Almon Griffin the Journey West

Most of the first several generations of Samuel and Mary Griffin’s children and grandchildren lived out their days in Connecticut and its neighboring states. By the 3rd and 4th generations a number of their grandchildren had joined the migration west. The first wave moved to Vermont and a little later upper New York. These areas in the late 1700’s were largely unsettled. Biographies from two Griffin grandchildren Oramel (Joel) and Albert Bailey (Samuel 3rd) both describe a youth filled with days clearing and burning trees. Vermont had been claimed by New Hampshire. Selling land grants became an important source of revenue for states and individuals. The American patriot, Ethan Allen, for example was first and foremost a land speculator. The next great migration was to the Western Reserve land mainly in the Ohio River valley an area claimed by the state of Connecticut. The Western Reserve had been surveyed and organized into townships. The Western Reserve had come into America’s possession after the protracted conflict with the French and British. The Louisiana Purchase by President Jefferson had added the American mid-west to the equation. President Jefferson was eager for the land to be settled and used thus securing America’s claim. President Jefferson believed that everyone should own land. He believed that an agrarian society would serve the interest of the republic well. Owning land would encourage citizens to participate in the civic virtue. The land was surveyed and set up to be bought by individuals or groups at inexpensive prices ranging form $1.00 to $1.25 an acre depending on the usefulness of the land. 160 acres was considered necessary for a family farm, big enough to be self sufficient but small enough for a family to run it. Prior to the passing of the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 that we are the most familiar with we see smaller versions occurring in these mid-western states. The homestead movement began in earnest in the 1820’s, 30’s and 40’s. We see Griffin families in Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. A little later we see families in Nebraska and Kansas. In the realm of family history this period poses real problems. It seems that in almost every family tree we have a family that made the move to the very frontier of America. Many represented the very first settlers in the new territories. The issue for us is that these new towns and counties did not have the organization or resources required to record and maintain vital records. So in each family tree we usually have a gap in the family story. When and where were children born? How did they make the journey west? Almost all families are faced with these types of questions. We thought it would be useful to trace the family of Almon Daniel Griffin as they made this transition. His story is typical of the era and provides several insights into the westward migration. ______ Almon Daniel Griffin Junior was born near his grandfather Samuel Griffin in Essex, Vermont in 1801. He would have been about age 7 when his grandfather died and a young man of 21 at the passing of his grandmother Mercy Bailey Griffin. He was probably well versed in the oral traditions reaching back to Killingworth. He would have known his uncles Joel, Asahel, Samuel and John. Almon married Polly Mary Chase. Together Almon and Mary had 9 children. Three children died before being named then there was Catherine Marian, named after her grandmother, Philinda Minerva, Horatio Allen, Almon 3rd, Mary Elizabeth and Henry Tyler. By the time of 1850 census Almon’s family was facing a dilemma common to most families of that generation. His children were marrying but there was not enough land and resources to promise them much of a future in Vermont. Coupled with this is the promise of the abundant cheap land in the west. With these factors in play evidence suggests that sometime in the spring of 1853 Almon’s family began a journey that would eventually end in Fillmore County, Minnesota. Piecing together the chain of events is like trying to piece together a puzzle with many missing pieces. What we are left with is a description of the remaining pieces. From these descriptions emerges a picture of the journey as a whole. Traveling with Almon was his oldest daughter Catherine Marian. The 1850 federal census finds Catherine living in Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont married to Horace Churchill with their 2 daughters Helen and Eliza. Subsequent census records and family histories indicates the birth of 2 additional children in Vermont, George A. Churchill, born March 6, 1851 and Horace Harlow born January 17, 1853. The next record we have of the family is the 1860 federal census for Beaver, Fillmore, Minnesota. We find living in the household of Almon and Mary Griffin. Helen Churchill age 12, Eliza Churchill age 10 and Horace Churchill age 7. Missing are his daughter Catherine and her husband Horace Churchill and their son George. In the Fillmore County records we find marriage records for the two girls. Helen Churchill married Wm. H. Allen on March 4, 1866. Eliza M. Churchill married Duerdin W. Burns June 7, 1868. By one of the twists of fate we have a detailed obituary for Helen. “Mrs. Helen Allen, beloved pioneer resident of this community passed away at her home in this city last Wednesday afternoon, September 23 (1942). Born near Burlington, Vermont December 16, 1847, she had thus attained the age of 94 years, nine months and eight days. While still a child Mrs. Allen came westward with her parents Harlow and Catherine Churchill, the family locating in Rockford, Ill. in 1852, where both parents died. In 1856, when Helen was nine years of age, she came with her grandparents to Minnesota. They traveled to Minnesota in a caravan of covered wagons, drawn by oxen, and one of the incidents of the journey which Mrs. Allen well remembered was the crossing of the Mississippi River by ferry. This was two years before Minnesota became a state. They located on a claim near Spring Valley, in the Rochester vicinity. Here in 1866, at the age of eighteen years, Helen Churchill was married to William H. Allen……… Many a Lake Bentonite owed a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Allen for her assistance in bringing them into the world during the pioneer days. She never affiliated with the Church although her parents were staunch Congregationalists… Mrs. Allen was a great lover of books. One of her hobbies was the making of scrapbooks……… She had a hearty distaste of the use of tobacco and intoxicants… She was a singer and loved to whistle. She also treasured her garden and in this, her ninety-fifth year of life, she was still doing for others.” ______________ We have less information on the rest of the Churchill children. Eliza M Churchill and Duerdin Burns were living in Beaver in 1870. The 1875 Minnesota census finds Duriden-26 and Eliza – 26 living in North Hero, Redwood, Minnesota. The census lists 3 children Frank, Walstein and Lula. The 1900 census finds Duerdin Burns living in California having married for a 2nd time. ____________ Horace Harlow is living in LeRoy, Mower, Minnesota in the 1875 Minnesota census. The 1900 federal census lists a Horace Churchill born Jan, 1853, in Vermont, living in Kidder County, North Dakota, his profession that of a ranchman. There are no other family members listed. That is the existing history for the family of Catherine Merian Griffin. ____________ Also making the journey west was Almon’s daughter Philinda Minerva Griffin. Minerva had married her cousin David Brainard Griffin, grandson of her uncle Samuel, in Essex, Vermont January 13, 1852. In the 1856 Iowa census we find recorded, D.B. Griffin, age 24, born Vermont, Minerva, age 26, born Vermont and A.J. age 2 born in Illinois. The 1860 federal census finds the family in Fillmore County, Minnesota living next to Almon. “B. Griffin, 28, Vt ___ Minerva Griffin, 30, Vt ___ Alice J. Griffin, 6, Ill ____ Ida May Griffin, 3, Iowa.” Given these pieces of the puzzle we can begin to paint a picture of a typical journey west. The Hudson River and Lake Champlain served as easy water routes running north and south. Those traveling west used these water routes to arrive at Albany, New York the jumping off place for most western migration. Albany was the terminus for the Mohawk/Iroquois Trail that ran across upper New York. The names of the towns that sprang up along this ancient pathway are very familiar to us, Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse and Buffalo. Buffalo was the jumping off place for families entering Ohio and the Western Reserve. Lake Erie was the next key waterway. The city of Detroit sitting on the Erie waterway was the eastern terminus of the next key migration route commonly referred to as the Chicago and State Roads. This route also traced an old Indian trail system. Detroit to Chicago then on to Elgin and Rockford, Illinois. The westward terminus was at Galena, Illinois on the Mississippi River. By the 1850’s the railroads ran parallel to this route. Across the Mississippi via horse drawn ferry and into Iowa the next terminus was, Rapids, to later became Grand Rapids, Iowa. The single route across Iowa again following an Indian trails system. Almon probably took the family down the Lake Champlain water route to Albany. Across New York to Buffalo. From Buffalo via Lake Erie to Detroit. Detroit to Rockford, Illinois. The family settled near Rockford where Minerva’s daughter Alice was born. After the death of Catherine and Horace Churchill, and probably their son Samuel, the family decided to move further west. By 1856 they had made the Mississippi crossing at Galena and moved on to Rapids, Iowa. Census information indicates that Minerva’s daughter Ida was born in Rapids. In Minnesota the government settled their treaty with the Sioux Indians in 1853 opening up a new area for settlement. Almon’s family then made the move 150 miles north to Fillmore County Minnesota. The 1857 Minnesota census taken on the 4th of October that year lists Almon Griffin, Mary C. Griffin, their children Allen, Mary and Henry. As part of Almon’s household is his grandchildren Helen Churchill and her siblings Eliza and Horace. In the next household listed we find Brainard Griffin and his wife Minerva and their children Alice and Ida. ____________ The long journey across America was taken with covered wagons the so-called Conestoga wagon or Prairie Schooners. They were purpose built for the task of traveling long distances over inadequate roads. They were 10 ft. by 3 ½ feet in size. They were lighter and had wider wheels than the traditional farm wagons. My own grandfather Paul Varney moved his wagon making business from Essex to Geauga County, Ohio to help fill the demand for wagons on the American frontier. The small space was stuffed with bedding and foodstuffs, flour, bacon, corn meal, dried beans. No household would be without molasses, vinegar, salt and pepper. A variety of building tools and probably the single most important item a plow. To carry furniture was considered a luxury. An iron stove was an extremely rare item to find in a wagon. As indicated by Helen Churchill teams of oxen pulled most of the wagons. Oxen could survive on forage that would not sustain other draft animals. The travel guides of the day recommended that any journey start with at least four pairs of oxen with two or more pairs hitched to the wagon at any one time. The person walking along their left side directed the oxen. Research on this mode of travel suggests that a wagon could accommodate about five people. Journal entries that have survived from the era indicated that is was possible to cover 15 or more miles per day. Camp for the evening had to be made early enough to allow for the gathering of wood and other items necessary for cooking and preparation for the next days travel. The livestock had to be watered and allowed to graze. There is no indications that the Griffin party traveled with other families but it was in all likelihood made up of two or more wagons trailed by whatever other domesticated animals they brought with them. In the surviving wills from Essex, Vermont there are almost no reference to horses in the inventories of the estates. Contrary to the images from the movies of families perched on the seat of a wagon pulled by teams of horses most of the Griffins probably walked across America directing the oxen or driving the other livestock. Only the women and small children rode in the wagons. Remember the Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred in 1876. Iowa and Minnesota in 1856 was hostile territory. Journal entries from the era also describe the killing of wildlife including Buffalo to supplement the daily fare. ______________ This brings our story to the 1860 federal census held for Beaver, Fillmore County, Minnesota. Almond Griffin, age 59, farmer value of farm $500.00, born Vermont. ____Mary C Griffin, age 60 ____Helen Churchill, age 12 _____ Eliza Churchill, age 10 ____Horace Churchill, age 7 ____ Allen Griffin, age 27 ____ Henry Griffin, age 15. Listed living nearby B Griffin, age 28, Farmer, value $300.00, born Vermont _____Minerva Griffin, 30 ____Alice Griffin, 6, born Ill_____ Ida May Griffin, 3, born Iowa. The 1865 Minnesota census is the last piece of our puzzle. In household number 49 we have listed. Minerva Griffin, Edgar L., Alice J, Ida M. In household number 50, Mary Griffin, Allen, Henry, Horace Churchill, Emery Durand, Mary Griffin, Helen, Eliza. By 1865 Philinda Minerva Griffin, Almon’s daughter, had sent her husband David Brainard off to fight in the war. David was killed at the battle of Chickamauga. A 3rd child had been born into the family Edgar Lincoln. Almon died just before the 1865 census so in household number 50 we find his wife Mary Griffin along with their sons Allen and Henry. Living in the house is (William) Emery Durand who was to marry their daughter Mary Griffin who is listed. Also listed is Horace Churchill and his sisters listed simply as Helen and Eliza. Two pioneer women living alone on the American prairie with their children and grandchildren. Mary died within the year leaving Minerva as head of the combined families. Edgar Lincoln and Henry did not survive. All of the girls married and started their own families. Minerva took a 2nd husband Warren Andrews in 1868. Minerva’s will indicates that she was able to maintain her homestead leaving it to her daughters on her death in 1895. As a final note on family relationships in early America. Almon’s son Allen Horatio never married. He lived into the 1880’s as part of the family circle of his niece Helen Churchill Allen in Lake Benton. __________Minerva / Almon Daniel / Daniel Almon-Dan / Samuel / Samuel. ________ Almon Daniel Griffin and Polly Mary Chase: Twins 1826 -----Daughter 1828 ------ Catherine Marian 1829-1856 ------ Philinda Minerva 1830-1895 ------Allen Horatio 1832 ------ Almon Daniel 1834-1921 stayed in Vermont------Mary Elizabeth 1841-1926 ------ Henry Tyler 1844-1865. ___________________ Philinda Minerva and David Brainard Griffin: Julia 1853-1856 ------Alice Jane 1854-1928 ------ Ida May 1856-1943 ----Edgar Lincoln 1861-1870. ___________________ Catherine Marian and Horace Churchill: Helen M 1847-1942 ------Eliza M 1849 ------ George A. 1851 ----- Horace Harlow 1853.