son of William & Mary Pitts Griffin
(Written by Lillian Griffin. As told by John Griffin)
John Griffin, son of William Griffin and Mary Pitts, was born at Nauton Beauchamp, Worcester, England, Sept. 22, 1842. He was the oldest child (son); having two sisters and three brothers younger. He says, "I only went to school about six weeks. I walked three miles each morning and night for that and paid sixpence a week to go." So his training was received from experiences of life and not from schoolmasters.
He went to work when but a boy doing chores at a farm where his father was working. For this labor he says: "I received a penny a day and worked for sometime at that wage." When he was sixteen years of age he hired out as a cowman for a year. While at this place he milked eight cows and was ready to go to the fields at seven in the morning. For this year's work he received what amount to about fifteen dollars in American money.
He tells of the following incident that happened about this time; that influenced his later life. "I was walking in Bromsgrove cemetery, one Sunday afternoon. I noticed a group of people gathered in one part. As I neared them I found that a burial service was being held for a small child. The speaker was dwelling on the surety of the salvation of the child and he congratulated the parents on being called to part with it when there was no doubt of its reward. As I walked away I said to myself: 'Why can't we live to manhood and then be buried with just as much assurance being placed in our salvation as they have for this child?' A voice, which seemed as plain as anyone speaking to me said: 'You can". I never forgot that statement and it often came back to me to aid me to push onward."
After this period he worked at another place for a year. Not long after this he left for America in company with his sister, Theo. They sailed from Liverpool in a vessel called the Boyd, on the twenty-fifth of March, 1862. And landed in New York on Sunday in the early part of June. From there they went by train to St. Louis, Missouri. On the way Father with some other men left the train at a small station, as the conductor had said that the train would remain there a half hour. They wandered about the town and on returning to the station found that they had been left. There were no more trains passing through that station until the next afternoon, so they walked some distance to Jewelsburg to take a train the next morning. However, they caught up with the emigrant train before it reached St. Louis.
From St. Louis they went by boat up the Missouri river to Florence, Nebraska. From there Theo. went on with a private company and entered the Salt Lake valley ahead of John, who went with a party under the leadership of Edward Pew. They arrived late in the fall and Father went to work for Edward Pew at Millcreek. But he felt that this was not a good place for him to stay for the winter because of the attitude Mrs. Pew showed toward him and his work. So he walked twenty-five miles to American Fork, where he got a job with Dan Allen at a grist mill. He had to agree to stay for a year. For this work he received one hundred dollars and his board. When the year was up he was engaged by John Enly, an owner of a small store.
The following spring he went with a company of four to Florence, Nebraska to bring in goods for the Jennings Establishment of Salt Lake City. When within ten miles of Greenriver they met another company and they continued together. At the river they decided to ferry the wagons and chains across but to swim the oxen. It was a stormy windy day and the river was swift. They drove the oxen in but with all their urging they couldn't get them more than a few rods from the bank. Finally the oxen began going around in a circle and in the whirl three of the oxen were drowned. There seemed no other way but to ferry the oxen across. Before this could be done they had to be yoked together, so it was necessary for some of the men to go across and bring back the chains. When the boat whistled "All-aboard", John was some distance away. He started to run to catch it but something seemed to prompt him to say: "I won't go this time," and he stopped running. When the boat was part way over it turned over and three of the passengers were drowned. John always felt that some influence had prevented his entering such danger.
The companies finally succeeded in getting to the opposite bank of the river where they made camp and remained for six weeks. Then they moved on to Florence, Nebraska, loaded their goods, and began the homeward journey. This was the summer of 1864, when the Indians broke out along the trail and it was with some fear that they left Florence. They encountered no Indians but new graves and parts of burned wagons caused them to form mental pictures of the sad fate of some that had gone before them. They reached Salt Lake City, Utah in November.
After this John went to live with his sister, Theo., who had married and was living in Clarkston, Box Elder county, Utah. There he met Ruth Keep, to whom he was married Feb. 21, 1870. The marriage was preformed in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City. To get there they rode in a light spring wagon for five days. They lived in Clarkston until the last of March and then moved to Newton. Their first home was a one room, log house with no floor and only part of it was roofed. A small six pane window provided all the light it received. The furniture was home made except for the stove, which had given much service before they received it. A shelf on pegs held the few dishes they had. This was their home for a number of years.
The first year they broke a little ground and planted wheat. It yielded thirty bushels in return and they practically lived on that until spring. A number of years passed before they were able to raise much farm products. The grain had to be irrigated and they had considerable trouble in getting water. They hauled their products to Logan, Utah (in Cache county) or Corinne, Utah (in Box Elder county) by team where they were sold locally. At one time while making one of these trips to Logan, John froze his foot so that the toes had to be taken off at the joint.
John made three trips to the Mississippi river to help bring emigrants to Utah. He also volunteered as a missionary for the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. And left Oct. 8, 1883 for his old home country on his mission, leaving behind him a wife and seven children; the oldest of whom was but thirteen years old. He was away about eighteen month and brought his Uncle John home with him when he returned.
Later he aided in building up the farm community. He studied irrigation advocating and later helping to build a reservoir for the storage of water. He was very much interested in saving water; the wasting of which sometimes caused the failure of the late crops. Many of the roads and ditches, for farm improvement were made under his supervision.
In the History of Newton it gives the following facts:
John Griffin was a Fence Viewer from 1873 to 1874.
He was Road Supervisor in 1884-1885.
He was Justice of the Peace in 1877-1878.
He was ordained Elder's Quorum President July 14, 1877.
In 1878 Newton had 48 families, 287 people of which 199 were
under the age of eight.
In 1889 Newton had 69 families, 470 people (170 under eight).}
John was also interested in sports. He practiced shooting a great deal and liked to match others in shooting games. His brother Tom tells of going to visit him one day and watching him set a small long-necked bottle a distance and then shooting off the top of it. On of his favorite pasttimes was watching a ballgame. He not only cheered from the sidelines but was always willing to contribute either money or labor that they might be carried on.
Though he had very little schooling he liked to read; particularly newspapers and periodicals. He was a somewhat vexed man in later years if his daily newspaper failed to reach him. He studied the conditions of the day and his many friends say that they relied on his judgment, because he was very seldom swayed by emotion and used, as one speaker said at his funeral, "good common sense."
He died in Newton, Utah March 7, 1926 at the age of eighty-four years and six months. At that time he was the father of thirteen children; grand-father of forty-nine and great-grand-father of twenty.
THE END
Copied August 10, 1994 by:
Eldon Royal Griffin
555 So. Main
Garland, Utah 84312
(801) 257-3921