Bradley Orlo Griffin
Born August 3rd, 1949 Panguitch, Utah
Died October 25th, 2019 South Jordan, Utah

Bradley Orlo Griffin was born on August 3rd, 1949 to Leland Wilford Griffin and Berthene Elizabeth Griffin (Smith). He lived most of his formative years in Henrieville, Utah until he left for his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints in 1968, serving in the Southern Far East Mission for 2 and ½ years, on the Island of Taiwan. While there he made lifelong friends with his companions, whom he visited with until his death. Upon returning home he attended and graduated from Southern Utah State College. It was there that he met the love of his life, Anne Myers, and they were Sealed in the Saint George Utah Temple on June 8th, 1973. After graduating Brad went to pharmacy school at the University of Utah. He worked in pharmacy for 35 years and was the hard knock, caring pharmacist that kept patients returning to him, even when he changed jobs. Brad was a passionate and prolific fly fisherman. He and his fishing partner, and former missionary companion, made many a fishing guide look foolish over the years. He knew and fished the western rivers, particularly the Provo, his entire adult life.

Over the last 12 years of his life Brad became a world-class researcher and historian. His genealogical work on the Griffin family encompasses many thousands of pages of writing from primary source research. He didn’t just know their name and date of birth; he knew their stories, which he shared with the world. The veil was always thin for Brad as he interacted with those beyond that directed his work. He surely was met by the multitude in the next life of those who had once been lost to history.

What was really most important to Brad was family. He spent years helping his son prepare to serve a mission, attend college and enter medical school, residency and fellowship. When the opportunity to love Andrea as his daughter in law and Eva and Elias as his grandchildren, he never looked back. He spent his last years reading with them, making up stories for them, teaching them and making them know that they were loved. He had the opportunity to meet and help bless his youngest grandson, Samuel Moises Griffin, named for the first Griffin in America, whom Brad had researched for over 10 years.

He was preceded in death by his father, Leland Wilford Griffin, mother, Berthene Elizabeth Griffin (Smith) and sister, Lynn (Buck) Lackey. He is survived by his wife, Anne Griffin (Myers), son, Dr. Alexander Bradley Griffin, daughter-in-Law, Andrea Griffin (Bracamonte), Grandchildren: Eva Anjolie Schmutz, Elias Daniel Schmutz, Samuel Moises Griffin and siblings: Leland Royce (Suzanne) Griffin and Shelly (Wade) Barney.

A Public Viewing will be held on November 1st, 6-8:00 PM at the LDS Church on 2450 West 10400 South, South Jordan Utah, 84095. An additional public Viewing and family prayer will be held in the same building on November 2nd, 4-5:00PM, which will be followed by the funeral service and dinner at 5:00 PM. Bradley Orlo Griffin will be returned home and interred in the Henrieville, Utah Cemetery on Sunday November 3rd, 1:00 PM next to his parents and sister; those who wish to attend the burial may attend. All flowers may be sent to the Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home, 1007 West South Jordan Pkwy, South Jordan

Charles E Griffin and the handcart companies

Faced with overwhelming opposition from the populous in Missouri the LDS Church began to make plans to leave Nauvoo. One of the primary goals was to organize in such a way to make it possible for every Saint to make the trek west. But despite their best intentions many Saints were left behind, some because of philosophical differences, but many simply due to a lack of resources. Gathering these Saints is a constant theme in the history of the early Church………………………………………………. In 1849 the Perpetual Emigrating Fund was started to aid the poor Saints, then living in the United States, that did not have the means to make the journey to Salt Lake City. In 1853 the system was expanded to include the European Saints. …….. The whole enterprise was well organized. Agents were hired or appointed to organize each step of the trip. Church callings were issued and men were given the task of identifying those that were eligible to emigrate. Agents were hired to purchase passage on ships leaving Europe and make all the necessary arraignments for crossing the Atlantic. In America agents purchased train and ship passage from the ports to the gathering places on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. In Utah men were called to travel east and serve as company captains for the newly organized wagon trains bringing the emigrants west. ……………………………………………………….. By 1854 the Perpetual Emigrating Fund was at a low financial ebb. There simply was not enough funds available to outfit new wagon trains. The response was to try out a new concept, the handcart company. The plan was put into effect and those new companies made their passage to America and west to Iowa City, Iowa. There materials were gathered by fund agents and the companies built there own handcarts for the journey west. ……………………………………………………………………….. The story of two of the handcart companies, the Martin and Willie Companies, is well known. Arriving late in Iowa City they caught the fund agents by surprise. Materials were hastily gathered and these two companies put together handcarts. The result was poorer materials and a delay in the beginning of the journey west. These two factors were to prove disastrous for the Willie and Martin handcart companies……………………………………………………………………………………………………. The story of their struggle is well known. There late arrival in America and their even later departure-heading west also caught the Church leadership by surprise. Brigham Young shared the news with the Church in the October Conference that year. He said the text for the Conference was the Saints still out on the plains. …. Beginning that very day he issued a call for the organization of the relief efforts to bring in the handcart companies. By the next day a mountain of supplies had been donated and a relief party organized and dispatched east. …………………………………. One of the interesting points is how well those early relief efforts were documented. We present here several examples. One document was a circular issued by the Church and shared with the congregations in England. It details the key provisions for the voyager. After the call at the October Conference detailed records were kept of who donated material and what they donated. We present two of them here. Note on one is the name of Sarah Griffin wife of Charles E. Griffin. Note that the two largest donations for foodstuffs was flour and onions. Among the list of coats and blankets we also find listed aprons and neckties. ……………………………………………… We also include a list of the men who volunteered to go as teamsters driving the wagons full of the donated materials. Listed among the teamsters is the name Charles E Griffin. …………………………………………………………………………………………… This first wave of volunteers was the men who were the first to find the Martin and Willie Companies. Some made the journey all the way to Martins Cove. As news of the full scope of the disaster made its way back to Salt Lake City other donations were gathered and other teamsters were called. ……………………………………………… We have told the story of Charles E Griffin’s participation in a chapter in his Biography. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Charles E Griffin / Albert Bailey Griffin / Samuel / Samuel / Samuel Griffin of Killingworth CT.