in the household. It is possible that Samuel died soon after being enumerated.[15a] Samuel had three sons and a daughter with his first wife:[16]
a. John who m. 1791 Hannah FALKNER and d. in Ohio or Indiana leaving 5 heirs; Hannah was disowned 4/4/1791 by Hopewell MM for marrying contrary to discipline. She was the daughter of Jesse Faulkner, and came with her family from Warrington MM to Hopewell, 4/6m/1770.[17]
b. Richard, d. somewhat young, had one son, but no grandchildren.
c. Evan, d. somewhat young, had one son, but no grandchildren. He signed the marriage certificate of his cousin, Martha Griffith and Joseph MORGAN at Hopewell on 12/11m/1789; and another on 13/6m/1793; and one on 13/11m/1794.[18]
d. Amy, who m. Amos PARK of Hampshire Co.,[West] Va. and left 8 heirs; they were married before 15/7m/1812 when they both signed a marriage certificate at Dillons Run, Hampshire Co. Amos signed without Amy on 14/12m/1814 and earlier on 14/1m/1795.[19]
Samuel had 2 children with his second wife:
Elijah Griffith went to Ohio and left descendants;
Samuel Griffith, Jr. m Eleanor RUBLE in 1801 in Frederick Co., went west where Eleanor d. and Samuel Jr. remarried.[20]
iv.       Ruth Griffith, m. 6/11m/1767 at Uwchlan Mtg. Samuel FISHER of East Caln. She may have died by 1774 since her father did not mention her in his will, but left Samuel Fisher a token 1/ sterling. Resided in Chester Co., Pa.; had at least 2 children: Amos, and Mary who m __ “Selectenan” and moved to “Kaintucky”.[21]

v.     Anna Griffith, m. 16/10m/1771 Jesse WICKERSHAM of Newberry twp, York Co., Pa. She inherited £35 from her father. She had several children.[22]



Second Generation in the new world

John Griffith Jr.2, born in Chester County on 13 Sixth Month (August) 1737, [or he was born 24 Ninth Month (September or November) 1737 in East Nantmeal Township],[23] and died 22 First Month 1833 in Frederick County, Virginia. John married first on 11 Tenth Month 1768 Mary FAULKNER, under the care of the Monthly Meeting serving “Huntingdon and Warringtown” in York County, Pennsylvania. Thirty two witnesses signed their wedding certificate. Mary was born 18 Twelfth Month 1746/7, the daughter of Jesse and Martha (SMITH) Faulkner of Menallen Township, York County (now Adams County), and died 12 February 1781.[24] John married a second time, Mary ELLIS (1742-1836). They had no children.

          John shows up on the tax list for East Nantmeal, where he grew up, in 1765 as a “single man”. In 1766, 1767, and 1768 he was listed as a “freeman”.[25] A freeman was neither a slave or indentured servant, but a man who did not live on his own land. In 1768 John got married.

          Two years after he inherited his father’s land in East Nantmeal, John and Mary removed to Berkeley County, Virginia. Among their children was an infant, Jesse, who died there at the age of six months. The next year they moved on to Frederick County, Virginia. On 11 Third Month 1777 their certificate of removal from Uwchlan, dated 5 Eighth Month (October) 1777 for John, Mary, and their children Martha, Mary, and Sybill, was received at Hopewell Monthly Meeting.[26]

          One would think that the early history of a Friends Meeting would be well documented and beyond doubt. But this doesn't seem to be the case with Hopewell Friends Meeting. According to Cartland, a meeting house was built on a ten-acre plot deeded to Friends in 1728. However, the Meeting's own official bicentennial history states that the meeting was set up in 1734, with the first meeting house built in 1739. In any event, Hopewell’s first building was a small log house that was replaced with a larger stone building in 1759. It was nearly doubled in size by an addition in 1788.[27] At first the meeting was a part of Chester Quarter of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Because it usually met at Concord, eventually it became known as Concord Quarter. In 1758 Western Quarter was set off from Concord, to include Newark, New Garden, Nottingham, Bradford, Sadsbury, Duck Creek, Hopewell, Fairfax, and Warrington Monthly meetings.[28]

          The Griffiths arrived in Hopewell in time to be part of the decision to acknowledge that they and their forebears had, indeed, not paid the Native Americans for the land they settled upon in the Shenandoah Valley. After much prodding by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, on 6 First Month 1778 a number of Friends pledged to donate some money to repay the Indians if the original owners could be found, or if not, to fund some other eleemosynary projects for them. John Griffith pledged £5.[28a] This was considerably more than many, including those who had settled in the valley many years earlier.

          Well settled into their new meeting, John began to attend marriages, signing the certificates, and thus leaving a faint paper trail. On 5 Fourth Month 1780 he attended the marriage of Stephen THATCHER and Ruth FORKNERE (Faulkner), at Middle Creek.[28b] Ruth was one of Mary's younger sisters

          Mary died on 2 Twelfth Month 1781.[29] On 2 Second Month 1784 John was granted a certificate from Hopewell to Crooked Run Meeting to marry Mary ELLIS. The marriage took place on 10 Third Month 1784 at Crooked Run Meeting house. John's daughter Martha was the only child of John's deemed old enough to sign the certificate; her signature was the second one in the right hand column, in the space usually reserved for parents of the groom. Mary was received at Hopewell on 6 Third Month 1784, on certificate from Crooked Run dated 6 Second Month.[30]

          Beginning in June 1783 John, sometimes accompanied by his second wife or some of his children, attended Friends' marriages in the area and signed the certificates. On 12 Sixth Month 1783 at Hopewell he witnessed the marriage of Richard GEORGE and Mary COWGILL.[31a] On 16 Tenth Month that year he and his eldest daughter Martha attended the marriage of Abraham SMITH and Martha PYNE at Hopewell.[31b] On 4 Twelfth Month 1783 John, Mary, and Martha witnessed the marriage of Thomas BARRETT and Elizabeth THORNBROUGH at Hopewell.[31c] Two years later the Griffith women, Mary Sr., Mary Jr., and Amy attended the marriage of Richard BARRETT and Sarah GEORGE at Hopewell. John signed the marriage certificate of Thomas GREGG and Sarah COULSON on 10 Eleventh Month 1785 at Hopewell.[31d] Two women named Martha Griffith signed the certificate of David PAINTER and Martha FAULKNER on 8 Second Month 1786 at Middle Creek.[31e] John and Mary, with John's oldest child, Martha, aged 17, signed the marriage certificate of Jesse LUPTON and Rebecca GEORGE at Hopewell on 13 Fourth Month 1786. It was also signed by Richard, John, Mary, and Amy Griffith, children of our John's uncle Samuel.[31] On 7 Sixth Month 1786 John and David Griffith witnessed the marriage of Hugh SIDWELL and Mary HASTINGS at Middle Creek.[31g]

          In October 1786 the Virginia legislature passed a law requiring tax commissioners to personally visit every house and make a census of males, livestock, and other taxables. On 16 April 1789 John was visited, and listed as the head of a household consisting of himself, and no others of interest to the state (namely males over 16, and Blacks). Females and young white boys were not counted. John owned 5 beasts in the category "Horses, mares, colts & mules", and 15 cattle.[31h]

          After Fairfax-Warrington Quarter had been transferred from Philadelphia to Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Hopewell Friends subscribed money to buy a pasture lot in Baltimore so that Friends from a distance could pasture their horses during Yearly Meeting sessions. Money was also requested by the Yearly Meeting for enlarging the building in Baltimore to accommodate the yearly meeting sessions. In Third Month 1793 John Griffith was appointed to receive the money and presumably forward it to Baltimore.[32]

          On 12 Eleventh Month 1789 at Hopewell John's daughter Martha married Joseph MORGAN, son of John (deceased) and Mary of Frederick County, Virginia. The marriage certificate was signed by Martha's father, step-mother, sister Mary, brother John Jr., maternal grandfather Jesse Faulkner, sister "Sibbell", and first cousins Evan and John Griffith. Also signing in the family column were Deborah Morgan, John Morgan, and Robert DUNN, presumably siblings or in-laws of the groom.[32a]

          On 22 April 1794 the Commonwealth of Virginia granted land to John Griffith on the south side of today’s route 672, a short distance west of Weeltown Pike. There he probably built a house. On 20 December 1805 he conveyed the house and eight acres to Levi SMITH who, in turn, conveyed it to Jonathan WRIGHT on 17 March 1817. The house was said to be still standing in the year 2000, known as the Griffith-Ritter-Strobridge House.[33]

          The major existing records for individuals in the early federal period are legal documents of various kinds. For example, in September 1797 the estate of Samuel Griffith was settled with a sale to John Griffith Sr., Mary Griffith, John Griffith Jr., and Richard Griffith, among others. Presumably this was the brother of our John. Because there were no banks, people lent each other money, and when someone died the records of these loans and debts are mentioned in estate inventories. Samuel Griffith’s estate listed several other estates that had balances due to Samuel’s estate, such as John JOLIFFE’s, LONG’s, and GIBBS’.[34]

          John Griffith lived in Pugh Town, or township, where he was enumerated in the censuses of 1800, 1810, 1820, and 1830. In the first two, John and Mary resided with John’s son John; in the last two censuses they had a separate household. In 1830 John was listed as a male between the ages of 90 and 100 living with one woman aged 60 to 70 and one woman aged 80 to 90 (his wife Mary).[34a]

          A John Griffith served Hopewell Meeting as an overseer, and was released by his own request on 4 Ninth Month 1812.[35] But I don’t know which John Griffith this was.

          Our John, of Apple Pie Ridge, signed his will on 5 Seventh Month 1826, and he died 22 First Month 1833. The will was probated 4 February 1833.[36] His remains were buried at Hopewell Meeting on 22 First Month 1833, being “nearly 96 years”.[37] His widow, “Mary, Sr., late of Apple Pie Ridge” was buried at Hopewell 1 Ninth Month 1836, “nearly 94 years”.[38]

          Children of John and his first wife, Mary (Faulkner) Griffith:

i.       Martha Griffith3 , b. 22/8m/1769; d. 7m/1846; m. 12/11m/1789 at Hopewell Joseph MORGAN, son of John (dec'd) and Mary Morgan of Frederick Co. The certificate was signed by seven Griffiths: her father John, step-mother Mary [Ellis], siblings Mary, John Jr., and "Sibbell", and cousins John and Evan Griffith; three siblings of the bride's (dec'd) mother: Jesse, Ruth, and Hannah FAULKNER; 3 Morgans; Ann, and Joseph HACKNEY; 5 WALKERs, 3 DANIELs, 3 STEERs, Jacob SMITH, and 17 additional witnesses.[39] Joseph and John [the groom's father] Morgan and their wives had been granted certificates of removal 12m/1741 by Gwynedd MM to Hopewell.[40] This Joseph [perhaps the groom's uncle?] was disowned 1/10m/1764 for "Bearing arms and scouting after the Indians" during the French and Indian War.[41] On 20 April 1789 the tax commissioner listed Joseph as the head of a household consisting of himself, one male between 16 and 21, and no Blacks. Females and young white boys were not counted. John owned 1 animal in the category "Horses, mares, colts & mules", and no cattle. He was charged with the tax for John BECK, presumably the young man between 16-21 years.[41a] He is probably the older uncle rather than the still unmarried young Joseph. Joseph Morgan had a certificate from Crooked Run to Hopewell dated 7/9m/1789.[42] A Joseph Morgan was disowned by Hopewell 3/8m/1801. I do not know if it was this man or someone else, or the nature of the offense.[43] Martha Morgan signed marriage certificates at Hopewell Meeting on 10/11m/1796, 15/4m/1801 (Lower Ridge meeting house), and 31021/9m/1826.[44]. A Martha Morgan was disowned 6/4m/1807 because she had "Encouraged gambling by lending money"; reinstated 4/1m/1821.[45] It is pure speculation that her husband was disowned for gambling, and she was "enabling" his habit. Martha and Joseph Morgan had children, but they are not listed in Hopewell Friends History.

ii.     Mary Griffith, b. 2 or 21 or 26/6m/1771; d. 10m/1823; m(1) 11/12m/1799 at Lower Ridge Asa HOGE, son of William and Esther (dec'd) Hoge of Frederick Co. William Hoge, Sr. was enumerated on 10 April 1878 with two white boys aged 16-21, no Blacks, 6 horses, etc., and 14 cattle.[45a] The marriage certificate was signed by the groom's father, William Hoge; Mary's father John and step-mother Mary, cousin John Jr and his wife Hannah Griffith; Rachel HACKNEY who would later marry Mary's sister, and five more Hackneys: Mary, Bulah, Martha, Joseph, and a second Martha Hackney; the bride's grandparents, Martha and Jesse Faulkner; and 38 others.[46] Mary m(2) Joseph SAMPLE. It may be that the marriage wasn't in good order, because Mary Sample appears 9/5m/1811 as having given Friends satisfaction (the infraction is not mentioned) and thus was retained in good standing as a member of Hopewell MM.[47] Mary "Samples" signed the marriage certificate of her niece Mary Griffith to David WRIGHT on 12/12m/1822 at Hopewell.[48] Children by first, but not by her second husband. It appears that the children were put in the care of Mary’s mother-in-law: “Asa Hoge, dec’d, his 3 orphan children (Jesse, Israel, and Asa Jr) placed in care of Mary Hoge, wife of Asa Sr. A $2000 bond taken by Mary Hoge, John Griffith Sr., and Joseph Hackney, Jr.”[49] Young Asa and Israel were made part of a textile firm by their uncle John Griffith and his sons Aaron H. and Joseph Griffith in 1828 at the Friendly Grove Factory, for the manufacture of flannels, worsteds, blankets, and linseys.[50] Asa signed marriage certificates 12/4m/1792 at Bear Garden, 5/3m/1794 at Back Creek for Solomon Hoge and Mary FISHER, 14/3m/1798 at Back Creek, 8/11m/1798 at Bear Garden in Hampshire Co., 15/4m/1801 at Lower Ridge, and 12/5m/1802 at Back Creek.[51]

iii.     Sibilla Griffith, b. 10 or 18/2m/1773; d. unmar. 27/1m/1790.[52] She signed her sister Martha's marriage certificate 12/11m/1789.[53]

iv.     Jesse Griffith, b. 30/8/1776; d. 26/2/1777.

v.      John Griffith, b. 16/9/1778; d. 18/3m/1870; m. 15/4/1801 Rachel HACKNEY; ten children.




Third Generation in the USA


Rachel Hackney Griffith and John Griffith

John Griffith3 was born 16 September 1778 in Virginia,[54] and died 18 March 1870. He was only three years old when his mother died, and not yet six when his father remarried. So Mary (Ellis) was pretty much the only mother he knew. John married “at the Lower Ridge” on 15 Fourth Month 1801 Rachel HACKNEY (1780-1863), the daughter of Joseph and Martha Hackney, also of Frederick County. The certificate was signed by three parents and John’s step-mother, and Hannah, Aaron, Joseph Jr., James, and Martha Hackney; John's brother-in-law Asa HOGE and sister Martha MORGAN.[55] Rachel was “a young woman of good understanding, and of deep, earnest piety” whose own “consistent religious deportment” confirmed and strengthened her husband’s Christian course.[56]

          The Lower Ridge Meeting was organized by the Griffith, Wright, and Hackney families, who soon became intermarried. The building is said to be a Methodist Church now, in White Hall, but I was unable to find it when I visited briefly in the summer of 2000.[57] At least by March 1797 Friends had a school and school house at Lower Ridge. The teachers were always Friends, but classes were open to non-Quakers. "John Griffith, a Friend, born 1777 [sic], died 1870, acquired his entire education at this school, and his seven sons and three daughters received most of their training there also; and they were considered well educated according to the standard of the times." Teachers at various times included William Thornburg, Samuel F. Balderston, Mahlon Schofield, and Robert Bond.[58]

          Although little is known of John’s youth and early manhood, he recalled that he was “in some measure given to the vanities and follies of his age”, but “was mercifully preserved from the commission of acts of gross disobedience to the Divine Law”. In language typical of accounts of Quaker spiritual formation as recounted in many published journals, John felt “the restraining influence of the Heavenly Monitor which pointed out, ‘this is the way, walk thou in it,’ and secretly admonished him of any departure from the safe path of peace and self-denial.”[59]

          A man named John Griffith, Jr., was disowned from Hopewell Meeting 3 First Month 1801, and reinstated 2 Fourth Month 1819.[60] It seems very likely this was someone else, because our John and Rachel appear regularly in the minutes during those years. Because of the Welsh practice of using the father's first name as the child's last name, there is no reason to think that everyone named Griffith must be related. They are not. Three other Griffith siblings who came to Pennsylvania were Thomas, John, and Martha, the children of John and Amy (Morgan) Griffith of Nantmeal, Radnorshire, in South Wales. The immigrant John became a noted Friends minister, and author of Journal of the Life, Travels and Labor in the Work of the Ministry of John Griffith. John's older brother Thomas married Eve Faulkner, the aunt of Mary Faulkner who married "our" John Griffith. Mary's parents were Eve's brother Jesse Faulkner and his wife Martha Smith. Eve had a son, John GRIFFITH, b. 8 Jan. 1748 in Menallen Twp., York, Penna., who conceivably could have removed to Hopewell MM.[61]

          John and Rachel were active, highly esteemed members of Hopewell Meeting, serving first as overseers, then as elders.[62] In a surviving account book John noted on 13 Fourth Month 1827 that four days were lost from work to go to Quarterly Meeting “and wedding”. He noted the expense of $2.51½ to hire horses to go to Quarterly Meeting.[63] John resigned as overseer 4 Third Month 1844 and his son Aaron was named in his place.[64] Later both John and Rachel were recognized as Elders. In this position he was “concerned to watch over the little flock . . . as one that must give account, encouraging the faithful or desponding, and admonishing the careless and delinquent, as the case seemed to call for.”[65]

The old homestead of John Griffith on Apple Pie Ridge

          In 1838 John Griffith3 was bondsman for George Swhier [sic?] Jr. to keep an ordinary, or inn.[66]

          The Griffiths lived on Apple Pie Ridge, near Winchester, in Frederick County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. The settlers had discovered that apples grew well in the Valley. Apple Pie Ridge runs from Martinsburg to Winchester, and it has been crosshatched with apple orchards from at least the 1840s.[67]

          In 2021 Mike SEAVER purchased from an antique store in Spring Lake, Michigan, two older photographs of the Griffith homestead. They were taken by Davidson Bros., Masonic Temple, Winchester, Va., no date. How they got there, I do not know, but Mike kindly sent my copies, including the text written on the back. The photo on the left is an older view of the Homestead (note the smaller trees). There is considerable explanation handwritten on the back, but unfortunately some has been cropped from the image. The part that is visible, reads as follows:

. . . The pike road run from Washington D.C. to Richmond Va. and was used to drive cattle over in ante-bellum days; during the war when the R.R.#2 was cut off by the Federals the Confederates hauled the rooling stock of the R.R. over the pike to the R.R. behind the Confederate lines. Rebels came here and took all of Grand Father's horses except one who Aunt Mary Wright managed to slip the bridal off of and slaped him and he leaped over the fence and ran into the woods it would have taken seven men to catch him as he was an excellent horse, she had begged the soldier's to leave this one for Grand Father as he was crippled and was not able to walk but received a cursing, for her trouble. She expected she would be shot downMother said "I saw signaling on the mountain tops from the house." as the armies were manouvering before the battle." "We could see the shells go up and when they would burst the windows would [unclear] shake and rattle"
    #1 Begun by the state of Virginia in 1817 finished about 1830; The state highway engineer was Crozet, one of Napoleon's engineers who came to America after the battle of Waterloo
    [#2?] (Correction) Sonewall Jackson captured the Federals at Martinsburg and also seized B.& O. locomotives and 100 freight cars.
    There was a spring down the hill from which the water was hauled up on a "trolley" (see left corner of back porch)
The old homestead of John Griffith on Apple Pie Ridge from Mike Seaver The springhouse on John Griffith's place colorized by Mike Seaver

The photo on the right--beautifully colorized by Mike, shows the spring house. The holograph explanation on the back says:

    Spring-house back of great-great Grand father John Griffith's house also "trolley", on which water was hauled up the hill to the house.
    When the Federal troops occupied the place during the Civil War they cut the wires as they thought they might in some way be used to telegraph to the enemy, which made a [unclear] to carry water up the hill to the house ¼ of a mile.
    Beanch [sic] near tree and [unclear] for holding kettel used in washing clothes.
    There were rocks in the spring used to set the milk pans on, the water was so cold, that when sour milk was required the milk was taken out of the spring and set outside.

          John was perhaps the first Hopewell Friend to engage in textile manufacturing on a commercial scale. In 1828 with his sons Aaron and Joseph, and nephews Asa and Israel HOGE (the sons of his sister Mary), he formed the firm of Griffith, Hoge & Co. and took over the Friendly Grove Factory one mile south of Winchester on Abram’s Creek, upstream from today’s Valley Avenue. The mill had been established in 1808 by Capt. Joseph C. BALDWIN, an Episcopalian, perhaps from Chicago. Although this was not the first mill in the area, it was certainly one of the earliest ones. With water power the mill manufactured flannel, worsted, blankets, and linzeys. The photo to the left show a small part of a blanket made at one of the Griffith mills, and embroidered with the initials (partly gone) of John's daughter Martha Ann Balderston. In 1835 Aaron and Joseph bought out the others and purchased additional and larger mills further east down the Creek, especially the Kelso and Wilson woolen mill at Brookland. In 1850 Friendly Grove Mill was closed.[68] The Account Book for Friendly Grove Woolen Mill, January 1827 to April 1835 lists customers and purchases for the mill and family, all mixed in together. Clearly, double entry bookkeeping would be a major improvement in accounting. On 1 First Month 1827 a loom was purchased for $11.73, along with 125 pounds of pork for $5, ten pounds of salt for 12.5 cents, a half pound of tobacco for 25¢, and one load of wood for $2. Customers Joseph HACKNEY bought three yards of capinett for $3.75, and John Griffith, Jr. bought 20¢ worth of stocking yarn. Shoes for Lucinda cost $1.50 while a half pound of candles cost 8½ cents.[69]

          John felt strongly that slavery was a sin. Since his business life involved a great deal of interaction with slave holders he had many opportunities to plead the cause of slaves. He was one of those men, like John Woolman, who could both sympathize with slaves and also hold feelings of love and commiseration for the slave owners. Thus “his labors were well received, and . . . he enjoyed in a remarkable degree the esteem and confidence of those among whom he labored.” For many years as a matter of religious principle he refused to vote for any slave owner for any public office.[70]

          The war that broke out when the South seceded in 1861 had a direct impact on the Griffiths and other Friends in Hopewell Meeting. The fertile farms of the Shenandoah Valley were needed for the support of the Southern armies, and the North was eager to deny them such supplies. So Winchester became the center of continuing struggles between the two armed forces. In the spring of 1862 the Confederacy instituted conscription of all able-bodied white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty five. Most people in the Valley were southern sympathizers who had already volunteered.[71] Most had no understanding of the Dunkards and Quakers who refused to fight. The first summer a few young Quaker men were forced to work on fortifications until they were released and escaped north. Other Quaker men were arrested as Union sympathisers and held without charges in loathsome conditions. All Friends were “subject to taunts, threats and reproaches, by a vindictive and unscrupulous soldiery, countenanced and encouraged by sympathizing citizens”.[72]

          John consistently upheld Friends’ peace testimony. He was

an earnest advocate of the principles of peace, and labored to promote it on Scriptural grounds and considerations of sound national policy. Living on an exposed part of the battle field . . . the officers and soldiers of the contending armies were much at his house, and he embraced these occasions to converse with them on the impolicy of all wars, and on their inconsistency with Christianity and the enlightened civilization of the age.[73]

          John had horses, hay, and grain taken, between 1861 to 1865, worth $950.00.[74] It was said later of him, that he “patiently suffered the impressment of his goods, to which he, in common with others, was subjected, for the support of the armies, but with innocent boldness denounced the system, in the presence of armed bands, and was wonderfully sustained and supported on these trying occasions.”[75]

          Quarterly meeting at Hopewell in Sixth Month 1863 was held while fighting raged around the meeting house.

Shortly after the meeting became settled, and while John Scott, the veteran soldier of the cross, was preaching with unusual power the Gospel of Peace, the noise of battle was heard without, sometimes so loud as to almost drown the voice of the preacher. The terrible shock caused by the discharge of cannon shook to its very foundations the stone structure in which they sat. But the gospel message flowed on without interruption and the congregation remained quiet until the end. Francis T. King said it was one of the best and most solemn meetings he ever attended, and “the ministry of our friend John Scott was in harmony with our feelings.”[76]

          After the meeting, the Friends from Baltimore hoped to return home, but had to cross the Confederate lines. Robert Griffith, the forty-year old, unmarried son of John, offered to guide them. After a good dinner, he took the Baltimore Friends in his carriage and set out to drive beyond the army lines. They drove for two days until they found an opening, at Mt. Union on the Pennsylvania Central Railway, where they caught the last train. By then the army lines had been extended, and Robert could no longer get home. It was three months before he could return to his family, so he went to Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, where his sister Martha Ann and her husband, Samuel F. BALDERSTON, had lived some 25 years earlier.[77]

          After the battle of Winchester on 19 October 1864, Elizabeth COMSTOCK with five women Friends of the neighborhood went to call on General SHERIDAN to get permission to visit hospitals and minister to the wounded. Aaron Griffith, son of John, escorted them. When the women approached in their old fashioned long bonnets, Sheridan, who didn’t know what they wanted, demanded of Aaron, “What do those women want? Have they come to lecture me?” When Aaron told him their purpose, Sheridan replied with relief, “Well, I am relieved, for their appearance frightened me more than all the enemy in front, for I knew what to do with them, but this army of Quaker women I did not know how to meet.”[78]

          Cornelia Peake McDONALD, who lived just outside of Winchester, wrote a diary of her experiences during the Civil War.[79] She never mentions Friends or Union sympathizers. Some of her anguish was brought on by her own Southern pride when she taunted Union officers and men. But her account does vividly describe the physical depredations and destruction wrought by the troops while quartered near town, and during fighting. It also shows how very personal were the face-to-face relationships between the civilian populace and the military personnel. It is easy to picture the Griffiths offering food and aid to wounded men, and explaining their religious principals to any who came to their door.

          After the war, Hopewell Meeting forwarded a minute of its experiences to Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s meeting for sufferings. Among the sufferings they listed:

    Searching houses under feigned pretenses was often repeated, merely, as it seemed, to annoy, or under the exercise of arbitrary power to offer indignity and insult to the unresisting inmates.
    Freedom of speech and transit from place to place were greatly abridged, and as a consequence our regular religious meetings were interfered with, and social intercourse nearly destroyed. In many cases the last horse was taken, thus depriving the family of its accustomed use on the farm, or even in going to mill, or procuring wood for fuel.
    Stock, grain, and in fact provisions of all kinds were regarded by the insurgents as their property and were openly appropriated by them to their own use at their pleasure. Civil law was entirely inoperative and disregarded, and a military despotism reigned supreme.
    Schools along the pathway of the army were generally suspended, and school and meeting-houses, if not destroyed, were appropriated to hospital or other military purposes. . . .
    We might add incidents of attempts to break into houses, shooting at the inmates, throwing stones through the windows, and other outrages . . . . [80]

          Rachel died in the midst of the Civil War on 20 March 1863 in her 83rd year. She was “calm, patient and resigned during her last illness”. Her obituary in the Friends’ Review reads:

As a member of religious society, she was consistent and exemplary; as an Overseer in the Church, she discharged its duties with fidelity, tenderness and love; as an Elder, in which station she served for many years, she was an example of watchful care and uprightness, zealous for the Law and the Testimony, and deservedly honored as a mother in our Israel. Naturally diffident and unobtrusive in her manners, the depth of her hidden religious life was best known and exemplified in the bosom of her own family. Few were better versed in sacred Scripture, and none, perhaps, more firm in the faith, or unfaltering in belief in the doctrines of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. . . .[81]

          During the war Berkeley and Jefferson counties were added to the counties forming West Virginia, even though their populace was largely southern in sympathy.[82]

Date and stone mason's initials in the wall around the Hopewell Meeting graveyard

          John signed his will 5 Sixth Month 1866. In it he specified that his personal property be first sold to pay his debts, then his real estate, with the proceeds to be divided among his heirs. He first bequeathed $30 for the “repairs and improvement” of the Hopewell graveyard. His son Aaron H. Griffith added more money to build a wall around it. The work was done in 1870.[83] The photo to the right shows the date stone and mason's initials from the graveyard wall. John directed that each of his children receive one tenth share of the residue, with the exception that Lydia’s share not be held liable for her husband Jesse WRIGHT’s debts previous to the year 1860, “but she may apply it to any other purpose she thinks proper.” He specified that if there were any disagreements, the executors “may have power to settle them by arbitration.” He named three children, Aaron H., Robert D., and Mary Wright his executors, giving them 5% commission on the proceeds of the personalty and 2.5% on the proceeds of the real estate.[84]

          Three years later,

    When the shades of life’s evening were gathered around him, under a feeling sense that his day’s work was nearly done, he earnestly addressed his descendants, quoting the impressive advice of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and pressed upon them its strict observance:
    "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might; and these words I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
    He desired that this counsel might be faithfully followed, regretting that it did not meet with more general acceptance and adoption in the world at large.
    He further remarked, "I have been in the practice of reading the sacred Scriptures, and the Journals of deceased Friends, for many years, and found much comfort, encouragement, and instruction in so doing, and I feel it a duty to recommend the same practice to you, and in your families, and I have no doubt the same experience will be yours."
    He spoke of the spiritual exercises through which he had often passed, and related the mental inquiry which had at times arrested his mind on his way to meeting, as to where he was going and what for?
    “This,“ said he, ”caused me to look closely into my motives, and earnestly desire the Searcher of hearts to examine mine, and cleanse it of every defilement. And when I have taken my seat, solemn has the occasion appeared to me under a feeling sense of my many weaknesses, and of my spiritual needs; yet I would have none discouraged; for, although we may at times experience poverty of spirit, and the buffetings of Satan, and feel as though we knew not whence good cometh, we should not despair, nor let go our confidence in the promises of God; for deliverance, if sought for, will surely come to our comfort and consolation.”[85]

          John died 18 Third Month 1870. The 1870 Mortality Schedule for Frederick County gave the cause of death as pneumonia.[86] Here are excerpts from the “Memorial by Hopewell Monthly Meeting Concerning John Griffith, Deceased, an Elder”:

    Under a feeling sense of the great loss we have sustained in the death of our dear friend, John Griffith, we feel it right to record a brief memorial concerning him, in commemoration of the godly zeal and religious devotion by which he was actuated during a long and useful life.
    Our departed friend was born in Frederick County, Virginia, and lived and died a valued member and Elder of this Monthly Meeting.
    He was accustomed to regard it as not the least of his enumerated mercies, that having lost his mother in his infancy, he was blessed with a Christian father, who was concerned to train him up in the fear of the Lord, and to guard him with watchful care from the many dangers which so thickly beset the slippery paths of youth….
    As the cares of a growing family began to press upon him, in order to provide things needful for their comfortable support, he was also awakened to the higher responsibilities of the right religious training of those committed to his care. And as an unfailing source of help in the discharge of this duty, he diligently searched the sacred Scriptures for lessons of wisdom and instruction, endeavoring to impress upon their minds the solemn truths of the Gospel, and the ennobling principles of our holy religion, a godly concern he continued to manifest to the close of his life. . . .
     Although largely abounding in Christian love and charity towards all, yet he did not fail to warn those in whom he discovered the insidious workings of a spirit of unbelief, of the fearful danger of making shipwreck of faith, and thereby endangering the salvation of their immortal souls. Numerous extracts from his epistolary essays might be given, showing his deep concern, and plainness of dealing with such, in endeavoring to persuade them of the true Christian doctrine of salvation by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son and Seal of the Father,--the Saviour and Redeemer of the world.
    Our dear friend was also much concerned to see love and unity uniformly cultivated in our religious organization, and did not fail to raise his voice in warning and remonstrance against all that tended to weaken or destroy our bond of union. And in the several disturbing questions which from time to time agitated our beloved Society during his active participation in the concerns of the church, he was ever watchful and prompt in detecting innovations, either in doctrines or practice, upon our established order. It was a favorite sentiment with him, and upon which he loved to discourse, that, “There is no division in the Truth” holding that those who were grounded and established therein, would see eye to eye, and unitedly labor to “maintain the unity of spirit in the bond of peace. . . .”
    He retained his faculties unimpaired to the last, and his faith and trust in his Saviour firm unto the end.
    His death occured on the 18th of the 3rd month, 1870, in the 92nd year of his age, after a short illness. And having faithfully served in his day and generation, according to the will of God, he peacefully passed away under a full assurance of acceptance in his beloved, and of an inheritance among them that are sanctified, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Signed by direction and on behalf of Hopewell Monthly Meeting, held 10th month 4th, 1871.
Aaron H. Griffith and Mary Wright, Clerks. [87]

          Children of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith:

i.    Aaron Hackney Griffith4, b. 11 Mar. 1802; d. 8 Feb. 1877; m. 15 Apr. 1830 Mary Parkins HOLLINGSWORTH, daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Parkins) Hollingsworth; ten children, including a son, Richard Edward Griffith (1847-1913), and grandson Richard Edward Griffith, Jr. (1886-1945). Mary (Griffith) Wright

ii.     Mary Griffith, b. 27 May 1804; d. 8 Jan. 1892; m. 12 Dec. 1822 at Hopewell David WRIGHT, son of Jonathan (dec'd) and Hannah Wright; David was b. 31/7m/1797; d. 9/9m/1829. They had no children. Mary served as clerk of the Hopewell Monthly meeting of Women. Mary's photo is to the right. It may have been Mary, the unnamed sister of Robert, who resisted a Confederate officer’s attempt to take her horse, “but she refused to let go of the bridle-rein. With drawn revolver he commanded her to loose it or he would shoot. She replied, ‘I cannot be robbed of many years. Shoot if that is the way with you Southern gentlemen, who so boast of your chivalry. I do not propose to give up my horse,’ The officer rode on, leaving the horse in her possession.”[88] Mary was widowed after less than 7 years of marriage. In the 1870 census she was living with her unmarried brother Robert D.

iii.    Martha Ann Griffith, b. 14 Dec. or 22/2m/1807; d. 8 Nov. 1894; m. 11 Nov. (or Dec.) 1835 Samuel F. BALDERSTON; 8 children.

iv.     Joseph H. Griffith, b. 14 Dec. 1809; d. 3 Mar. 1870 at Carthage, Mo.; unmarried. Joseph H. signed the marriage certificates of Joseph BRANSON and Tacy WRIGHT (daughter of Jonathan and Hannah) on 11/4m/1827 at Upper Ridge; and of Abel WALKER and Hannah W. LUPTON (daughter of Joseph and Esther) on 16/4m/1828 at Upper Ridge.[89] On 1/3/1856 he and his brother Richard S. were granted certificates and removed to Baltimore.[90]

v.     James H. Griffith, b. 3 Feb. 1812; d. 9 Sept. 1899; m. 6 March or May 1841 Jane R. LUPTON, daughter of David and Ann Lupton; at least five children. Lydia (Griffith) Wright

vi.     Lydia H. Griffith, b. 17 Aug. 1814; d. 12 Fifth Mo. 1857; m. 12 Oct. 1842 Jesse WRIGHT, who was b. 18/5m/1806, d. 1 or 12/10m/1882, son of John and Susannah Wright. Both Jesse and Lydia were bur. at Hopewell.[91] Apparently Jesse ran up sufficient debt before the war, that her father directed that Lydia's inheritance not be held liable for these debts. During the Civil War the “ home of Jesse Wright was for a long time between the picket lines of the opposing forces, and his house was frequently shot over by both armies. Bullets sometimes entered the rooms, but none of the inmates was struck.”[92] When a neighbor died, Jesse went to help prepare the body and was arrested on his way home. He lay in Winchester jail for three days without charges until a general, whom he had befriended, found him and effected his release. The general said, “We all know there is no harm in you, Mr. Wright. We know what your principles are.”[93] Lydia and Jesse had children (order as given in Glenn, p. 36):[94]
a) John D. Wright, m. Annie COCHRAN; had children: Alice, Nellie G.
b) Rachel A. Wright, d. 17/10m/1924, bur. Hopewell; unmarried.
c) Mary Susan Wright, d. 1905; m. Frederick A. COCHRAN; had children: Harry, Frederick A.
d) Martha W. [or E.?] Wright, bur. at Hopewell; m. 24/3m/1887 William D. BISHOP; had children: Louisa Newbold, Lydia Alma, Maude Wright, Jessie Brooks
e) Rebecca S. (or T.) Wright, d. 1903; m. Samuel R. BALDWIN; had children: William W., Bessie, Mary, Samuel R., Joseph Richard
f) Joseph Richard Wright, m. Annie E. CLAGETT; had children: Richard, __, Blanche
g) Samuel B. Wright, b. 3m/1859; d. 29/8m/1893; m. Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel MELLINGER; had children: Daniel Lee, Jesse, Frederick C.Wright.
vii.     John W. Griffith, b. 17 Sept. 1816; d. 30 Sept. 1902; m. 24 Jan. 1844 Keziah T. SMITH, daughter of Seth and Mary Smith; had 7 children.

viii.    Richard Sidwell Griffith, b. 27 May 1819; d. 21 Jan. 1900; m. 2 June 1858 Mary L. NEWBOLD; one daughter: Anna T. Griffith. Robert D. Griffith

ix.      Robert Daniel Griffith, b. 19 Aug. 1821; unmarried. Two weeks before the south seceded, Robert had a “conversation with one HALLIDAY, a Virginia gentleman, who afterwards became governor” who told Robert, “‘We will make Virginia the Lowell of America, crown cotton king, and revive the slave-trade.’ To this our friend replied, ‘If you will use the money you purpose spending in this work in building up our commerce and manufacturing interests it will be creditable to you, but so surely as you persist in your evil designs to destroy this Union, so surely will it become a desolation and a wilderness; King Cotton will be dethroned, and your idol, slavery, will fall. With secession comes emancipation.’ To this Halliday replied, ‘You cannot say these things two weeks hence.’”[95] Robert never married, but he took in several other family members. In 1870 the federal census enumerator on 17 September listed seven people in his household. Robert himself was 48, had real estate valued at $1,200 and personal property worth $500. His widowed sister Mary WRIGHT was 67 and keeping house. Their niece Mary S[usan] Wright, the daughter of Lydia and Jesse, was 21 and "at home" there. Another female Griffith, whose name appears to have been Ary A., was 50 and "without occupation", as was 26 year old Mary [S? G?] TRIMBLE, whose relationship I have not yet discovered, but her mother was foreign-born. There were also two farm hands, 23 year old George WALKER who could neither read nor write but was a male citizen with the right to vote, and 16 year old Charles HUGHES who was black and attended school in the past year.[96] In 1900 the federal census enumerated Robert living with his niece Mary S. and her husband, Frederick A. COCHRAN, their son Frederick A. and his wife Etta B., and daughter Gladis V. in a four-generation household.[96a] In Sixth mo. 1899 Robert D. resigned his membership in Hopewell Monthly Meeting. Nevertheless after his death he was buried in the Hopewell Meeting graveyard.[97]

x.     William P. Griffith, b. 8 Mar. 1824; m. 30 May 186_ Mary V. BANNING, daughter of John Banning, was b. 30/11m/1843. Both William and Mary were bur. at Hopewell. In the 1880 federal census William was enumerated as a 52 year old farmer in the Stonewall District of Frederick Co., with his 35 year old wife Mary, who was keeping house. Living with them were their children: 12 year old Fannie, 9 year old John B., 5 year old Lula P., and 1 year old Mary W. [1880 federal census page 48, lines 34-39, enumeration district 42, roll T9_1366.] In the 1900 census William J. [sic] was 76, with his wife Mary V., b. Nov. 1845 [sic]; son John B. (b. Aug. 1870, farming), and daughters Lula P. (b. Sept. 1874) and Anna S.[sic?] (b. Mar. 1884, in school). William owned his own home, but the farm was mortgaged. Of Mary's six children, four were still living.[1900 federal census page 12B, lines 78-82, enumeration district 29, roll T623_1709.] In 1910 William was living with his daughter Lula and her husband William A. McCarroll in Martinsburg, Berkeley Co., West Va. William was 86; his son-in-law was a 35 year old carpenter. [1910 federal census page 6A, lines 1-3, enumeration district 19, roll T624_1676.] William P. and Mary V. (Vanning) Griffith had children:
a) Fannie L. Griffith, m. 1887 E. T. HOLT, and had a son: Harry Holt
b) John B. Griffith, b. Aug. 1870 in Va;
c) Lulu Griffith, b. Sept. 1874 in Del.; m. 23/1m/1901 William McCARROLL;
d) Mary Griffith, d. by 1905.
e) Alice Griffith, d. as an infant.
f) Anna T. Griffith, b. Mar. 1884 in Md.; m. __ DUNN.


Fourth Generation

Aaron Hackney Griffith4, eldest child of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith, was born 11 March 1801 in Frederick County, Virginia. He died there on 8 February 1877. On 15 April 1830 Aaron and Mary Parkins HOLLINGSWORTH, daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Parkins) Hollingsworth, were married. She was born 15 Seventh Month 1809 and died 23 Seventh Month 1896.

Aaron was condemned for marrying contrary to Friends’ discipline, 8 April 1830, but his acknowledgment of his wrong was accepted. Four years later his wife and minor children Elizabeth B. and Hannah P. were accepted into membership by request, Aaron joining in the request for his children.[98]

Aaron and his brother Joseph, with their father and two cousins, formed the Griffith, Hoge & Co. textile mill in 1828. In 1835 Aaron and Joseph brought out the others, and in 1850 Aaron bought out Joseph. Aaron obviously was successful, and set about helping his younger brothers. He established his brother Richard in a woolen mill near Wetheredville, Md. under the firm name of "R. S. Griffith & Bro." Aaron and his son Isaac H. and others operated the "Henry Clay Mills" at Wilmington, Del. under the name of "Griffith, DuPont & Co.", until the close of the Civil War. Branching out, with his son J. Clarkson and others he established "Griffith, Hance & Co.", manufacturing chemists, in Philadelphia. "He enjoyed remarkable success and received a number of medals and awards at different expositions for the excellence of his cloth." However, losses caused by the Civil War resulted in the closure of all these establishments except for the "Brookland Woolen Mills" which Aaron continued to operate until his death in 1877, after which his sons Isaac H. and John operated them until 1904.[99]

Aaron was also active in his Friends meeting. As clerk of Hopewell Monthly Meeting, he signed the Memorial for his father.

Aaron’s letter to his wife was seized when Virginia seceded and Confederate forces took possession of the post office. He had written, “‘We are getting on very well but for the hangers-on, who annoy us very much, and there seems no security against them.’ Some tried to sell this letter back to him, saying it would be used against him as expressing treasonable sentiments. He was finally arrested on this charge, and gave a lawyer $50 to secure his release. The lawyer kept the money but failed to make good his promise, and Aaron was sent to jail. He was finally liberated by the interference of a personal friend, an officer in the government, whom he had in time past befriended. While he was in prison his horses, harness and much property were taken and confiscated to government or personal use. His mill was robbed of over $20,000 worth of cloth, and the machinery was taken away and placed in the mill of a neighbor, who still retains it, but has not prospered in its use.” In addition to the $20,000 worth of cloth impressed or stolen, Aaron suffered the loss of horses, hay and harness- $1,200.00; wood and fencing- $1,000.00; and cotton warps burned- $1,000.00.[100]

The 1870 federal census enumerated Aaron H. as a 68 year old woolen manufacturer with real estate valued at $30,000 and personal property worth $25,000. His wife, Mary P. was listed as 61 and keeping house. Three of their children were living at home: R. Edward, 23, also a woolen manufacturer; Mary Anna, age 19, and John a 17 year old student. The household contained six additional people. Elizabeth SNYDER, age 72, had personal property worth $1,000; her occupation was "formerly keeping house". I think she was Mary's mother, who had remarried and been widowed. Mary GRIFFIN, age 6, whose parents were foreign born, was not yet in school. I do not know who she was. James WALKER was a 19 year old African-American farm hand; Martha LILLY, age 15, and Mary BOYD, 22, were white domestic servants who could neither read nor write. Mary had her 4 year old daughter Ellen with her.[101]

After Aaron's death, and the death of his brother Richard's wife, Richard came to live with Mary and her unmarried children. The 1880 federal census enumerated them in Shawnee Township, Frederick County, Virginia. Mary P. (Hollingsworth) Griffith was the 70-year old head of house, still "keeping house". Her unmarried children were 33 year old R. Edward, who was married two years later; 29 year old Martha, called "Mamie", with no occupation listed; and 27 year old John who was engaged in woolen manufacturing. Brother-in-law Richard S. Griffith was identified as a 60 year old bookkeeper. There were three servants: Alice Dackwall (age 28), Caroline Newman (who was illiterate and age 45) and James Walker (age 28). The entire household were born in Virginia of Virginia-born parents.[102]

Children of Aaron H. and Mary Parkins (Hollingsworth) Griffith:[103]

i.     Elizabeth B. Griffith, b. 25/12m/1831; d. 13/3m/1913; m. 12/11m/1856 Hezekiah BAILEY. He was b. 9/12m/1830. They had children:
a) Mary Ella Bailey, b. 1/9m/1857; m. 8/5m/1878 William Ellis COALE (b. 14/10m/1856; d. 29?8m/1897) had children;
b)Caroline Y. Bailey, b. 2/6m/1859; d. 14/11m/1904.
c) Euphemia Bailey, b. 7/6m/1861; m. Henry Lawrence; had children.
d) Martha G. Bailey, b. 28/4m/1863; d. 7/7m/1863.
e) Elizabeth G. Bailey, b. 10/3m/1867; m. 7/6m/1893 Thomas J. CRAIGHEAD; had children.
f) Harriet E. Bailey, b. 14/11m/1871; m. 1/6m/1904 Albert B. BUCKLEY;
g) Edith Bailey, b. 20/4m/1876; m. 14/4m/1903, William FOSTER;
ii.     Hannah P. Griffith, b. 15/8m/1833; d. 8/6m/1839.

iii.     Joseph Clarkson Griffith, b. 13/3m/1835 in Winchester, Virginia; m. 6/12m/1859 Mary R. DILKS of Philadelphia. With his father and others, engaged in "Griffith, Hance & Co.", manufacturing chemists, in Phila. Had children:
a) Helen R. Griffith, b. 19/9m/1860 in Germantown, Penna.; m. 22/12m/1879 in Chicago George D. BILLS; had children.
b)George D. Griffith, b.7/2m/1864 in Germantown; m. 12m/1891 in Richmond, Ind. Martha HAYWARD; had children.
Martha (Griffith) Ott iv.     Martha Griffith, b. 26/12m/1837; m. 31/5m/1864 Henry O. OTT (b. 25/10m/1835; d. 7/11m/1902). Martha entered Westtown Boarding School in Fourth Month 1850, as student #258 in the Fifth Thousand of female students. Her home address was given as Winchester, Va. Martha's photograph is to the right. They had children:
a) Mary G. Ott, b. 4/6m/1865; m. 17/10m/1889 W. W. IRWIN (b. 1/11m/1861); had a daughter, Martha IRWIN, b. 6/5m/1891.
b) Samuel Ott, b. 17/2m/1867; d. 5/3m/1867.
c) Henry Ott, b. ; unmarried;
d) Sydney H. Ott, b. 25/1m/1871; d. 25/8m/1903; m. 15/11m/1892 Edgar BELLEVILLE; had children.
e) Martha G. Ott, b. 6/5m/1878; m. 24/11m/1903 Robert K. GIFFEN, Jr.
f) Henry O. Ott, b. 20/3m/1868;
v.     Harriet Griffith, b. 27/1m/1839; d. __; m. 10/10m/1865 Maj. William Irving ELLIS, USA (b. 15/9m/1829; d. 9/5m/1892). They had children:
a) William Irving Ellis, b. 24/5m/1868; d. 8/6m/1688.
b) Mary G. Ellis, b. 29/7m/1874; m. 12/6m/1901 Arthur M. BURR; had children.
c) Martha O. Ellis, b. 6/1m/1880; m. 16/11m/1904 Frederick A. ADAMS
vi.     Isaac H. Griffith, b. 10/2m/1841 in Frederick Co., Va.; m. 26/3m/1879 Kate COCHRAN (b. 1/7m/1855); had children:
a) Aaron H. Griffith, b. 2/1m/1855; d. 18/1m/1880
b) Irving H. Griffith, b. 23/12m/1882;
c) Mary Griffith, b. 16/3m/1889; m. W. McKINNEY
Mary Anna Griffith vii.    Aaron Henry Griffith, b. 20/1m/1843; d. 11/6m/1863.Mamie Griffith (Mary Anna) and Lydia Balderston Dunning, as older women

viii.     Richard Edward Griffith, b. 14/4m/1847; bur. Mt. Hebron; m. 30/11m/1882 Viola I. HUNT-SPINNING (b. 4/3m/1851). Had a son, Richard Edward Griffith, b. 24/12m/1886.

ix.     Mary Anna Griffith, b. 1851, called Mamie. She never married. The photograph to the far right is Mamie as a young woman, the second, closer photo shows her and her first cousin Lydia (Balderston) Dunning as older women.

x.     John Griffith, unmarried, resided in Winchester, Va.



Martha Ann Griffith4, daughter of John and Rachel, was born 14 December Martha Ann Griffith Balderston1807 on Apple Pie Ridge, overlooking the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley. She married 11 November 1835 at Hopewell Meeting, Samuel F. BALDERSTON. She died 8 November, 1894; Samuel died 5 January 1895, both in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Samuel F. Balderston

          Martha and her nine siblings received their education at the Friends school at the Lower Ridge. It is possible that she met Samuel Balderston while he was a teacher there.[104]

          The young couple lived first in Baltimore, then removed to Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, where Samuel taught at the Bellefonte Academy.

          After the separation in 1828 the smaller Orthodox group organized a meeting at Bellefonte. There was a group of Orthodox families, including the VALENTINES and THOMASES from Chester County, who took a leading part in establishing iron and mining industries, as well as railroads in the area.[105] Although Samuel’s father and brothers were leaders in textile manufacturing in Virginia, Samuel seemed more interested in cultivating the “inner plantation” than the outward one.

          Martha was named clerk of the Women’s Quarterly Meeting. But she served a little less than a year because in 1849 they moved to Philadelphia where they spent the rest of their lives.

          Martha Ann Griffith Balderston was a recorded minister in Northern District Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia. footstool used by Martha Ann (Griffith) Balderston at Northern District Monthly Meeting The family story holds that as she was very short, she requested and received permission from the Elders to have a footstool at her place on the facing bench.[106] Great grand daughter Lucy (Shoe) Meritt inherited the footstool.

          Martha and Samuel had their photographs taken, and large copies of the photographs were tinted by their granddaughter, Martha Kelso Dunning. These are the original, untinted photos.

          Martha died 8 November 1894, in Philadelphia.

          There is additional information about Martha and Samuel and their children, especially Lydia and her husband Thomas S. Dunning, in a hard cover book, 1328 North Fifteenth Street: the Dunning Family and Its Things.

          Children of Samuel F. and Martha Ann (Griffith) Balderston:

i.    Isaiah Balderston5 , b. 23 July 1837; d. 7 July 1920; m. (1) Adelaide BRACKNEY 21 June 1855. She d. 3 Nov. 1885, and Isaiah m. (2) Ellen DAWSON. She d. 19 __ 1912. No children.

ii.    John Ely Balderston, b. 2 Jan. 1839; d. 19 Sept. 1915; m. Rachel S. FOGG 25 Jan.1860; 3 children.

iii.    Rachel Esther Balderston, b. 12 Oct. 1840; d. 5 Jan. 1916; called by her neices and nephews, "Aunt Rachie"; after the death of Cecilia, Rachie moved in with her brother Marcellus; Rachel was unmarried.

iv.    Marcellus "Cellie" Balderston, b. 12 Nov. 1842; d. 9 Nov. 1935; m. Cecilia (spelled in some notes Cecelia) A. WRIGHT 6 June 1876. She d. 26 Oct. 1903. No children.

iv.    Mary Balderston, b. 11 Oct. 1844; m. Edward LIVEZEY, MD, 5 Apr. 1866. He d. 15 Apr. 1876; 4 children. Edward was the son of Thomas and Rachel R. (Richardson) Livezey.

vi.    Samuel F. Balderston, b. 23 Feb. 1847; d. 10 Mar. 1847, aged 2 weeks and 1 day.

vii.    Thomas Chalkley Balderston, b. 9 Feb. 1848; d. 7 Jan. 1921; m(1) Mary F. WETHERALD 25 Nov. 1887. She d. 9 Oct. 1890. Thomas m(2) Fannie BAYNES 8 Jan. 1892. She d. 4 Apr. 1909. He m(3) Rachel LOCKERBIE 12 Apr. 1911. No children.

viii.    Lydia Balderston, b. 4 Dec. 1849; d. 27 June 1941; m. 8 Oct. 1872 Thomas Stevenson DUNNING, MD; 8 children.




James H. Griffith, fifth child of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith, was born 3 February 1812 and died 9 September 1899. On 6 May 1841 James and Jane R. LUPTON were married, but contrary to Friends discipline. Jane was disowned for it on 3/10/1842. James acknowledged he was wrong to go against Friends' principles, and it was accepted, 1/6/1842.[107] Jane was reinstated, and her children David L. and Virginia (born while one parent was not a member, and therefore not members themselves) were accepted into membership on the request of both parents, 8/6/1845.[108]

As a young man, James H. had signed the marriage certificate 21/9m/1826 of Levi SMITH and Mary HACKNEY, his mother's sister, at Hopewell.[109] Before her marriage, Jane R. Lupton signed the marriage certificate of Jane LUPTON, daughter of Isaac and Tamsin (both dec'd) and Isaac B. THOMAS at Upper Ridge on 14 Fourth Month 1830.[110]

By 1870 the family had moved to Marion Township in Jasper County, Missouri. The federal census enumerator found them there 13 August, and listed "J. H. Griffith" as a 58 year old white male farmer with real estate valued at $5,000 and $1,503 of personal property. His 56 year old wife Jane R. was keeping house, and they had two daughters "at home": Rachel A., age 20, and Hannah S., age 18. There was also a 12-year old girl, Rebecca HOW, who was not listed as attending school within the past year.[111]

James H. and Jane with their minor children John M., Rachel Anna, and Hannah S. removed to Rocksylvania MM in Iowa.[112]

Children of James H. and Jane R. (Lupton) Griffith (may be incomplete):

i. David L. Griffith, accepted into membership on the request of both parents, 8/6/1845; 5/6/1863 granted a certificate of removal to Miami MM in Ohio;
ii. Virginia Griffith, accepted into membership on the request of both parents, 8/6/1845;
iii. John M. Griffith, 5/6/1863 as a minor child with his parents removed to Rocksylvania MM in Iowa;
iv. Rachel Anna Griffith, 5/6/1863 as a minor child with her parents removed to Rocksylvania MM in Iowa;
v. Hannah S. Griffith, 5/6/1863 as a minor child with her parents removed to Rocksylvania MM in Iowa;



John W. Griffith, seventh child of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith, was born 17 Sept. 1816 and died the 30 September 1902. John and Keziah T. SMITH were married 24 January 1844. Keziah was born 21 Eleventh Month 1821, the daughter of Seth and Mary Smith.

On 12/7/1859 John and Keziah and their children, Seth Smith, Rachel, Mary, Anna J., and Alice B. Griffith were granted a certificate of removal from Hopewell to Radnor Monthly Meeting in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

The family moved to Richmond, Indiana, during the Civil War. They had to travel on a freight train, as troops had taken over the passenger trains.[[113]] In the 1880 federal census of Richmond, Indiana, John was enumerated as a grain dealer, age 63. With him lived "Kezia" [sic] his 58 year old wife who kept house, and four unmarried daughters. Mary, age 29, was a bookkeeper; Anna, age 24 was a school teacher; Mattie, age 20, was "at home", while 15-year old Lizzie had been attending school. All of them had been born in Virginia of Virginia-born parents except for Mattie, born in Pennsylvania (presumably while the family were members of Radnor Meeting), and Lizzie, born in Indiana. This gives some indication of the family's movements.[[114]]

Children of John W. and Keziah T. (Smith) Griffith (may be incomplete):[115]

i. Seth Smith Griffith, m. Isabel PEELE; had children: Alice K., Margaret

ii. Rachel Griffith, d. 1886 in San Antonio; m. Aldes CADWALLADER; had child: Rilla

iii. Mary Griffith, b. ca. 1851; d. 1881; unmarried.

iv. Anna Griffith, b. ca. 1856; d. 30 Sept. 1933; unmarried. Anna attended a Friends School in Richmond, then graduated from Richmond High School and began her teaching career in School 22, Palmer and Illinois Streets, Indianapolis. Later she taught at School 7, and then School 28. In 1895 Emmerich Manual Training High School was opened in Indianapolis and she taught English there until her retirement in June, 1928. While at Emmerich she only missed 12 days of school. The principal of Emmerich said Anna "is one of that fine outstanding loyal group of teachers that formed the basis of cultural education in Indianapolis." She took particular interest in foreign students, befriending and helping several from the Philippines and China. The senior class dedicated its yearbook, Senior Booster to her. Anna helped start the Saturday Afternoon Literary Club with female students from Emmerich.[116]

v. Alice Griffith, unmarried

vi. Martha Griffith, called Mattie, b. ca. 1860; unmarried

vii. Elizabeth Griffith, called Lizzie, b. ca. 1865; unmarried
Richard Griffith Mary Newbold Griffith


     Richard Sidwell Griffith, eighth child of John and Rachel (Hackney) Griffith, was born 27 May 1819. He died 21 January 1900. On 2 June 1858 Richard and Mary L. NEWBOLD, were married. She was the daughter of Joseph and Hannah (COLEMAN) Newbold, of Woodbury, NJ.

To the right are photographs of Mary Newbold Griffith and Richard Sidwell Griffith.

On 4/6/1853 Richard S. was granted a certificate of removal from Hopewell to Baltimore, but in 5th month he reported that he “declined moving” for the present. On 1/3/1856 he and his brother Joseph H. were granted certificates and removed to Baltimore. Richard's brother Aaron set him up in a woolen mill at Wetheredville, near Baltimore, under the name of "R. S. Griffith & Bro."[117]

Richard, Mary, and Anna T. Griffith

Richard did not remain in the Baltimore area, however. After Mary died, the 1880 federal census enumerated him in Shawnee Township, Frederick County, Virginia. He was identified as a 60 year old bookkeeper, living with his 70 year old sister-in-law, Mary P. (PARKINS) Griffith and three of her unmarried children and three servants.[118]

Child of Richard Sidwell and Mary L. (Newbold) Griffith:

i. Anna Trotter Griffith, b. _; was a "gay Quaker", as shown in the family photo to the left (meaning that she did not wear drab Quaker clothing). Later Anna became very strict and chastised her cousin Lydia (Griffith) Balderston for wearing a gold cross and pin which had been gifts from Anna’s own father.[119] Anna never married, and lived as an adult in West Chester, Penna.










leek
The leek, Ceninen in Welsh, is a traditional emblem of Wales, from whence came the Griffith family.
With no uniforms, one way for armies to distinguish between friend and foe was the wearing of an emblem—
for the Welsh this was sometimes a leek.

In Henry V, Act 5, Scene 1, Shakespeare acknowledged that it was an ancient custom:
" . . . an ancient tradition, begun upon an
honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of
predeceased valour . . . ."

Apparently leeks are no longer as important a part of the Welsh diet as they once were.
For one thing, in the USA they tend to be quite expensive.


See a chart of the Collateral Lines that marry into the Griffith Line featured on this web site. These are the collateral lines that will eventually be included on this web site in connection with the Griffith family (not all of them have been posted as yet): Balderston, Bancroft, David, Davis, Duck, Faulkner, Ferrée, Hackney, Harlan, Heald, Janney, Jennings, John, Jones, Lewis, McCool, Smith, Warembauer, and Wright.

Return to the top of the page.
See the index of other family lines.
See the Paxson family.

If you have corrections or additions, I would be delighted to hear from you via e mail at .

This page was posted 6/14/2003, and updated 3m/30/2013.



leek



Notes, Sources, and Citations

The first mention of a specific source is given in full; after that it is given in an abbreviated form. So if you want to see the full citation, scroll up until you find it.

1. "Nantcwnlle", in Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, . . . (London: 1842), Vol. 2 (n.p.).


2. Text of the purchase document is printed in Thomas Allen Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, John Griffith and Griffith Griffiths (sons of Griffith John, of the Parish of Llanddewi Brefi, in the County of Cardigan, South Wales, Great Britain), who removed to the County of Chester, Pennsylvania, in the early part of the XVIIIth Century (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1905), 20-21.


3. "Nantcwnlle", in Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, vol. 2 (n.p.).


4. Text of the will is printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 22.


5. "Llanddewi Brefi", in Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, vol. 2, n.p.


6. "Tręgaron", in Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, vol. 2, n.p.


7. Text of the will reprinted in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 31-32.


8. Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 72-73.


9. Text of the will reprinted in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 41-43.


10. Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 33.


11. The certificate is transcribed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 59.


12. Pennsylvania Archives, ser. 3, vol. 11.


13. Text of the will reprinted in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 60.


13a. Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Frederick County, Virginia [also for Winchester Town] (Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987), 495, 529.

14. Handwritten account by John Griffith III, 9/3m/1854, facsimile printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., opposite p. 32. It is also quoted in Wilmer L. Kerns, Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First families of Back Creek Valley, 1730-1830 (Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1995), 178.


15. Hopewell Friends History: 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia: Records of Hopewell Monthly Meetings and Meetings Reporting to Hopewell. Comp. from Official records and published by Joint Committee of Hopewell Friends, assisted by John W. Wayland (Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1936), 286. Hereinafter cited as Hopewell Friends History.


15a. Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Frederick County, Virginia [Also for Winchester Town] (Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987), 495, 529.


16. Handwritten account by John Griffith III, facsimile printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., opposite p. 32. It is also quoted in Kerns, Frederick County, 177.


17. "Disownments at Hopewell, 1759-1829, From Book 1", Hopewell Friends History, 508; "Hopewell Certificates of Membership and Removal From Book 1, 1759-1776", Hopewell Friends History, 409. There is no mention of John's marriage in Hopewell Friends History.


18. Hopewell Friends History, 294, 302, and 307. There is no mention of Evan's marriage in Hopewell Friends History.


19. Hopewell Friends History, 343, 349, and 309. There is no mention of their own marriage in Hopewell Friends History.


20. Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 34.


21. Handwritten account by John Griffith III, facsimile printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., opposite p. 32. It is also quoted in Kerns, Frederick County, 177-78.


22. handwritten account by John Griffith III, facsimile printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., opposite p. 32. It is also quoted in Kerns, Frederick County, 177.


23. The second date is from the handwritten notes of John Griffith III, facsimile printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., opposite p. 32. It is also quoted by Kerns, Frederick County, 176.


24. Mary died in 1781, not 1791 as appears in Glenn. The former date is pencilled into the copy of Glenn owned first by Anna T. Griffith, then sent to Lydia (Balderston) Dunning, and passed down to Lydia’s granddaughter, Lucy T. (Shoe) Meritt, p. 34. It is corroborated by Hopewell Friends History: 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia: Records of Hopewell Monthly Meetings and Meetings Reporting to Hopewell. Comp. from Official records and published by Joint Committee of Hopewell Friends, assisted by John W. Wayland (Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1936), 471.


25. Pennsylvania Archives, ser. 3, vol. 11.


26. William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 6: Virginia, 6:393; Hopewell Friends History, 414.


27. Fernando G. Cartland, Southern Heroes, or The Friends in War Time (Cambridge: printed at the Riverside Press, 1895), 335; Joint Committee of Hopewell Friends, assisted by John W. Wayland, Hopewell Friends History, 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia (Strasburg, Va.: Printed by Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1936), 45-49.


28. Ezra Michener, A Retrospect of Early Quakerism (Philadelphia: T, Ellwood Zell, 1860; facsimile reprint Washington, DC: Cool Spring Publishing Company, 1991), 92; Hopewell Friends History, 49.


28a. Hopewell Friends History, 123.




28b. Hopewell Friends History, 271.



29. "Family Records of Hopewell" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 471.



30. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393, 596. "Crooked Run Marriage Certificates" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 376; "Hopewell Certificates of Membership and Removal" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 421. Just to confuse things, a John Griffith was received 7 Fifth Month 1792 in Hopewell Monthly Meeting on certificate from Crooked Run Meeting. Presumably this was a different John Griffith. Ibid., 429.



31a. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 281.



31b. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 282.



31c. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 283.



31d. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 284.



31e. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 285.



31. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 286.



31g. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 286.

"Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 287.



31h. Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Frederick County, Virginia [Also for Winchester Town] (Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987), 495, 529.


32. Hopewell Friends History, 196.



32a. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 294.



33. Garland R. Quarles, Some Old Homes in Frederick County, Virginia, rev. ed. (Winchester, Va.: Frederick County Historical Society, 1990), 118. Quarles cites the real estate records F.D.B. 29, p. 450 and F.D.B. 40, p. 601.


34. M. N. Kangas and D. E. Payne, comps, Frederick County. Virginia Wills & Administrations, 1795-1816 (Balt: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983), 17 (citing Will Book 6, pp. 299-303.)


34a. Federal census, 1800, 1810, 1820; 1830, roll 190, p. 112.



35. William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (Richmond, Ind.: Friends Book and Supply House, Distributors, 1938), 6:393.


36. Text of the will is printed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 61-62.


37. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393.


38. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393.


39. Hopewell Friends History, 294.


40. Hopewell Friends History, 536.


41. Hopewell Friends History, 498.


41a. Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Frederick County, Virginia [Also for Winchester Town] (Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987), 525, 539.


42. Hopewell Friends History, 426.


43. Hopewell Friends History, 512.


44. Hopewell Friends History, 310, 321, 363.


45. Hopewell Friends History, 514.


45a. Schreiner-Yantis and Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Frederick County, Virginia, 496, 528.


46. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell", abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 318.


47. "Friends Under Care" from the records in Hopewell Books 3 and 4, as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 523.


48. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell", abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 357.



49. Hopewell Friends History, 318; "Frederick County Indentures, Guardian, and Apprentice Bonds", as cited by Wilmer L. Kerns, Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (Revised) (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, Inc., 1992), 50.


50. Hopewell Friends History, 171-2.


51. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell", abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 298, 305, 312, 315, 321, and 325.


52. "Family Records of Hopewell" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 471; Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393.


53. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 294.


54. "Family Records of Hopewell" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 471.


55. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 321.


56. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291. American Periodical Series, reel 929.


57. Quarles, Some Old Homes in Frederick County, Virginia, 229.


58. Hopewell Friends History, 155-6.


59. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


60. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393. This could very well be the John Griffith who d. March 8, 1851, near the residence of John F. Wall, in Frederick Co. The Coroner’s report said: “the deceased came to his death from drunkenness and exposure, by laying out in a pool of water during the night and in a snowstorm.” No details as to age, residence, marital status, etc. [Kerns, ed., Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (Cullman, AL: The Gregath Company, 1988), 2:55. Vol 2 of Old Frederick County, Virginia Historical Series.]


61. "Griffith - L'Hommedieu - Young Genealogy" at http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pal2pal&id=I112, seen 5m/19/2007.


62. “Our dear friend was a diligent attender of all our meetings, and a devout worshipper when there. No consideration of worldly moment was allowed to divert him from this important duty, or prevent him from making way for his family also.” Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291. Hinshaw, American Quaker Genealogy, VI:393-4.



63. "Account Book for Friendly Grove Woolen Mill, January 1827 - April 1835", (Box 3, 1347 THL) The Archives Room, The Handley Regional Library, Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society.


64. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394.


65. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


66. "Ordinary Bonds, 1800-1840 for City of Winchester and in Frederick Co.", as cited by Wilmer L. Kerns, Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (Revised), 183.


67. Julia Davis, The Shenandoah, 301.


68. Wilbur S. Johnston, Weaving a Common Thread: A History of the Woolen Industry in the Top of the Shenandoah Valley (Winchester: Frederick County Historical Society, 1990), 18ff; Hopewell Friends History, 171-2.



69. "Account Book for Friendly Grove Woolen Mill, January 1827 - April 1835", (Box 3, 1347 THL), Handley Regional Library.


70. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


71. Davis, The Shenandoah, 171.


72. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 364.


73. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


74. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 366.


75. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


76. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 336.


77. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 336-37


78. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 343-44.


79. Cornelia Peake McDonald, A Woman’s Civil War: A Diary, with Reminiscences of the War, from March 1862, ed. by Minrose C. Gwin (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1992).


80. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 364-65.


81. Friends Review, APS reel 926, p. 505.


82. Davis, The Shenandoah, 289-91.


83. Hopewell Friends History: 1734-1934, 147. The stonemason was W. D. Lee and he left his initials in the stones.


84. A transcript of the will is in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 62-63.


85. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.


86. As cited by Kerns, Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (Revised), 183.


87. Friends' Review, vol. XXV, no. 19 (12/30/1871), pp. 289-291.

88. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 357; Eliza Timberlake Davis, Frederick County, Virginia, Marriages, 1771-1825, 76; Cartland, Southern Heroes, 337.



89. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 366, 368.


90. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394.

91. Hopewell Friends History, 487, 489.


92. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 338.



93. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 339.


94. "Family Records of Hopewell, Orthodox Branch" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 489; and, Glenn, including pencilled annotations in the copy belonging to Anna T. Griffith, then to Lydia (Baklderston) Dunning, and on to Lucy T. (Shoe) Merrit.


95. Cartland, Southern Heroes, 333.



96. US Federal census for 1870, White Hall P.O., Stonewall Twp., Subdivision 180, Frederick Co., Va., roll M593_1648, p. 22, lines 20-26, taken 17 Sept. 1870.



96a. 1900 US census, Stonewall Dist., Frederick Co., Va., page 4A/126A, lines 9-14, enumeration district 30, roll T623_1709.



97. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394; Hopewell Friends History, 488.


98. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:393.



99. Hopewell Friends History, 171-2.


100. Written in 1895, Cartland, Southern Heroes, 333-34; 366. See also Hopewell Friends History, 136-7.




101. US Federal census for 1870, Winchester P.O., Stonewall Twp., Frederick Co., Va., roll M593_1648, p. 4-5, lines 35-40, 1-5; taken 7 and 8 Sept. 1870.



102. US Federal census for 1880, Shawnee Twp., Frederick Co., Va., roll T9-1366, enumeration district 41, p. 301, taken 1 June 1880.



103. "Family Records of Hopewell, Orthodox Branch" as transcribed in Hopewell Friends History, 488. Aaron's descendants are also listed in Glenn, The Pedigree of William Griffith, etc., 37-38; and including pencilled annotations in the copy belonging first to Anna T. Griffith, then to Lydia (Baklderston) Dunning, and on to Lucy T. (Shoe) Merrit.



104. Hopewell Friends History, 155-6.



105. Norma Jacob, ed., Quaker Roots: The Story of Western Quarter (Kennett Square, Penna.: Western Quarterly Meeting, 1980), 58.


106. Story according to Lucy Shoe Meritt.


107. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394.


108. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394.



109. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 369.




110. "Marriage Certificates from Hopewell" as abstracted in Hopewell Friends History, 369.



111. US Federal census for 1870, Carthage P.O., Marion Twp.,Jasper Co., Mo., roll M593_783, p. 63 (printed p. 84), lines 17-21, taken 13 Aug. 1870.



112. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394.


113. "All Around the Town", column featuring Miss Anna Griffith, in an undated, unlabelled newspaper clipping, ca. June 1928, from the collection of Lucy T. Shoe Meritt.


114. US Federal census for 1880, Richmond, Wayne Co., Ind., roll T9-322, enumeration district 71, p. 320, lines 1-6, taken 12 June 1880.



115. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394, and pencilled note slipped in to the copy of Glenn owned first by Anna T. Griffith, then by Anna's first cousin Lydia (Balderston) Dunning, then passed down to Lydia's granddaughter Lucy T. (Shoe) Merrit.


116. "All Around the Town", column featuring Miss Anna Griffith, in an undated, unlabelled newspaper clipping, ca. June 1928, from the collection of Lucy T. (Shoe) Meritt.




117. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6:394; Hopewell Friends History, 172.



118. US Federal census for 1880, Shawnee Twp., Frederick Co., Va., roll T9-1366, enumeration district 41, p. 301, taken 1 June 1880.




119. Story told by Lydia (Balderston) Dunning's granddaughter, Lucy T. (Shoe) Merrit.



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leek
The leek, Ceninen in Welsh, is a traditional emblem of Wales, from whence came the Griffith family.


This page was posted 6/14/2003, and most recently updated on 5m/11/2021.