Samuel Griffin Killingworth, Samuel Griffin New London, Samuel Griffin Middletown

By a quirk of history there were three men with what was an uncommon last name for the time born in the early 1700,s in close proximity in Connecticut. Samuel Griffin of Killingworth, Middlesex, Samuel Griffin of Middletown, Middlesex, and Samuel Griffin of New London, New London. Also key for this discussion they in turn each had a son named Samuel. This circumstance has created a good deal of confusion for their ancestry as they have tried to organize their family trees. As America’s vision of itself matured in the later part of the 19th Century there was a great deal of effort put into recording the early American families. Some incredible family histories where written many covering multiple generations and thousands of names. Most of us have inherited our genealogy bug from aunts and uncles who wrote their family histories before the dawn of the information age we now live in drawing mainly on these earlier family histories. Without the access to the wide range of information that we have today, including access to the original documents, the key factors became location and time frame. If the name, the dates and the location made sense by the process of elimination it had to be the correct person. This is certainly true of my own family. From family histories and letters my grandfather knew his grandfather was named Samuel Griffin. The family hired an attorney to help them search for his identity. His search turned up Samuel Griffin of Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. Correct name, approximate location, approximate dates no other apparent candidates. This circumstance has repeated itself in many families to the point that the identity of these three Samuels have become intertwined. If you go on a site such as Ancestry.Com today and search under families that have traced their family tree back to what they assume is Samuel Griffin of Killingworth you will find him married to the wives of all of the other Samuels. The same is true of the other two Samuels. As always the purpose of this Blog is to provide a crossroads for an extended family meeting. It is not my intent to preach to the choir. But I do have strong feelings about creating an accurate history for Samuel and Mary Griffin of Killingworth, Middlesex, Connecticut. I hope the families of the other two Samuels join this discussion as well. The most accessible database for Connecticut genealogy is the Barbour Collection. A discussion of what the collection is and is not seems in order. The collection was published in 1903 by the state of Connecticut. The project was authorized by the state legislature concerned over the need to conserve their state’s written history and heritage before it became scattered and lost. Lewis Barbour was chosen to head a state commission to collect and record as many original documents as they could find on a community-by-community basis. So when you look at the data for any given community its important to realize that each piece of information was extracted from an original document, town records, church records, land records, everything that they could find. It was extracted a name at a time, alphabetized and then put in chronological order. But it is also important to understand what the collection is not. Many of the original records that are reflected in the collection have subsequently been misplaced. It is plagued with transcription errors, a 7 written as a 1 and visa versa. Proximity on a page does not correlate to a family connection. The manner of its organization can also be misleading. You may have two Susan Smiths listed in close proximity each with a birth date each with a marriage date, but which marriage goes with which birth? The manner of its organization also clouds family connections. If the data for an entry is incomplete it is sometime hard to place that person within a family context. But given its shortcomings it still represents a gold mine of information for family history researchers. The key for us it that it provides dates and locations. According to Barbour Samuel Griffin of New London, New London, Connecticut was born January 9, 1705 to Ebenezer Griffin and his wife Mary Hubble. Samuel married Ann Avery November 16, 1727. Their first child Samuel Jr. was born September 27, 1728. Samuel Jr. in turn married Desire Crary in 1753 in Stonington, Connecticut. His death is documented in Pennsylvania in 1805. A second son, Thomas, was born to Samuel and Ann in 1730. There are no other children listed by Barbour, the location is New London, the marriage for Samuel and Ann is confirmed in the marriage collection of Fredrick Bailey. There are several well-researched family histories written by their ancestry none include a Killingworth connection. The courts officially recognized Samuel’s death, having died at sea in 1731, on January 27, 1737. The original document is included in the article we have posted on Ann Avery. Ann was subsequently remarried to Sylvanus Miner. This is an identity clearly distinct from the Samuel Griffin who lived in Killingworth. The names, dates and number of children differ dramatically. The dates of birth for the two sons also named Samuel are inconstant. Yet despite these significant differences we see histories where Samuel of Killingworth is shown as married to Ann Avery and his son Samuel is shown married to among others Desire Crary. Despite the new documentation that has recently come to light confirming the name of Mary instead of Ann for the wife of Samuel of Killingworth many histories have simple replace the name Ann Avery with the name Mary Ann Avery.----------- The family history for the original immigrant Matthew Griffin of Charlestown, Massachusetts records that his great grandson Samuel Griffin of Middletown, Middlesex Connecticut, the son of John Griffin and Mary Upham was born May 19, 1717. His marriage to Alice Woodwell is recorded in the family history of Matthew Woodwell of Salem, Massachusetts on November 30, 1738. I have not reviewed the original documentation for Samuel and Alice. Their son Samuel was born December 3, 1739 in Middletown a date quite close to that of our grandfather Samuel born in Killingworth. It is this date that influenced early historians to consider these two Samuels as one and the same person thus the conclusion that Samuel of Killingworth was married to Alice Woodwell. But the names and dates for the family as a whole do not correlate with names and dates for the family of our Samuel. Nor do the marriage records. Samuel and Alice Woodwell were married in 1738 their first child born in 1739 not 1728 like Samuel of Killingworth’s daughter Mary. The Barbour Collection notes the marriage of Samuel Jr. to Mary Bartlett on January 22, 1761 and on her death his marriage to Mehitabel Turner on January 20 1766. Many histories also incorrectly included a marriage for him to our Mercy Bailey. It is these two women who we see in various family trees as married to either Samuel Jr. of Killingworth or even his father. ------------- The third Samuel is Samuel Griffin of Killingworth, Middlesex, Connecticut. Of the three Samuels his history is supported by the least amount of original documentation. As a result, of the three, his identity stayed hidden the longest. Having been lost to history early historians substituted his identity with that of the other two Samuels whose history was more readily available. His children Mary, Thankfull, Jerusha, James, Samuel and Jeremiah are part of the Barbour Collection. What was lost in the interpretation of that collection was the time frame. We now have the original document from which the Barbour Collection was extracted, it provides a distinct time frame and a clearer view of who was or was not in Samuel and Mary’s family. The first child Mary was born December 7th 1728 followed by Thankfull in 1831 then Jerusah and James and Samuel on February 10, 1739 followed by Jeremiah. This list of children, this birth order and these dates do not fit into a pattern consistent with the families of the other two Samuels. The document also places Samuel and Mary’s family firmly in Killingworth. We now also have Samuel’s Probate File, which names his sons James, and Samuel Jr. and his widow Mary. We have the documents for the three marriages of Samuel Jr. to Mariah Griffen, Mercy Nettleton, and Mercy (Stevens) Bailey. We have the accumulated history of Samuel and Mary’s children emanating from Killingworth, not New London and not from Middletown. I would argue that there is a Samuel Griffin who married Mary (Beckwith) and raised his family in Killingworth, Connecticut and that his identify is separate and unique from that of Samuel Griffin of New London or Samuel Griffin of Middletown.