George Griffin (1849 - 1897)

Born 1849 in Virginia, United States

Husband of Rhoda Marrian (Hayes) Griffin — married 1871 in Hartford, Connecticut, United States

Died 1897 at about age 48 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

George Griffin is Notable.

George Griffin was the butler for the Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) household in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a friend and confidant of Twain and of other family members. He may be the inspiration for the famous character [N-word] Jim in Huckleberry Finn. Griffin was also a body servant to General Charles Devans during the American Civil War. ^[1]

George Griffin was born in 1849. He passed away in 1897.

What Mark Twain said about George Griffin

". . . [George] was strenuously religious, he was a deacon and autocrat of the African Methodist Church . . . he acquired a house and a wife not very long after he came with us . . . He ruled his race in the town, he was its trusted political leader . . . His people sought his advice in their troubles, and he kept many a case of theirs out of court by settling it himself . . . He was an earnest Republican . . . " "George was an accident. He came to wash some windows, and remained for half a generation. He was a Maryland slave by birth; the Proclamation set him free, and as a young fellow he saw his fair share of the Civil War as body servant to General Devens. He was handsome, well built, shrewd, wise, polite, always good-natured, cheerful to gaiety, honest, religious, a cautious truth-speaker, devoted friend to the family, champion of its interests, a sort of idol to the children and a trial to Mrs. Clemens–not in all ways but in several . . . There was nothing commonplace about George. He had a remarkably good head; his promise was good, his note was good; he could be trusted to any extent with money or other valuables . . . he had the respect and I may say the warm friendly regard of every visiting intimate of our house." ^[2]

“A white man and a negro walking together was a new spectacle to them,” Clemens wrote of this experience in the 1890s, “The glance embarrassed George but not me, for the companionship was proper; in some ways, he was my equal, in some others my superior.” ^[3]

"“Yes, Miss Susy, I had hard luck—something was wrong, I can’t make out what it was, but I hope and believe it will learn me. I only won eight hundred dollars.”" ^[4]

What Huck Finn said about Jim

"It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:

"All right, then, I'll go to hell"- and tore it up.

It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head; and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't. And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog." ^[5]

Research Notes

Timeline

1849 born in Virginia

before 1861 ... enslaved in Maryland. Approximately 12 years old.

circa 1861-1865 served as body servant to General Devans ^[6] Approximately 12 to 16 years old.

circa 1866. no Freedman Records yet found

1870 Census, possibly one and the same as the person listed as a waiter in Worcester

1871 marries Mary (Rhoda Marrian Hayes) in Hartford, CT

circa 1872... has a daughter, but the child dies young...

1874 came to work for Mark Twain

1880 US Census. This is the definitive source to begin a study of George Griffin. He is listed in the household of Mark Twain, is 31 years old and married. His wife is not listed in the household.

June 1891, the Twain family moves to Europe.

1897 George Dies in Manhattan

3 Mar 1899 Mary gets remarried to Thomas Edward Brown in Boston

either 1923 or 1937... Mary dies ... there is some discrepancy here

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Griffin_(butler)
2. ↑ https://marktwainhouse.org/teachers-students/who-is-george-griffin/
3. ↑ https://connecticuthistory.org/george-griffin-devoted-friend-to-samuel-clemens/
4. ↑ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/526132%20-%20BOTH
5. ↑ https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/book/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/chapter-31
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Devens

• 1880 Census: "1880 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1880; Census Place: Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut; Roll: 97; Page: 117C; Enumeration District: 006
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6742 #24574406 (accessed 11 July 2023)
  George Griffin (31), married, Servant, in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Born in Virginia.

This next source MIGHT be George in the 1870 census.

• 1870 Census: "1870 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1870; Census Place: Worcester Ward 3, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: M593_658; Page: 175B
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7163 #27124293 (accessed 12 July 2023)
  George Griffin (22), Waiter, in Worcester Ward 3, Worcester, Massachusetts. Born in Maryland.