1810 - 1891
PHOTOS
Mary Pitts was born August 4, 1810 in Inkberrow,
Worcestershire, England. Her parents were William Pitts and Elizabeth
Hyons (or Irons). There were three children in the family:
Mary and two sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine.
She married William Griffin from Flyford Flavel,
a small parish not far distant from her home. After their marriage
they moved to Nauton Beauchamp, a small farming community, where her husband
worked as a farm laborer. Here, all their children were born.
Both Mary and William were among the early converts
of the L.D.S. Church. There was a branch of the L.D.S. Church at
Flyford Flavel. A daughter, Caroline, later stated that she remembered
walking two miles to church. She also said that her parents joined
the church in 1840, and that she was born in the church.
On January 11, 1841, their first child, a daughter,
was born. They named her Theophenia, after her mother. On September
22, 1842, a son was born. He was named John. Then came Caroline
on January 1, 1845; William Hyrum on November 8, 1847; and Walter
on August 4, 1849. Sarah Elizabeth, another daughter, was born February
19, 1852. She lived only a little over three months and died June
5, 1852. Four years later, March 1, 1856, a son was born, whom they
named Thomas.
William and Mary lived there as members of the L.D.S.
Church and reared their family for 26 years. The oldest members of
the family had grown to maturity. In 1862, Theophenia and John,
the two oldest children, had saved enough money to go to Zion. They
crossed the plains and came to Utah the same year.
William Hyrum, the fourth child in the family, came
two years later in 1864. The following is a quotation from the autobiography
of Thomas Griffin.
"Our family, on account of financial shortage, had
to come to America at three different times. Theo' and John, the
two oldest children, had come alone four years before we came. William
followed them two years later, and two years after him the rest of us came
with Father and Mother.
In April of 1866, Mary Pitts Griffin with
her husband, William, and the three of the family left at home--Caroline,
Walter and Thomas-- were ready to leave their home for Utah to join the
ones who had gone before them. It must have been a busy and touching
time for them, to leave their families and friends behind. They had
to dispose of the furniture and belongings that they could not take with
them. Their route took them to Liverpool, a seaport in Lancashire,
where the L.D.S. Church had a ship waiting. On April 30, 1866, they
sailed from Liverpool, England into the Irish Sea on the ship "John Bright",
with a group of 747 people under the leadership of C. N. Gillet.
Thomas, their son, in writing of the trip, says
that before they left Liverpool, President Brigham Young Jr., who
had charge of the British Mission at the time, came aboard and made a farewell
address to the saints on board. He promised that none of them should
lose their lives crossing the ocean if they would be prayerful and tend
to their duties. Seven weeks later, they landed safely at Castle
Garden, where all immigrants had to report before coming ashore.
Caroline says of the trip, "We were 7 or 8
weeks on the water. We traveled on cars and steamboat up the Missouri
River to Council Bluffs, Iowa." At Council Bluffs they were met by
teams from Utah. The trip across the plains took over four months.
The Journal History of the Church tells that they arrived in Great Salt
Lake City with Captain Thomas E. Rick's ox train, September 4, 1866.
About a week later, they traveled to Clarkston by ox team. They came
to Clarkston because their daughter, Theophenia, was married to John Griffiths
and was living there. Here they found the people just moving back
from Smithfield, where they had gone because of the Indian trouble.
Their first home in Clarkston was a log house without
any doors, windows or floor. That fall the family gleaned wheat and
picked up potatoes for their food for the winter. Their home was
in the Fort. They lived three years in the fort, then as the Indian
trouble ceased, they, with others, built homes on higher ground west in
the town. Mary's little home was built south of where the Clarkston
church is now, located on property owned by Glen Thompson.
On October 16, 1870 her son Walter died
at age twenty-one. He was buried in the Clarkston Cemetery.
Mary's husband, William Griffin,
married Eliza Penelope Thompson Griffiths on May 19, 1873. This was
a plural marriage. Eliza's first husband, William Coucher, had died
some time before and she had been left with three children. William
Griffin, died February 2, 1880.
Mary was faithful to the LDS Church.
She met all her church obligations and became president of the Clarkston
Relief Society. On January 12, 1875, Bishop Simon Ruth resolved that
the old organization be disorganized and that the sisters make their own
appointments. Mary Griffin was chosen president, Ann Keep as first
counselor, Alice Davis as second counselor, Jane Godfrey as secretary,
and Theophenia Griffiths as treasurer. Mary served as president of
this organization for sixteen years until her death February 23,
1891, at over 80 years of age.
Mary was small dainty, neat and very precise in
all she did. She was very English in her speech, looks, and mannerisms.
She had a cute little dream house that was just like a little palace.
It had white embroidered aprons, a black stove polished to a "T," ruffled
curtains around the bedroom windows, and embroidered pillows shams.
She died of pneumonia and flu. Just before
she died, she got up a little in her bed, fluffed her pretty pillow, straightened
her bed covers, laid down again, turned over, and died easily.
She was buried in the Clarkston Cemetery.
* * *
compiled by Mary P. Thompson
Aug 1964
(with additions from another history of Mary Pitts Griffin)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carter, Kate B., Heart Throbs, Vol. 4, p. 147
Clarkston Ward Records, microfilm, Salt Lake Genealogical Library
Crossing the Plains Index, Church Historians Office
1851 Census of Nauton Beauchamp, Worcs., England
Griffin, Thomas. "Autobiography of Thomas Griffin"
Griffin, Thomas. "Sketch of the Life and Travels of Caroline G. Thompson"
Griffiths, Catherine H. History of Clarkston
Heinrich, Josephine S. "Mary Pitts Griffin"
Jensen, Andrew. Church Chronology
Memories of Laura Susannah Griffiths
Millennial Star, Vol 5, Conference Report
Nauton Beauchamp Parish Records
Shipping List Index, Church Historians Office
Smith, LaVon G. "History of Theophenia Griffin Griffiths and Caroline
Griffin Thompson"
William Griffin
Mary Pitts Griffin
Mary's "little dream home" in Clarkston
William and Mary Griffin's daughter, Theophenia
William and Mary's son Thomas, with his two
wives
