Samuel Griffin Jr Land Deeds in Killingworth

Samuel Griffin Jr purchased the original home lot from Benjamin Turner on September 13, 1762. He did not begin purchasing additional property until 1765. During that interlude he was probably busy clearing the land and building the wood frame house that we have documented on the blog along with his joiners shop. Over the next several years he added to his property by bits and pieces buying two or three acres at a time. As you trace those deeds it shows that all of his purchases were for land surrounding his original home lot. In total he purchased about six different small plots for a total of about 22 acres. His property eventually included all of the property from Hwy 80 up to the other side of Wolf Hollow Lane. The eastern boundary on most of the deeds is Roast Meat Hill Rd. The western boundary reached about midway between Hwy 81 and Roast Meat Hill Rd. Many of the deeds are referenced to either his home lot or the burying yard. One of his last purchases was two acres directly across the road to the east from his house. As his family grew he made one large purchase of twenty acres of land a short distance to the east in the area that is now the Killingworth Reservoir. That purchase probably represented something of a working farm. The description states that it was east of the river and bounded on the south by the highway. We have included the original deed from Benjamin Turner with its date of purchase. One of his purchases was from his father in law Samuel Nettleton who lived to the north of him the deed documents that their properties were adjoining. Mercy Nettleton Griffin could take her two little boys and walk a short distance up Roast Meet Hill Rd to her mother’s door. In December 1784 he purchased the “burying yard” from the city. That location is now the Union Cemetery. Why did he make that purchase? The idea of a family cemetery was very common in the age. This circumstance argues that Mariah (Marah) Griffen Griffin and Mercy Nettleton Griffin and his daughter Molle (Mercy Bailey) are interred there among the unreadable headstones. I have always assumed that his parents were also buried there although there is no evidence to support that conclusion. Worden and his wife Rhoda Hull are buried just over the fence from the home lot. Worden’s son Harmon and all of his family are buried there as is his daughter Mercy Griffin Stevens and her husband Daniel and a number of their children. His sister Thankful and her husband Nathan Buell’s graves are marked with a pair of beautiful headstone. But one thing is certain the “burying yard” with its distinctive stone fence became the frame of reference for many of the land deeds in the area. The last deed added is a deed from Samuel to his son Worden. It is significant in that it includes a description of the original home lot. It points out that the purchase includes his joiners shop, a barn, and his dwelling house on a plot of ten acres. The descriptions in the deed go a long way in describing how Samuel lived and made his living. Samuel’s son Worden expanded on his father’s property he eventually owned all of the property from Hwy 80 to north of Wolf Hollow Lane. It extended from the Roast Meat Hill Rd to the other side of Hwy 81. The Congregational Chapel sits on Hwy 81 directly west of the Union Cemetery. The Buell home lot was located on Roast Meat Hill Rd south of Hwy 80.