Thankful Griffin and Nathan Buell

Thankful's birth is recorded in the document that is the face of the blog. She married into one of the most prominent families in Killingworth. Her father in law Daniel Buell was a Deacon in the Killingworth Congregational 2nd Society. Her marriage to Nathan Buell is recorded in the pages of the church records. Thankful and Nathan's family is recorded, as was the local tradition, on a page in the town records. Her husband having died quite young Thankful assumed the role of family matriarch a role she filled with vigor an idea somewhat unusual in the day. Gathering for Thankgiving Day was a family tradition that was held dear by most Connecticut families. Children would travel some distance for that occasion. Before she died in 1816 I am quite sure her granddaughter Sarah Josepha Buell Hale enjoyed Thanksgiving at her Grandmother Thankful's. As the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, the premenient women's magazine of the day, Sarah went on to play a major role in the decision to make Thanksgiving a permanent national holiday.

Essex Vermont

The Griffins moved here in the 1790s. Samuel Jr. settled on Lot 142. His son John later purchased Lots 141, 121 and bits of other adjoining lots. Samuel 3rd settled on Lot 81 and later purchased Lot 82 and additional property in the surrounding Lots.

Essex Center Vermont

Essex Center was the location of the original town of Essex. The economic center of the valley is now Essex Junction. The Congregational Church and later the Baptist Church were located here. Behind the Congregational Church is the Essex Common Burial Ground the oldest cemetery in the area. Samuel and Mercy Griffin are buried here along with their sons John and Samuel 3rd and a number of their grand children.

Samuel Griffin 1739-1808 His farm in Essex Vermont

In the 1790s Samuel and three of his sons moved to Essex Vermont. Samuel purchased this piece of property Lot 142 directly from the original owners as raw undeveloped land. He and his son John farmed here. On his death John farmed the property adding several more pieces in the area. (Samuel/Samuel-Mary)

Griffin Property in Clinton Connecticut

The extended Griffin family lived on the property surrounding this lane. The deeds describing the property referred to the Samuel Griffin or Mary Griffin properly as a reference point for property in the area. In later deeds we find family members selling bits of their property to the railroad for a right of way. What we find here is several generation of James Griffin's family primarily the children of his son James Needham Griffin and his son Captain Edward Griffin. (James Needham/James/Samuel)

Asahel Griffin's Farm New Haven Vermont

Letter from Sabra Stevens Lewis

One of our most enjoyable finds has been a collection of letters held by the Connecticut State Library as part of its Civil War Collection. The collection is titled Letters to Daniel Stevens of Killingworth. The time frame is the Civil War years. The letters were written to Daniel Stevens by his children. Their importance is that they give us a more personalized view of our ancestry apart from the dry records containing births, deaths and marriages. The letters paint a portrait of a very close family relationship. I think that they would be pleased to know that the sense of family still exists. They, like you, enjoyed being part of a family. One of the more poignant letters is written by Sabra Stevens Lewis. In the letter Sabra had been discussing the number of funerals in town including a women who “left a babe two days old". She then writes “Death is all around us. The new year seems eager to fill its numbers……Our time will come ere long and if we are ready it will not be an unwelcome messenger to us. We shall be glad to lay this weary body to rest and be free from care and sin. We have the promise that if we are truly his we shall be at rest. I hope we all shall meet in heaven. The departed ones that have left us, which I trust, are those waiting to welcome us home. I do feel very sad today. I am thinking where I was three years ago. Life very different than the scene I witnesses then and Friday it will be three years since my mother one the best of mothers died. She is gone never to return but we may one day go to her. This is a comfort to think that we may meet if we are faithful to the end and since God is we ought”. (Sabra/Mercy/Worden/Samuel/Samuel)

Children of Harmon Griffin

Harmon Griffin (Harmon/Worden/Samuel/Samuel) married his mothers niece Betsy Hull. He was the last of the Griffin line to live in Killingworth. He is buried in the Union Cemetery with his family and his sister Mercy Griffin Stevens in a family plot next to the Griffin Homestead. He did not have any children that survived to adulthood. This little record was found tucked away in the middle of town records.

Family of Mercy Griffin Stevens

When we wrote the article on the family of Mercy Griffin (Mercy/Worden/Samuel/Samuel) and her husband Daniel Stevens the only early records we had was a baptismal record. Half of their children were all baptized the same day along with their father. We then had to use other sources and our best guess to assign them a birth date. Recently we have discovered their birth records as recorded by the town clerk. I enjoy reviewing the town records for Killingworth. The town clerks had a wonderful little habit of inserting family records in random spots within the records of the minutes of town business and deed records.

Samuel Griffin's Probate 1702-1746

Samuel Griffin, 1702 to 1746, died in all likelihood, in the fall of 1746, probably in his mid 40s. His early death came before he had prepared a will. Having reviewed a number of wills and probate records I think there are a number of conclusions we can draw. I do not think his death was the result of illness but was instead a sudden event. Many wills were written by men, who in failing heath, recognized the coming end. It’s easy to read in their language their recognition of a need to set their affairs in order. A good example is the will of Samuel’s grandson Edward, who also died at an early age, but with a knowledge of his circumstance wrote into his will details for the rearing of his children including the selection of good homes, which he defined. But Samuel died intestate a term that indicates that he died without preparing a will. Wills are a great source of information for family history. Not having a will for Samuel leaves blanks concerning his family. Many wills named the surviving children and often their spouses we are left trying to fill in those blanks. What we do have is a file created by the Probate Court concerning his estate. The settling of an estate was a process that occurred over a period of time. With or without a will the concerned parties would file a claim with the court. Executors, if you had a will, or administrators if left without were assigned. The court ordered inventories and instigated a number of measures aiming toward a final settlement. All of this took time, each step usually created a document , all of these documents were gathered and placed into a Probate File. These files were stored as part of the public record. Samuel Griffin’s Probate File was stored as part of the Guilford Probate District. The original is now stored in the Connecticut State Library. So what can we read into the probate record for Samuel Griffin? Why a Probate? The probate process transfers the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, the transfer of property to heirs from the deceased to an executor in the case of a will or an administrator in our case with Samuel dying intestate. What we see in the order of the documents is Mary being granted the opportunity of appearing before the court to make her claims concerning the estate. This action offered the widow an opportunity to play a major role in deciding who would control the probate process. We need to remember that women could not own property in their own right until the 1850’s. Should the widow decline the offer to appear the court would appoint an administrator. That is what happened in the case of Samuel’s estate. The earliest dated document is dated November 27, 1746. In this document Mary is invited to appear before the court to make her wishes known. The document also declares that if she does not appear the court intends to appoint Benjamin Gale as administrator. On the appointed date, December 8, 1746, the court formally assigns Benjamin Gale to serve as administrator for the affairs of Samuel Griffin. Two seemingly straightforward documents simple in their execution simple in their content. But there is really a lot of information here. With the death of a property owner who died testate or intestate interested parties were required to file claims with the Probate Court at its next term. This usually occurred between 30 to 90 days after a death. So Samuel must have passed away on a fall day in 1746. The falls in New England are beautiful, the forests are alight with color, and the fields rich with their harvest. The fall is a wonderful time but the joy ended abruptly for the Griffins. Why didn’t Mary appear before the court? Was the mourning too great? The answer may lie in the person of Benjamin Gale. Benjamin Gale was the leading physician in South Killingworth now present day Clinton. Physicians of the day were the product of the great universities in his case Yale. They were among the best educated men of the day and in most communities were considered a leading light. Even more so Benjamin Gale, from a reading of the property records, was a neighbor to the Griffins. I do not think that in the original documents his name appears by an arbitrary decision of the court. I think in those earliest deliberations the documents were written with a certain understanding of Mary’s circumstance and Benjamin Gales standing and willingness to serve as administrator for her husbands estate. Why a probate? Only a small percentage of deaths led to a probate being filed. In the majority of cases the estate was settled within the guidelines of laws of the colony. In Connecticut the spouse was granted one-third of the property and one-third of the goods and chattel. This was known as her dower rights. The spouse’s portion was not hers to keep and was to be divided among the children on her death. After the spouses portion the estate was then to be divided equally among the children with the oldest male receiving a double portion. In most cases this was accomplished without the involvement of the courts. In the case of large estates this division became more complicated and sometimes contentious. In this instance the probate court was used to facilitate the division of assets. If the estate was insolvent the courts were used to satisfy the claims of the creditors. If there were minor children involved the courts were also brought into play to protect the long term interests of the children. What of Samuel’s estate? It was not probated because he was insolvent. What you see in those cases is a document produced by the court which lists all of the creditors who have come forward to file a claim against the estate. An administrator is appointed to liquidate the assets and pay off as much of the debt as possible. This was not the case for Samuel because there is no such document. In Samuel’s case we have both a fairly substantial estate and the presence of minor children. The probate record contains the guardian records for his two sons James and Samuel Jr. In a probate record associated with the land deeds we find a brief record of the two boys being assigned guardians, Josiah Meigs in the case of James and Nathan Buell in the case of Samuel Jr. In the Probate File we find more detailed record for each that was written when they arrived at the age of 16. I have no idea why Josiah Meigs was selected. He was a Guilford resident by a little coincidence Josiah’s brother Timothy was Abigail Bradley Griffins 3rd great grandfather. Nathan Buell on the other hand was from Killingworth and later married Samuel Jr.’s sister, Thankful. By a twist of fate when Nathan died at a young age Samuel served as executor for his will. What was the value of Samuel’s estate? A clue to an estate’s value was the size of the bond required by the court. In this case the court required Benjamin Gale to post a bond of 500 pounds. The general rule was that the bond was large enough to cover the value of the real estate involved in the probate action. In addition the household goods, farm equipment , animals, tools, everything the deceased owned was to be divided. What did Samuel own? Samuel lived within the community of present day Clinton. He did not live out on one of the scattered farms that characterized the northern part of then Killingworth. Did he own a business? Most of his grandsons entered the ship building trades. Did Samuel own a wood working shop like his son Samuel Jr? In a land deed Samuel Jr. references a joiners shop as part of the description of a piece of his property. In Samuel Jr’s will he divides up his joiners tools and a loom. Both represent items of considerable value. In the land deeds written concerning his grandchildren there are references to the “Griffin Property” as a well known landmark which was used to identify other property. What of the 500 pounds? If you use the conversion tables available that compare 1746 to 2012, 500 pounds converts to between $100,000 to $ 120,000. If you convert the same value in real estate the value in 2012 dollars is in the neighborhood of $1,700,000. These numbers represent his worth in his forties. What would he have been worth at the end of a rich and full life? What about his children? In a will as detailed as that of Edward Griffin we find details about all of his children. Based on the conventions of the day they are listed by birth order. By the time Edwards estate was completely settled we even had information on the spouses of his children. In Samuel’s case we have none of this. The one thing that the records clearly declare is the name of his wife MARY. Until these probate records were discovered there was an active debate in many family histories that he was married to Ann Avery. I hope these probate records once and for all dispel that mistake. Samuel Griffin was married to Mary. In two family lines, that of her daughter Jerusha and that of her granddaughter Mercy who married Ithamar Pelton, there exists an oral tradition that her name was Mary Beckwith. That information could only exist if it were passed from generation to generation a strong argument for its authenticity. We have guardian records for two of his sons James and Samuel. I think it is a safe conclusion that Jeremiah had not survived. What of his daughters Mary, Thankful and Jerusha? There was a strong thread running through English law that was designed to keep a families property intact. As a result real property was in most cases passed on to the male members of the family although this was not always the case. The deed records show Mercy Bailey Griffin receiving a small parcel of land from her father. But since women could not own property it was registered in her husband’s name. So what happened to the girls? As daughters married they were customarily given their portion in cash, household furnishings, food, animals, etc. and sometime a little plot of land. We are left to our imagination as to what the girls inherited from their father. After the death of Samuel history hints that the family remained together in Clinton living on the family property. There are two known land deeds that refer to the Mary Griffin property which was probably the same as the Griffin property we referred to earlier. As the oldest son I think James ended up with the bulk of his fathers holdings including his house in Clinton. The reverse logic is that in a place where every other member of the family bought and sold property he did not. My logic is that he already had property that he inherited from his parents. I hope this brief essay provides you with a little more insight into your grandparents Samuel and Mary Griffin

Samuel Griffin's Probate File 1702-1746

The following are the documents contained in the Probate File held at the Connecticut State Library. 1- The Probate File Folder. 2- First action taken by the court. 3- The second document in the file assigning Benjamin Gale to be the administrator of Samuel's will. 4- court note on future action. 5- Formal court document officially recognizing Benjamin Gale as administrator. 6- Notice the call for a bond of 500 pounds. 7- Note concerning James. 8- Guardian record for James. 9- Note for Samuel. 10- Note for Samuel. 11- Guardian record for Samuel.