A Photo of John T. Griffin

John T. Griffin

This is a picture of my second great-grandfather, John T. Griffin. I had never seen a photo of him until I received this image last week.

Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you to Mary, who found my blog while searching online for Griffin family history. After realizing our families were connected, she emailed me and offered to share photos of John. It was such a kind and generous thing to do, and it means more than I can explain. If you recall my previous posts about my second great-grandfather, John T. Griffin was largely unknown to my immediate family until recently. He and my second great-grandmother, Annie Dickson, were ill-matched and their marriage lasted less than a year. They divorced and Annie moved to another state. Their son, George, never met his biological father. It's very likely he never even saw a photo of him.

Looking at the images of John T. Griffin's face for the first time was emotional. It was one of those moments when I wished desperately that my grandmother was still alive. She would have loved this. She was quite curious about the Griffins and always wanted to know more about John. I also thought of George, my great-grandfather, who never knew his father. How would he have felt, seeing a photo of John? I stared hard at the picture, trying to find some resemblance to George. Maybe there are some similarities in the nose? It's hard to tell. George looked very much like his mother.

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd (formerly George Griffin)

These photos bring full circle a journey that started many decades ago, when Annie Dickson whispered to her granddaughter, my grandmother LaVerne, that George had a different father than his brothers. My grandmother researched the Griffins for many years, and eventually passed the quest along to me. Looking at the images of John T. Griffin connected me, once again, to my ancestors, and the story that started in 1893, when John and Annie met in Detroit. John never knew his son, George, or his granddaughter, LaVerne. He would never get to meet his five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and (currently) two great-great-grandchildren. But we all exist because of him.

John Griffin at age 88 with his third wife, Lizzie, and three of his great-grandchildren, Harry, Kennetha and Jessie Opel.

On another note, I will be speaking to my local genealogy society later this year about writing a family history blog. This story will be one that I use as a prime example of why you should write a blog, and why you should make it public. Mary would never have found me if not for this blog. I would not be looking at photos of my second great-grandfather if this blog was not public. Time and time again, this blog has connected me with family members I would otherwise never have met, and I'm so grateful to have had those conversations. When you share your stories, good things happen.

Thank you, Mary. I am so appreciative.

The Siblings of John T. Griffin

An illustration of New York City as it appeared in the mid-to-late 1800s, when my Griffin ancestors lived there.

Having established the parentage of my second great-grandfather, John T. Griffin, I was curious to know more about his siblings.

In the 1850 US Census, Thomas and Eliza Griffin are shown living in New York City Ward 11 (now the Lower East Side) with eight children.

Charles M. Griffin (22)
Joseph W. Griffin (20)
Henry H. Griffin (18)
Elizabeth Griffin (17)
Sarah J. Griffin (12)
John T. Griffin (10)
Susan Griffin (8)
Charles J. Griffin (5)

It is unusual that two of their children, the oldest and the youngest, appear to be named Charles. However, both are listed as children of Thomas and Eliza in the census, and there's no indication that one of them might be a nephew or a step-child. 

Five years later, in the 1855 New York Census, Thomas and Eliza can be seen living in Brooklyn, New York with the following children:

John (16)
Susan (13)
Charles (10)

The older five children are no longer in the household in 1855. Charles M., Joseph, Henry and Elizabeth were all in their twenties and presumably living with families of their own at that point. Sarah, at age 17, had also likely married and moved from her parents' home at the time of the census.

The next time the Griffin family appears in a census record, in 1880, Thomas and Eliza were living in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Their youngest son, Charles J., was still in the household with them at age 33.

Here's what I've learned thus far about John Griffin's siblings.

Charles M. Griffin was born about 1828. He is shown with his family in the 1850 US Census, but I cannot find any other record of him before or after that time. In the census, he is 22 years old and his occupation is ship's carpenter. This is the same job that his younger brothers, Henry and John, would take up a few years later.

Joseph W. Griffin was born on 29 October 1830 in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there with his family until his teenage years, when they moved to New York City. He married Hannah M. Allen in New York City in 1852, and they settled immediately afterward in Scranton. Hannah was a grandniece of the Revolutionary War hero Colonel Ethan Allen.  Together, they had six children: George Gordon Griffin (1853-1924) who became a doctor and lived in Washington State, Emblem "Blema" Griffin (1857-1928) who married Samuel Snyder and lived in Portland, Oregon, John T. Griffin (1861-1941) who married Edith and lived in Seattle, Washington, Mary J. Griffin (1864-1925) who married Walter Sullivan and lived in Washington, D.C., Carrie B. Griffin (1870-1903) who married Ora Edward Carey and John Allen Griffin (died in infancy). Joseph and Hannah lived at 1156 Academy Street in Scranton. Joseph worked as a gate keeper, according to the 1860 and 1870 US Census. This occupation can have a variety of definitions, but it most likely meant that Joseph controlled purchasing for a local company. Hannah died in 1908. Joseph died of prostate cancer at the age of 83, in 1914. He is buried next to his wife in Chinchilla, Pennsylvania.

Henry H. Griffin was born about 1832 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was a teenager when his family moved to New York City. In 1856 he married Mary Powell in New York.  Together they had three children: Sylvanus Griffin (1857-1909) who married Cornelia Freer, Ira Griffin (1864-1920) who married Catherine Tucker, and Spencer Griffin (b. 1870) who married Elizabeth. Like his brothers Charles M. Griffin and John T. Griffin, Henry Griffin worked as a ship's carpenter, according to the 1880 census.

Elizabeth Griffin was born about 1833 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was living with her parents and siblings in New York City in 1850, per the US Census, but after that she disappears from records. She likely married soon afterward and assumed a new surname, but I haven't been able to trace her yet.

Sarah J. Griffin was born about 1837 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was raised in New York. Many online trees claim that Sarah married Henry Sommers in Scranton in 1855, but I think that may have been a different Sarah.  As of now, I don't know the fate of Sarah Griffin.  She was not listed in her parents' household in 1855, when she was about age 17, so she either married or died around that time.

John T. Griffin (1838-1933) was my second great-grandfather.  I've written quite a bit about his life, marriages and children in previous posts. He was married three times, to Ellen Pearsall, Anne Dickson, and Elizabeth Rice. He was the father of six children: Ella May Griffin (1862-1949), who married Hiram Palmer, Howard B. Griffin (1864-1918), who married Charlotte Pearsall, Clarence Griffin (1866-?), Milton A. Griffin (1876-?) who married Melitta Becker, Harry Pearsall Griffin (1879-?), who married Leah Bache, and George Roscoe Griffin (1895-1962) (name later changed to George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd) who married Julia Ellen Barrett.

Susan Griffin was born about 1842 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was still young when her parents moved to New York City. She is seen in the 1850 and 1855 census records with her parents, and after that I can't find any trace of her. Most likely, she married and her surname changed, but I haven't found the records yet.

Charles J. Griffin was born about 1847 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was quite young when his family moved to New York City, and he spent most or all of his childhood there. Later, he moved with his parents back to Pennsylvania. In the 1880 census, at age 33, he was single and living with his parents in Scranton.  His occupation is listed as carpenter. Unfortunately, after this time I can find no record of Charles.

There is clearly much more to learn about John Griffin's siblings. I will continue to research this family and hope to uncover more information.

The Lineage of John T. Griffin

The harbor at Mamaroneck, New York, ancestral home of my Griffin ancestors. (photo by June Marie)

I've been working hard to prove the ancestors of my second great-grandfather, John T. Griffin.  As mentioned in previous posts, this family has always been something of a mystery, since John T. Griffin divorced my second great-grandmother, Annie Dickson, before the birth of their only child and then disappeared from their lives.

Earlier posts have detailed my search to determine John T. Griffin's place of death and the names of his parents and grandparents.  While I was fairly certain I'd located his parents in New York census records, attempts to verify his paternal grandparents ended in a confused muddle of conflicting documents.  Since I believe John's grandparents were from Westchester County, New York, I contacted the Westchester County Historical Society to see if they could help.  They quickly responded to my request and set to work copying any related Griffin materials for me.  I received a package in the mail shortly thereafter, so many thanks to the helpful librarians at the Westchester County Historical Society.  The good news is that WCHS did have multiple documents relating to my Griffin family.  The bad news is that they weren't quite the slam dunk that I'd hoped to find.  I do think I have strong circumstantial evidence for this family's lineage, but I'll continue looking for more concrete connections.

Here, I present the case for the ancestry of John T. Griffin.

John T. Griffin (1838 - 1933)
Place of birth: Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Source: 1920 US Census, 1930 US Census, Florida Death Records
Parents' names: Thomas Griffin and E.J. Carpenter. Source: Marriage record (Annie Dickson), marriage record (Elizabeth Rice), Florida Death Records.

There is some conflicting information about John's place of birth and his parents' place of birth.  The 1900 US Census lists John as having been born in New York and his parents in Pennsylvania.  His Florida death record says his place of birth was Pennsylvania, and his parents place of birth was Pennsylvania.  However, I know that John lived in New York as a young man.  He married his first wife, Ellen Pearsall, there in 1859 and was living in Brooklyn at the time of the 1865 New York State Census. So, I started my search for John's parents in New York, and found a match.

In the 1850 US Census, I located a family that appears to include my second great-grandfather, John T. Griffin.  He is shown living in New York City with parents Thomas Griffin and Eliza J. Griffin. John is 10 years old at the time of this census, which is the correct age.  The census indicates that he and most of his siblings were born in Pennsylvania, while his parents and eldest brother are recorded as having been born in New York. One very interesting piece of information is that the eldest brother, Charles, is employed as a ship's carpenter.  This is the same career John would take up just a handful of years later.  It is recorded as his occupation in the 1865 New York Census and the 1900 US Census.  That he sailed boats on the Great Lakes was one of the few things Annie Dickson would tell her son about his father.  So, here we have a correlation of dates, location and occupation that indicates this is the correct family.

Thomas Griffin (1806 - ?)
Place of birth: New York. Source: (1850 US Census, 1855 New York State Census)

While the 1900 census and John Griffin's death certificate list Thomas' place of birth as Pennsylvania, that information was given by third parties (John's father-in-law and wife) after Thomas' death, so I favor the two census records where Thomas himself reported the information.  The 1855 Census specifically states that both Thomas and Eliza were born in Westchester County, New York. Interestingly, this census also lists Thomas' first name as "Thorn," which is repeated in the 1880 census and on the death certificate of his son Joseph.  This is clearly the same family, with the same children, but Thomas is sometimes listed as Thomas Griffin and sometimes as Thorn Griffin.

I moved my search to Westchester County, hoping to find records there that would connect Thomas to his parents.  I quickly located a couple living in Mamaroneck, Westchester County, who appeared to be candidates.  His potential mother's surname was Thorne, which would explain why Thomas also bore the name Thorn or Thorne.

Stephen Griffin (Abt 1780 - 1847)

Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne were married in Chappaqua in 1800.  The will of Jerusha Thorne's father, written in 1821, mentions his grandson Thomas Griffin.  I was hoping that the Westchester County Historical Society's documents would concretely prove the assertion that Thomas was the son of Stephen and Jerusha.  They sent me the 1847 records of the Westchester County Surrogate Court regarding the will of Stephen Griffin.  The will itself leaves goods to Stephen's wife, Jerusha, along with his children, Abigail Griffin, Joseph Griffin and John C. Griffin.  While nothing appears to have been willed to Thomas, and he is never listed as a child of Stephen Griffin, in the will there is a mention from a court surrogate that, "This deponent served said citation on Thomas T. Griffin by delivering a copy of the same to him personally..."  While this isn't the slam dunk I was hoping to achieve, it does link Stephen Griffin and Thomas Griffin.  The Westchester County Historical Society also sent me a document listing Stephen and Jerusha's children with a note that this information comes without source citations.  Those children were Thomas, Abigail, Amy, Joseph, Hannah and John.  So, we have a lot of circumstantial evidence indicting that Stephen and Jerusha were the parents of Thomas.  I decided to go back another couple of generations to see if I could find any more information about the family that might nail down this lineage.

Joseph Griffin (1737 - 1807)

Joseph Griffin, father of Stephen and likely great-grandfather of John, is the descendant of a family that arrived in America in the early 1600s from England.

Joseph Griffin of Mamaroneck married Jane Cornell of Scarsdale in Westchester County and they had six sons, including Stephen.  Joseph's will mentions Stephen, so this connection seems solid.  While the 1790 and 1800 census listings don't include any names other than Joseph's, Stephen is presumably one of the five "free white males" under age 16 counted in the household in 1790 and one of the males between 16-26 listed in the 1800 census.

More Griffins

According to a number of published genealogies, Joseph was the great-grandson of Edward Griffin, an Englishman who sailed to Virginia on the ship Abraham in 1635.  I will need to do the due diligence of checking each connection in this line, however.  In a brief review of the writings about this family, there seems to be a lot of debate about Edward's origins and his reasons for coming to America.  Nothing has been easy about tracing this Griffin line, and it looks like the challenges will continue.

Paperwork regarding the last will and testament of Stephen Griffin

Who Were Thomas Griffin's Parents?

Forested hills in the Lackawanna Valley (photo by Nicholas A. Tonelli)

In my last post, I discussed my quest to find the parents of my third great-grandfather, Thomas Griffin.  An Ancestry Member Tree had asserted that Thomas was the son of Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne of Mamaroneck, New York. When I started trying to find proof of this connection, it initially seemed promising. Stephen and Jerusha lived in Westchester County, where Thomas was born. Records indicated that Thomas' middle name was actually Thorne, which would make sense if he was Jerusha Thorne's son. I also found a death record suggesting that Thomas was buried in Mamaroneck in 1881.

Another piece of key information: In the book The Journal of the Reverend Silas Constant, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church At Yorktown, New York, the author mentions the will of Thomas Thorne of New Castle, NY (adjacent to Mamaroneck). In this will, Thomas Thorne in 1821 names his wife, several children and a grandchild. Among them is his daughter, Jerusha Griffin and her son Thomas Griffin. This proves that Thomas was the son of Jerusha Thorne Griffin.

Then, it all started to go downhill. I couldn't find a census record for Stephen Griffin in Mamaroneck, which meant I couldn't place a child of Thomas' age in his household. I could not locate wills or deeds that definitively connected father and son. Where was the proof I needed?

The question of Scranton, Pennsylvania also continued to loom large in my mind. If Thomas and his parents were from Mamaroneck, then why did Thomas spend so many years living in Scranton, far from both his parents and the New York City boroughs where he settled with his children? I decided to take a closer look at Scranton and see if there might be some clues in that area.

Almost immediately, I found something exciting. Records for the city of Scranton indicate that five Griffin brothers from Westchester County were early settlers in the area. These brothers began farming in Providence, in the Lackawanna Valley, which was later incorporated into Scranton in the early 1800s.

The original Griffin in Providence was Stephen, who in 1794 left Westchester County, N.Y., to battle with Pennsylvania forests. He located near Lutze's fordway. Thos. Griffin became a resident of the valley in 1811, James in 1812, and Joseph and Isaac in 1816. [History of the Lackawanna Valley by Horace Hollister]

If Thomas Griffin's father and uncles had moved from Mamaroneck to Scranton, that would explain why I could find no record of Stephen in Mamaroneck during Thomas' childhood, and also why Thomas and his family lived on and off in the Scranton area in later years. However, right away there were a few problems with this idea. "Scranton Stephen Griffin" left Westchester County in 1794. The Stephen Griffin I was researching married Jerusha Thorne in Westchester County in 1800, and his son Thomas was born there about 1802. Multiple census records confirm Thomas' birth year and place. The database "US and International Marriage Records 1560-1900" records the Griffin-Thorne marriage as taking place in 1800. How could the Stephen Griffin I was researching be a Pennsylvania settler, while also marrying and having children in New York?

I did some investigating of the Stephen Griffin who settled near Scranton. His wife was variously recorded as Mary Place or Polly Place. I could find no mention of a wife named Jerusha. The Stephen Griffin in Scranton had several daughters, likely including Matilda (b. 1799), Jerusha (b. 1802 and married Henry Treadwell Fellows), Amelia (or Armelia) (b. 1804) and Maria (b. 1807). He also had two sons, Jackson and Egbert.

The Griffins were early inhabitants of Connecticut and from that state removed to Dutchess county, NY, where the birth of our subject's grandfather, Stephen Griffin, occurred. He was a farmer and drover by occupation and about 1810 he settled in what is now Lackawanna County. Subsequently, his brothers, Joseph, Thomas and James, and a sister, Mrs. Mead, also came here and their descendants still remain in this valley. Stephen married Mary Place, a native of Connecticut and daughter of a pioneer of this county, and of their union two sons were born, Jackson and Egbert. [Portrait and Biographical Record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania by Chapman Publishing Co.]

Given the lack of connection to either Jerusha Thorne or a son named Thomas, I don't believe the Stephen Griffin who settled in Scranton can be the father of my third great-grandfather.

Is it possible that there may have been two Stephen Griffins in Westchester County? Was there one who went to Scranton and married Mary Place, and another who stayed in Mamaroneck, married Jerusha Thorne, and had a son named Thomas?

This leads us to another bit of contested information. Who was the father of Stephen Griffin?  Online family trees tend to record the same parents for both Scranton Stephen and Mamaroneck Stephen: Joseph Griffin and Sarah Burling. Here, again, things are not as simple as they might at first appear. The record cited most often in online trees for this family is found in the database Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870, Pomfret Vital Records 1705-1850. It shows a Stephen Griffin born in Pomfret, Connecticut on March 6, 1777, son of Joseph and Sarah Griffin. However, upon closer examination, it appear that this Stephen was not the son of Joseph Griffin and Sarah Burling, but rather Joseph Griffin and Sarah Brown, whose marriage was registered in Pomfret in 1755. Joseph Griffin and Sarah Burling were from Westchester County. In The Burling Books: Ancestors and Descendants of Edward and Grace Burling by Jane Thompson-Stahr, there is mention of a Joseph Griffin (of Mamaroneck) and Sarah Burling (of Eastchester, NY) who had a son, Stephen in Westchester County in about 1775. Did this Stephen Griffin turn out to be Scranton Stephen or Mamaroneck Stephen? I can't find any conclusive evidence.

This is why online family trees are so dangerous. It would have been easy to look at the names this tree provided and the circumstantial evidence connecting Stephen and Jerusha to Thomas Griffin, and absorb this into my tree. When I started really looking at these individuals carefully and trying to apply a standard of proof to their relationship, it just wasn't there.

I believe it's quite likely that Thomas was the son of Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne Griffin of Mamaroneck. I just can't prove it. I also don't know what to make of the Scranton issue.  There was clearly a Scranton connection in my family. My second great-grandfather, John Griffin, son of Thomas Griffin, was born there. Thomas and Eliza Griffin lived there for a time. It just doesn't seem possible that the Stephen Griffin who settled there in 1794 was the father of Thomas Griffin.

This family never fails to frustrate, but I will continue to search for answers.

Proving the Ancestors of John T. Griffin

We all know that Ancestry Member Trees are a double edged sword.  They can be helpful for hints, but are so full of frustrating errors and unproven links.  Last week, I stumbled upon an Ancestry tree that seemed to include my third great-grandparents, Thomas Griffin and Eliza Carpenter.  Moreover, it had several generations of Griffin ancestors attached.  This was very exciting, as the Griffins have been a difficult family to research.  If correct, this tree had potentially handed me four generations of newly-found ancestors.

Just to recap, John T. Griffin was my biological second great-grandfather.  He and my second great-grandmother, Annie Dickson, were married less than a year, and divorced before their son, George, was born.  George was adopted by his stepfather, Malcolm Rutherfurd, and no words were ever spoken about John Griffin.  When my grandmother and I started collaborating on genealogy, she'd already uncovered John Griffin's name and the Griffin-Dickson marriage registration, but she wanted to know more.  We were able to learn much about John's first wife, Ellen Pearsall, and their five children, but John's ancestors remained frustratingly mysterious.  On his marriage registration, John listed his parents as Thomas Griffin and Eliza Carpenter of New York.   I was pretty confident that a family I located in the 1850 census, living in Brooklyn, showed John with his parents and siblings. From there, it got complicated.  Every single road I went down led to a dead end.  Could this Ancestry Member Tree help?

The member tree in question asserted that Thomas Griffin's parents were Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne. Of course, like so many public trees, there were no sources attached proving this was true. I set out to determine whether there was any evidence that could prove Thomas' parentage.

Location, Location, Location

At first glance, the location of the potential parents, Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne, appeared to be correct.  In the 1855 New York State Census, Thomas Griffin and his wife Eliza Carpenter both stated that they were born in Westchester County, New York.  The supposed parents of Thomas, Stephen and Jerusha, were from Mamaroneck, in Westchester County.  Their families had considerable roots in this area, having lived several generations in Mamaroneck and nearby Chappaqua and New Castle.  This potential link was looking promising!

Thomas and Thorne

The Ancestry Member Tree asserted that Thomas Griffin's middle name was Thorne.  This would make sense if he truly was the son of Jerusha Thorne Griffin.  In reviewing census records, I looked again at the 1855 New York State Census, and found that the entry for my Thomas Griffin was not actually "Thom Griffin" but "Thorn Griffin."  I had assumed that the r and n were a crudely shaped m, but in looking more closely, the name was clearly spelled Thorn.  Ancestry even indexes the name as Thorn.  Why had I not noticed that before?  A case for Thomas' parents was slowly starting to build.

Death

On Family Search, I located a death record for Thomas Thorne Griffen. Griffen is a known alternate spelling of Griffin which shows up in John T. Griffin's records, as well. This record, from New York, New York City Municipal Deaths 1795-1949, lists Thomas Thorne Griffin, born about 1802 in New York State, died 1 January 1881 in Manhattan and buried 3 January 1881 in Mamaroneck, New York. He is listed as married, but the record does not give the name of his spouse. I was then able to locate a Find A Grave record for Thomas T. Griffin, 1802-1881, buried in Barker-Quaker Cemetery, Larchmont, New York.  Google informed me that Larchmont is actually a village located within the boundaries of Mamaroneck, New York.  If this is my Thomas Griffin, his death record reinforces his connection to Mamaroneck and potential parents Stephen Griffin and Jerusha Thorne.

The red circles indicate Brooklyn, Mamaroneck and Scranton.  Thomas Griffin lived in each of these cities.

But Then...

...it all got more complicated.

For one, I could find no census records showing Stephen Griffin of Mamaroneck in a household with a child the age of Thomas Thorne Griffin.  While I see tax records for Stephen Griffin in the early 1800s, I don't see him in census listings at that time.  I also could not find a will or deed for Stephen Griffin that mentioned his children.  So, there was no slam dunk bit of paperwork connecting Stephen and Thomas.  At least not that I've been able to find yet.

One of the things that has been hardest about researching this family is that they moved more than once between New York City and Scranton, Pennsylvania.  John T. Griffin and all but one of his siblings were born in Scranton between about 1830 and 1847.  The 1850 US Census shows the family living in Brooklyn, New York, and clearly lists that seven children were born in PA, but the parents and oldest son were born in NY.  This means that Thomas and Eliza were born in Westchester County, had their first child somewhere in New York, then moved to Pennsylvania and lived there for over a decade before relocating to the New York City boroughs.  They were definitely in New York during the period of 1850-1855, as they were noted in the federal and state census records for those years. However, in the 1880 US Census, I located a listing for a Thorn Griffin and Eliza Griffin living once again in Scranton.  Both were born in New York and were living with a 33-year old son named Charles J. Griffin, who was born in Pennsylvania.  This matches perfectly with the information provided in the 1850 and 1855 census records, so I'm certain this is the same family.  However, Thomas Thorn Griffin's death record indicates that he died in New York City in January 1881.  At such an advanced age, would Thomas Griffin have undertaken a trip or a move to New York City, some distance from Scranton?  Making this even more complicated, there is a death record for Eliza Jane Griffin in Scranton on March 13, 1881.  She was buried shortly thereafter in Dunmore, PA.  Did Thomas Griffin take a trip to New York and die there, while Eliza remained behind in Scranton?  Are we dealing with two different Thomas Griffins?

So, I started digging into the Scranton connection a little more.  I've always wondered why the Griffins were going back and forth between New York City and Scranton.  They aren't exactly neighboring cities.  John T. Griffin and at least one of his brothers were involved in boat building and sailing, for which there were no opportunities in Scranton.  Why did his parents move there repeatedly?  Some simple searches on the history of Scranton opened up a whole new can of worms that took me even further away from the proof of parentage I was hoping to find.

To be continued....

The Adoption of George Roscoe Griffin

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd, formerly George Roscoe Griffin

On April 12, 1898, Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd filed paperwork to adopt his wife's son from her first marriage.

Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd

George Roscoe Griffin was born on January 23, 1895. He was the son of Anne Amelia Dickson and John T. Griffin.  His parents' marriage lasted a very short time. They were separated soon after their honeymoon and divorced a year after their nuptials. George never met his biological father. Annie Dickson married a second time, on April 29, 1897. Her second husband, Malcolm Rutherfurd, petitioned to adopt his stepson one year later.

The signature of Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd on the adoption document

The adoption paperwork is very interesting, since it sheds light on the relationship between Annie Dickson and John T. Griffin. While this account comes from Annie's point of view entirely, it's the most comprehensive account of the reasons for her divorce.

Comes now Malcolm B. O. Rutherford [sic], a citizen of the United States and citizen and resident of Converse County, Wyoming, and for the purposes hereinafter stated, would respectfully represent to the Court and Judge thereof,

FIRST:  That he is a married man, a farmer and stock raiser, by occupation, is 24 years of age and is fully able, competent and willing to provide for and assume the relation of parent to the minor child hereinafter named.

SECOND:  That your petitioner, the said Malcolm B. O. Rutherford [sic] doth hereby appear and doth hereby offer to adopt said minor child George Roscoe Griffin, a male child aged about four years, as his own, and to assume the relation of parent, that of a father to said minor child.

THIRD:  Your petitioner would further represent that the father of said minor child is John T. Griffin, and the mother of said minor is Annie E. Rutherford [sic], the wife of your petitioner, formerly the wife of the said John T. Griffin.  That the said John T. Griffin has been heretofore by this honorable court adjudged and found guilty of extreme cruelty; and for that cause has been divorced from his said former wife, Annie, the mother of said child; and the said mother thereafter married and became the wife of your petitioner, and is now a resident of said County and State; and at the time of said decree of divorce, said John T. Griffin, the father of said child, was found to be a cruel and vicious person and unfit to have the care and custody of said minor; and he was there and then, by this Court, judicially deprived of the custody or care of said child; and the Court judicially awarded sole care and custody of the said minor child to Annie E. Rutherford [sic], formerly Annie E. Griffin [sic].

This statement tells us that (a) the Converse County, Wyoming court processed Annie's divorce from John T. Griffin, (b) Annie claimed that John T. Griffin was extremely cruel, vicious and unfit to parent a child and (c) the court agreed with her. Of course, we know that John T. Griffin had already raised five children with his first wife, Ellen Pearsall. While no claims of abuse are on record from that marriage, or his last and final marriage to Elizabeth Rice, we cannot know whether abuse did or did not exist in his relationships. Annie claimed that John T. Griffin was cruel to her, and that's the only account we have of their marriage.

The document goes on to state that Annie Dickson Rutherfurd gives her consent to the adoption. It also decrees that henceforth, George will be legally and for all purposes considered the child of Malcolm Rutherfurd, capable of inheriting his estate, and that his name will be changed to George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.

Malcolm was not the father George might have wished. He disliked Malcolm's strictness, religious beliefs and use of corporal punishment. However, this adoption gave him the only father figure he would have in his life and put him on equal legal footing with his four half-brothers.

Finding John Griffin's Place of Death

One of my major research goals for 2014 was to determine my biological great-great-grandfather's place and date of death.  John T. Griffin and his family have been difficult to research.  John and his second wife, Annie Dickson, separated shortly after their marriage and some months before my great-grandfather, George Rutherfurd, was born.  Annie and George had no relationship with John after that time, so my grandmother had to start from scratch when she began researching the Griffins.

I have learned quite a bit about John Griffin's descendants in the past several years, but John's parents and siblings remain unproven.  I have also had a very difficult time determining a place and date of death for John Griffin.  He lived much of his adult life in the Detroit area, going back and forth between the United States and Canada.  However, I could find no record of his death either in Michigan or Ontario.  The good news is that I believe I have finally overcome this obstacle.

Death information for a John T. Griffin in Gulfport, Florida

I found a death record in Gulfport, Florida that appears to be our John T. Griffin.  I was elated and immediately set about trying to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that this was my second great-grandfather.  Here is why I believe I've finally cracked this case:

John's Date of Birth
We have two sources indicating that John T. Griffin's date of birth was either November 1838 or 1839.  These include the Griffin-Dickson marriage registration, where John is listed as aged 56 in 1894 and the 1900 census, where his date of birth is given as November 1839.  The newly found death record gives John's date of birth as November 8, 1838.  This appears to be a match with our John T. Griffin.

Excerpt of the 1900 U.S. Census in Detroit, Michigan

1894 marriage record for John Griffin and Annie Dickson.

John's Place of Birth
John's place of birth is less clear than his date of birth.  The Griffin-Dickson marriage registration gives his birthplace as simply "U.S."  The 1900 census says he was born in New York and that his parents were born in Pennsylvania. The Griffin-Rice marriage registration gives his place of birth as Pennsylvania.  However, we believe that the Griffin family went back and forth between Pennsylvania and New York multiple times during John's childhood.  The 1850 census record for the family we believe to be John's (although this is unproven) indicates that all but the oldest child in the family were born in Pennsylvania while the parents were born in New York.  The death certificate I located for John Griffin in Florida states that he was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  So, while this doesn't precisely match the information I have regarding our John T. Griffin, it's well within the realm of possibility. 

Parents of John Griffin
On the Griffin-Dickson marriage registration, John's parents are listed as Thomas Griffin and La Carpenter.  I have long thought that "La" was a transcription error and his mother's correct name was Ella or Eliza, but of course, this is not proven.  On the marriage license of John Griffin and Elizabeth Rice, John's parents are listed as Thomas Griffin and E.J. Carpenter.  On the death certificate I located in Florida, John Griffin's father is listed as John Thomas Griffin.  His mother's surname is recorded as Carpenter.  This appears to be a match with our John.

Marriage Registration for John Griffin and Elizabeth Rice, 1899

John's Occupation
John T. Griffin was a ship's carpenter.  We know this from the documents previously referenced, his 1894 marriage registration, 1899 marriage registration and the 1900 census.  This is also some of the only family lore that was passed down about John.  My second great-grandmother, Annie Dickson, told her granddaughter, LaVerne Rutherfurd, that John had worked on boats on the Great Lakes.  Family stories suggest he may have also sailed those boats, in addition to working as a carpenter.  The death certificate for John Griffin in Florida lists his occupation as "R.R. Ferry."  It has taken me quite a bit of searching to determine exactly what that means.  In the early 1900s, railroad companies sometimes also owned ferry lines dedicated to shuttling passengers across bodies of water.  It appears that John Griffin was working for the railroad company-owned ferry.  This ties in perfectly with what we know about our John T. Griffin, who worked on boats on the Great Lakes.  This appears to be a match with our John Griffin.


John's Wife
John married his third wife, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Rice, on September 4, 1899 in Windsor, Ontario. Lizzie was 34 at the time of the marriage, making her about 24 years younger than John Griffin.*  She was born in New York.  The death record for John T. Griffin found in Florida indicates that his wife was Elizabeth Griffin.  Furthermore, John T. Griffin and Elizabeth are found in the 1920 and 1930 census records in Pinellas County, Florida.  Each indicates that Elizabeth is about 23-24 years younger than her husband and was born in New York.  Thus, the John Griffin in Florida appears to be a match with our John T. Griffin.

An excerpt from the 1920 U.S. Census in Gulfport, Florida

An excerpt from the 1930 U.S. Census in Gulfport, Florida

* Note: John and Elizabeth's marriage registration lists John's age as 50.  It should have been 59.  I don't know if this is an error in transcription or in reporting, but John was a full decade older than the registration states.

John's Location
Why would our John T. Griffin have been in Florida?  It turns out that it's not such an unusual final residence for my great-great-grandfather.  Apparently, John had traveled to Florida earlier in his life.  He and Annie went to Florida on their ill-fated honeymoon, a boat trip she later described as disastrous.  When Annie filed for divorce in August 1894, she stated that John was "in Detroit but moved to Florida."  My grandmother told me that she thought John had some business in Florida and he may have gone back and forth between Florida and Detroit regularly.  We know from the 1900 census record and a 1907 obituary for Elizabeth Rice's sister Esther that John was still living in the Detroit area during those years.  However, it didn't surprise me at all to find a death record in Florida.  John clearly had a connection to the Sunshine State.  After locating the death record,  I found John and Elizabeth Griffin on census records there in both 1920 and 1930, indicating that sometime after 1907, they relocated permanently to Florida.  At any rate, it makes sense that our John T. Griffin would have been in Florida, so this place of death appears logical.

The green house at left is 2907 Beach Blvd. in Gulfport (modern view), the last residence of John T. Griffin

In conclusion, I believe we have several strong reasons to believe that the John Griffin who died in Gulfport, Florida on April 26, 1933 is the same man who married Annie Dickson in 1894 and fathered her son, George Roscoe Griffin, later George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.  

The next task is to be certain about the parents and siblings of John T. Griffin.

My 2014 Research Goals

Happy New Year!

Photo by Madhan Kumarb

I wanted to share my genealogy-related goals for 2014.  Number one is to just keep trying to find time to research, which is easier said than done, but I also have some specific individuals that I'd like to focus on this year.

One benefit of joining my local genealogy society is that I'm learning a lot about process and proper research techniques.  While I am a very organized person, it wasn't until a fellow genealogy society member pointed out the necessity of a research calendar that I began keeping track of exactly what I was working on, along with current status and next steps.  Thank you, Sierra!  My research calendar is also helping me to focus my time and energy.  So, a quick glance at my research calendar reminds me of my priorities for 2014.

1. GRIFFIN
There are two goals here.  (A) Establish location and date of death for my great-great-grandfather John T. Griffin.  (B) Prove conclusively the parents and siblings of John T. Griffin.  The Griffins have been quite difficult to research and are definitely my biggest challenge at the moment.

2. SCHMIDT
Continue to research my husband's great-grandmother, Lena Schmidt Laun.  In 2013, I smashed a big brick wall by discovering what happened to her after her divorce from Harry Laun, but I still don't know who her parents and siblings were.  I know when and where she was born, so it's just a matter of sorting through the seemingly thousands of Schmidt families in Belleville, Illinois.  I'd also like to see a divorce record for Lena and Harry, but I haven't had any luck with St. Louis records departments yet.

3. BROWN
I am trying to find the parents and siblings of Amelia Brown Bellangee, my fourth great-grandmother.  I know the dates and places of her birth and death, but still have not been able to figure out who her parents were.

4. SMITH
We are missing a generation in our Smith family tree.  I know that my fourth great-grandfather, Samuel B. Smith of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was the grandson of Captain Samuel Smith of Winchester, New Hampshire.  We have land deeds and other family records proving as much.  However, I don't know who Samuel B. Smith's father was, for sure.  I am pretty certain his name was also Samuel Smith, but looking for a Samuel Smith in New England is like a needle in a haystack. 

There are many other goals on my research calendar, but these take top priority.

The Other Children of John T. Griffin

 

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd, as a child

In my previous post, I discussed the brief marriage of Anne Amelia Dickson and John T. Griffin, resulting in their son, my great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd. Here, I’ll share a little more about John’s children from his first marriage to Ellen Pearsall. These children were the half-siblings of George Rutherfurd, although they did not live together, and in fact these children may not have even known of George’s existence.

The children of John Griffin:

Ella May Griffin was born 7 Jun 1862, in New York. She married Hiram Palmer, Jr. and spent her married life living in Chicago. The 1910 census lists her occupation as dressmaker. Ella May and Hiram had only one child, Kennetha T. Palmer. Kennetha was born February 1889 in Illinois. She married Albert William Opel and they had five children, Ella May Opel (b. 1912), Harry Palmer Opel (b. 1921), Kennetha Opel (b. 1922), Jessie Opel (b. 1924) and Albert Opel (b. aft. 1924). Ella May Palmer died 16 Oct 1949, in Chicago. The Chicago Daily Tribune listed the following obituary on October 17:

PALMER, Ella May Palmer, late of 6830 S. Lowe avenue, beloved wife of the late Hiram, loving mother of Mrs. Albert W. Opel, grandmother of Mrs. E.D. Nix, Harry Palmer Opel, Kennetha Edwards, Jessie Tatter, Albert W. Opel, Jr., great-grandmother of eight, sister of Harry P. Griffin of Detroit, Mich. 

Howard B. Griffin was born about 1864 in New York.  Despite claims that Howard married Annie Dupuis on 10 Feb 1884 in Amherstburg, Ontario, I think the Howard who married Annie may not be our relative.  Our Howard married Charlotte Estelle Pearsall in 1882.  She was his first cousin, the daughter of his mother's brother, Daniel Wellington Pearsall.  They spent their early married life in Canada and Detroit, but later returned to New York, where they lived the rest of their lives.  Their children were Purcaval Griffin (b. 1884), Florence Griffin (b. 1886), Winifred Pearsall Griffin (b. 1892), Howard Griffin (b. 1894) and Arthur Griffin (b. 1897). Howard died in New York in 1918.

Clarence Griffin, was born about 1866, likely in New York. He died prior to his sister Ella’s death in 1949. There is very little information about Clarence in civil records, which raises the possibility that he may have died young.

Milton A. Griffin was born about 1876, Ontario, Canada. He married Melitta Becker on 3 Jun 1889 in Detroit, Michigan. Elizabeth Rice and John Griffin were witnesses to the marriage. They had a daughter, Ella M. Griffin, born April 1900, in New York. The 1900 census for New York shows Melitta and baby Ella living with Melitta’s parents, William and Ellen, with Milton’s whereabouts unknown.

Harry Pearsall Griffin was born 25 Jul 1879 in Ontario, Canada. He married Leah H. Bache on 24 Dec 1907 in Detroit, Michigan. Harry’s date of death is unknown, but per sister Ella’s obit, he was still alive at the time of her death in 1949. It is believed that Harry and Leah had no children.

I am hoping to contact the descendants of these individuals to see if they may have inherited any photos of John T. Griffin, or any documents or family histories that would tell us more about John.

The Griffins

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd

My great-grandfather, George Roscoe Oliver-Rutherfurd, was the oldest of five boys raised by their mother, Annie Dickson Rutherfurd, and her husband, Malcolm Brakspear Oliver-Rutherfurd. However, George was not Malcolm’s biological child. He was the son of Annie’s very brief first marriage to John T. Griffin, and was adopted by Malcolm Rutherfurd when he married Annie.

The Rutherfurds, of Edgerston, Scotland, have a long and storied history. But what of John T. Griffin?  My family knew very little about him until recently, when a little sleuthing turned up some details about George’s biological father.

John T. Griffin was born in November 1839 and was raised in New York. There, he married Ellen Pearsall.

Ellen and John had five children together:

Ella May Griffin b. 1862
Howard B. Griffin b. about 1864
Clarence Griffin b. about 1866
Milton A. Griffin b. about 1876
Harry Pearsall Griffin b. 1879

John worked as a ship’s carpenter, and at some point before 1876, he moved his family from New York to Canada, just outside Detroit. He made a living working on boats on the Great Lakes.

John and Ellen Griffin are found in the 1881 Canadian census for Amherstburg, Essex County, Ontario. His occupation is carpenter. Their children are: Ella, Howard, Clarence, Milton, and Harry.

Ellen died in 1890. After Ellen’s death John married Anne Amelia Dickson.

Anne "Annie" Amelia Dickson

Anne “Annie” Dickson was born in Sarnia, Canada on October 27, 1870. As a young woman of 23, she was working as a nurse in a hospital in Detroit when she met John Griffin. Family lore has it that John was a patient there, and a May-December romance bloomed. John was thirty years older than Annie, a widower with five children. On January 2, 1894, Annie and John were married in Sandwich, Ontario, Canada. My grandmother, LaVerne Smith, the only child of George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd, told me that Annie and John's honeymoon involved a long boat trip to Florida. The details of this trip are unknown. What is clear is that the romance quickly faded. John and Annie separated after the honeymoon, and were divorced in less than a year. However, by the time of the separation, Annie was pregnant.

During the marriage, Annie’s parents and siblings had moved from Canada to Douglas, Wyoming. One of Annie’s brothers took a job at a telegraph station there, and the rest of the family went with him. Pregnant and separated from her husband, Annie joined her family in Douglas in 1894.

George Roscoe Griffin was born on January 23, 1895 in Douglas, Wyoming. There is no indication that he was ever introduced to his biological father.

On April 29, 1897, Annie married Malcolm Rutherfurd, a Scottish immigrant. Malcolm and his brother Archibald had moved from Scotland to Wyoming and were running a ranch in Douglas. After the marriage, Malcolm adopted young George, who was known to most as “Roscoe.” His name was changed to George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd. Annie and Malcolm had four boys of their own, Malcolm, Archibald, Robert and Arthur, before Malcolm’s untimely death from pneumonia in 1913.

After his and Annie’s divorce, John Griffin married Elizabeth Rice in Windsor, Ontario, on September 4, 1899. They are found in the 1900 census living with her father, Lewis Rice, in Detroit, Michigan. John is listed as a son-in-law to Lewis. On this marriage document John’s parents are listed as Thomas Griffin and E. J. Carter.

There will be more to come about John’s parents and the lives of his children from his marriage to Ellen Pearsall.

We do not know when John Griffin died. There is also no indication that he had any contact with Annie or George after their separation in 1894. Although George knew he had a different father than his brothers, it was not something he ever discussed nor wanted to explore.

(Continue to The Griffins, Part II)