Samuel Griffin and Mercy Nettleton

Asa Landon and Jerusha Grifface/Griffin

The Griffin House

Identifying the location of the original homestead is a very straightforward exercise. The defining landmark is the “Burying Yard” with its stone fence. It is now called the Union Cemetery. Worden and Rhoda Griffin are buried just over the fence from the homestead. The road has not changed its course for 300 years. So what of the house that sits on the property?  There are a number of houses in Killingworth that are dated to the early 1700’s. Recently the local historical society has highlighted two houses that research has shown to be built in 1710 and 1735 respectively. The Griffin house, constructed by Samuel and Marah starting in 1762, matches these in architecture, interior features, in particular, the hearth and building materials and techniques. The current residents, when purchasing the house, were given to understand that it was the original house built on the property. In the absence of any detailed investigation I think it is a fair assumption to support this claim. This style of house is called a one-half house. Most homes had two full stories. The left half of the house was the first part constructed. As you enter you are in a small foyer. A staircase rises steeply to a room under the eaves. As you step past the stairs you enter a single large room. The room has wooden floors and has a door across from the front door and one at the end of the room. The room is dominated by a large fireplace that measures some 6 to 7 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet high. It starts at floor level with stonework extending some 2 feet out past the front of the fireplace. It is constructed of shaped stone. Several swinging metal arms are cemented into the masonry from which kettles could be hung. A grate sits on the floor. During the winter time there was probably a warming fire alight most of the time at one spot with a cook fire organized at another as needed. This main room and the attic room are lined with 2-inch bead board that gives a very finished look to the rooms. A trap door in the center of the floor near the wall opposite the fireplace gives access to a basement. Framing and floor joists are of hand-hewn timbers, the walls consisting of rough worked stone, which also serve as the foundation. The room is the same dimensions as the upper room. At some point the second half of the house was completed. From the placement of the doors it’s apparent that additional rooms, since replaced with modern construction, extended out from the main room. The materials, the style, the building techniques, the lack of evidence of major changes, all argue that this is indeed the original Griffin house on Roast Meat Hill. Even with additional rooms it probably was a tight fit to the eleven children and their parents who called it home.

The Griffin Children

On page 336, in Volume Two of the Land Deed Records, Samuel and Mary proudly recorded for posterity a record of their family. What follows is a brief introduction to their children. The oldest child, Mary, they list as being born in December of 1728. There are no other records concerning Mary. Unlike her sisters she is not listed as having received Communion, no marriage record or notice of her death. My assumption is that she did not survive to adulthood.  Born in 1731 Thankful was to assume the role of big sister for her siblings. She was granted communion in 1747, at age 16, the year her father died. She was married in 1751. There are no records of what happened to her mother or when she died.  We can only guess what happened to the family until Thankful married and assumed a leading role in family affairs.  Thankful married into the Buell family. The Buells were one of the more prominent families in Killingworth. The original land grant to the Buells was over one thousand acres. Thankful and her husband lived in the home of her father in law, Daniel, a man of means, a Deacon in the Church. Her marriage certainly provided her with the means to fill the role of big sister. There is some evidence that she took her sister Jerusha under her wing. Some early family histories mistakenly list her as having a daughter Jerusha instead of listing her as a sister. When the boys came of age, when they were required to choose a guardian, her brother Samuel chose her husband Nathan Buell. When Nathan died at a young age Samuel in turn became executor for his estate. Thankful and Samuel lived as neighbors on Roast Meat Hill. James married and had his children baptized in Killingworth but he purchased very little property there and left a very small footprint. I think he must have raised his family in one of the neighboring communities. In a family who carried on family names it’s interesting that both he and Samuel named a daughter Polly. Jerusha was born in 1736 and was granted Communion in 1755 and is recorded as being part of Thankful’s household then she disappears from Killingworth records. The men of Killingworth played a prominent role in the founding of Salisbury, Connecticut.  There in 1757 we have recorded the marriage of Jerusha Grifface/Griffan to Asa Landon. The record states that they were “both” from Salisbury.  A search of the records finds Asa as being born in Litchfield, and there is no record of Jerusha being born in Salisbury nor is there a Griffin family present in the community. The “both” must have meant that they were both listed as members in the Salisbury Congregational Congregation at the time of their marriage. The only direct connection between the two Jerushas is that they share the same date of birth and a family oral history connecting to Killingworth. The baby of the family was Jeremiah. His birth is recorded by his father but no other records exist. Did he die at childbirth or at a young age? The only hint again comes from Thankful. With the passing of her husband she first lived with her father in law until his passing then with her son Asa in the Buell house. Asa’s oldest son was named Jeremiah Griffin Buell. I would like to think that it was Thankful’s tribute to a beloved brother who died too young.

The Griffins and the Congregational Church

In the seventeenth century, there were two primary reasons to go to North America, economics and religion. The colonist who founded Massachusetts came to be able to practice their religion, as they believed, They wanted to create “a city on the hill” and the only way to do this was to have everyone in the community participating fully.  This was known as full communion or full covenant.  People that weren’t willing to participate at this level were asked (forced) to leave the community.  This created a community steeped in the culture, education, politics and family life of Congregationalism.  In the early part of the 18^th century as families spread out and immigrants moved in that weren’t part of the “city on the hill”, religion seemed to become less important in the community.  However the preachers of the first great awakening sought to keep the culture in the communities tied to religious belief.  In the attempt to do this they created the half covenant, which would still allow for religious participation while not having full communion.  However the desired outcome was still full communion and being a complete part of the community.  This happened in all of the New England colonies that were an outgrowth of the Massachusetts colony. So what was the relationship between the Griffins and the Church?  Samuel and Mary would have been part of the 1^st Society, the original congregation in Killingworth, whose records have been lost thus there is no record of their marriage or baptism of the children. The first documented Church interaction is when Thankful was recognized as owning the covenant  “OC” in the 2^nd Society, May 3,1747, joined by her sister Jerusha, April 11, 1753. The recording of a marriage in church records indicates a level of involvement and the baptism of your children indicated an act of joining in faith with Jesus and   acceptance into fellowship of the Church.  Thankful married into one of the most prominent families in the Church, the Buells, her Father in Law, a Deacon.  Thankful was later granted Full Communion, her children baptized. Samuel’s marriage to Marah Griffen is not recorded but their children Lois, Polly and Azubah were baptized and they together owned the covenant. The same was true with his marriages to Mercy Nettleton and their sons Joel and Asahel, and Mercy Bailey and their children, Molly, Worden, Mercy, Samuel, John and Daniel. Both of those marriages are in the church records.  James and Jerusha married in and became part of other congregations. The records documenting Church involvement continued into the next generation, with the families of, Lois and Stephen Kelsey, Azubah and Henry Davis, Polly and Reuben Dowd, Mercy and Ithamar Pelton and Worden and Rhoda Hull.   What did church involvement mean?  The bible was the primer as they learned to read.  Their music came from the hymns of the church service.  The gospel messaged permeated every aspect of their lives.  An example of the extent of their religiosity can be found in the will of Mercy Bailey’s great grandfather, Henry Farnum. “I do give my soul into the hands of God who hath created me ….. when he shall be pleased to call for it”.  The originals of all of these church documents are still housed at the Congregational Chapel in Killingworth, Conn.

Baptism records for Asahel and Joel

The Griffin Homestead

The Griffin Homestead

In a deed dated Sept. 13, 1762 Samuel and Marah Griffin purchased a lot from their brother in law Benjamin Turner who had married Marah’s sister Elizabeth. The essence of the deed reads “ in consideration of ten pounds…near my dwelling place….West side of the Highway at the North End of the Burying Yard…..containing 3 acres”. Located on Roast Meat Hill the lot was bounded on the east by the highway, the south by the burying yard and the west by swampy ground. Although not suitable for farming these three acres became the center of the world for the Griffins. To this day it remains a beautiful spot. The house sits on level ground, which slopes away to woodlands including sugar maples.  There is plenty of room for the corncrib and other out buildings and a large kitchen garden. Fruit trees were prominent at the time and I imagine they were scattered about the yard. The defining landmark is the rock fence that marks the northern edge of the Burying Yard.  Samuel made six additional purchases over the ensuing years, of property surrounding the Homestead, for a total of about 26 acres. He added another 20-acre plot nearby plus rights to use the town commons. Farming in Killingworth centered on the rich grasslands on the rolling hills with hay being a major crop. Corn did exceptionally well. Each house had a corncrib and corn was “cured” for cattle fodder. Given the prominence of hay and corn I imagine that beef and dairy were an emphasis on most farms. Flax and wool were produced for homespun clothing.  A notable item in Samuel’s will was his loom. The life style was based around subsistence farming, potatoes, root vegetables, etc. and some sort of a cash crop such as hay or dairy. The General History of Middlesex County writes of them, “ In the midst of such surrounding the hardy sons of New England were reared…. They partook of their homely fare with that relish which only an appetite sharpened by active exercise can give; …their homespun garments were worn with a feeling of laudable pride rather than shame, for they were the products of their own industry. ..They lived by their industry and frugality, erected their humble schoolhouses and churches, and reared their families in the rigid faith to which they held…. distinguished for their intelligence, their thrift, and their ready adaptability”. On the home lot Samuel raised the three daughters he shared with Marah, Lois, Phebe/Patty/Polly, and Azubah. He and Mercy Netttleton added two boys Joel and Asahel, With Mercy Bailey 6 more children were added, Molly, Mercy, Worden, John, Samuel and Dan. When the family moved to Vermont Worden raised his family on the Griffin Homestead.  The lot passed out of the family with the death of Worden and his only surviving son within a few years of each other around 1850.