Clarissa Eugenia (Culpepper) Griffin (1848 - 1947)

Born 13 Apr 1848 in Pike, Georgia, United States

Ancestors

Wife of William Henry Griffin — married 24 Oct 1867 in Tallapoosa, Alabama

Descendants

Died 29 Nov 1947 at age 99 in Ashland, Clay, Alabama, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Meg McGowan [send private message] and Lewis Griffin [send private message]

Biography

Clarissa Eugenia Culpepper was the youngest of her mother Sarah's five children. Her father recorded her birth in his Bible: "Clarrisa E. Culpepper was born April the 13th 1848." Clarasy, as she was called, was eight when her mother died, ten when her father remarried, and eleven when her family moved to Randolph Co. AL.

In 1867 she married William Henry Griffin of Mellow Valley, AL at her home in Pinckneyville, Clay Co., AL (the marriage is recorded in Tallapoosa Co.) The couple settled in Lineville, Clay Co. AL to raise a family of ten children (one other died as an infant.) An early photograph shows a young Clarissa and her husband with their first child, Dora. Clarissa had blue eyes.

A granddaughter, Mrs. J. W. (Lena Whatley) DeVaughn wrote, 4 Dec 1978: With reference to Grandmother Griffin, I consider her to be an outstanding individual. She was faithful to her church and always ready to help those in need. She set a wonderful example for her children and grandchildren. I am so thankful for the things she taught me when I stayed with them [the William Henry Griffin's].... Grandmother Griffin... became deaf in ... later years. She was tall and slender and very energetic. Older age did not affect her posture. She had beautiful blue eyes.

Another granddaughter, Mrs. J. A. (Mildred Whatley) Kerley, wrote in a 23 Nov 1978 letter that she remembered her grandmother as "a very gracious person in her home. She was a great cook and I so enjoyed her good food."

Mrs. Charles (Margaret Whatley) Lee, a granddaughter, wrote in a 14 Oct 1978 letter: I always remember her [Clarissa] as being very hard of hearing and she only had one eye. She got one of her eyes [her right eye based on later photographs] put out making lye soap when she was in her 20's. She always had rheumatism bad, which is called arthritis now. Aunt Maude and Aunt Lelia never married and they lived with her and did most all the work. She was a very proud person, very stern, and had little patience for wrong doing of any kind. She believed in being on the up & up in a big way. She used to come to my mother's house and spend the day quite often. She would come in the buggy. She always brought candy or something. She always had good cakes, etc. cooked when we visited her and would fix our favorite dishes.

A great-granddaughter, Mrs. G. W. (Elaine DeVaughn) Mendenhall wrote in an 8 Feb 1979 letter that Clarissa "had quite a reputation as a stern disciplinarian." Jokes were told about her telling her son Olin that he was "not too old to whip" when he was himself a grandfather several times over.

Emyl Griffin recounted his memories of his grandmother in a 1 Oct 1994 letter:

MEMORIES OF MY GRAND MOTHER : CLARISSA EUGENIA GRIFFIN BY: EMYL GRIFFIN After my fathers death in 1922 when I was four years of age my mother carried my brother and me to visit our grand mother Griffin at regular intervals perhaps every month or so. One of my memories [is] that she would always have Aunt Maude and Aunt Lelia get us something to eat such as cake, cookies, pie & etc. This was a practice until I finished high school. She was handicapped by eye sight from my first memory and later her general health declined. She was seventy years of age when I was born so I did not know her when she was completely active physically. I do remember her mind was clear until the very last years of her life. Another memory of her is the reunions held yearly as I recall beginning in the early years [of] my life until she was some 90 years of age. As I remember it came to the point that crowds somewhat bothered her so the reunions were discontinued and family members visited her at different times. The four living boys lived elsewhere out of Clay County, therefore, these reunions provided us the opportunity of seeing uncles, aunts and cousins that we would not see otherwise. Another memory of grandmother (and Aunt Maude) was the 1927 touring Ford car which Uncle Will drove down in from Washington, D. C. He and his brother-in-law had a Ford agency in D.C. He taught Aunt Maude to drive the car and she continued to drive it for some 50 years. I remember it was the talk of the community in the 1950's when most model T Fords had gone to the junk yard. A Dr. Owens, their family doctor in prior years, then living in Birmingham, bought the car, had it refurbished and carried it to antique car shows for a number of years. This Memory shows a loving heart in my grand mother. When I graduated from high school in 1936 she gave me money to buy a suit of clothes. I well remember this was the first suit of clothes that I had. With our family, especially during depression years, financial resources were limited, as was true with most families. She must have been aware of this, and, too, I always thought maybe she thought of me in a special way since my father died when I was so young. Anyway I remember my mother carried me to her uncle's store and we bought a double breasted solid grey suit. This suit lasted me through my college days and until I found employment.

Clarissa preferred the "old ways" to modern conveniences such as electric lights. The following article about her 99th birthday is from an unknown source, possibly the Birmingham News-Age-Herald: MRS. W. H. GRIFFIN HONORED ON 99th BIRTHDAY Relatives and friends gathered at the home of Mrs. W. H. Griffin on Ashland, Route 1, on Sunday, April 13th, to honor her on the occasion of her 99th birthday. Mrs. Griffin was born in Pike County, Georgia in 1848; moved with her parents to Alabama at the age of 11, later removing to Clay County where she has resided for the past 80 years. She was married in October, 1867. Her husband died in 1924. Mrs. Griffin is the mother of eleven children, seven of whom are now living, they are: Mrs. W. T. Dean of Ashland, Dr. J. O. Griffin of Memphis, Tenn.; Mrs. Ike Reeves of Lineville; J. A. Griffin of Sylacauga; G. W. Griffin of Lineville; Mrs. Robert Whatley of Lineville and Miss Maude Griffin, who resides with her mother, all of whom were present. She also has 31 grandchildren and 33 great great grandchildren. Although Mrs. Griffin's eyesight, is dimmed and her hearing is somewhat impaired, she is seemingly in the best of health and does her part in the work about the house. Her father, the late Rev. L. P. Culpepper, was 98 years of age at the time of his death. At the noon hour a fine luncheon was served. Pictures were made during the afternoon. The honoree received many useful gifts. Other relatives and friends present were Mr. W. T. Dean of Ashland, Mrs. E. A. Speer of Birmingham, E. G. Dean of Ashland, Otho Dean of Oak Hill, Miss Annie Maude Dean, of Montgomery, Mr. and Mrs. Flora Griffin and C. M. Mason of Sylacauga; Mrs. J. W. Griffin, Mrs. J. T. Griffin and son, Emil [Emyl], Robert Whatley, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Vaughn and daughters, Misses Eloise and Elaine, Mrs. Mattie Reeves, W. L. Bell, De Hurst and Arnold Clark of Lineville; Mr. and Mrs. Charnell Middlecoff of Memphis, Tenn.; Rev. J. W. Dean and son, Aubrey, of Cragford; Mrs. and Mrs. Billy Walker of Anniston, and Bill Street of Ashland [:TAB:] Clarissa Culpepper Griffin remained active to within a few months of her 100th birthday, but died before reaching that goal after breaking her hip in a fall in 1947. The following obituary is from p. 14B of the Birmingham News-Age-Herald for Sunday, 30 Nov 1947: Woman Nearly 100 Succumbs; Son-In-Law Dies Soon After Ashland, Ala. Dec. [Nov.] 29--Mrs. W. H. Griffin who would have celebrated her 100th birthday next April 13 and her son-in-law, W. T. Dean, 77, died here Saturday morning after short illnesses. Joint funeral services will be held at 2 p. m. Sunday at Ashland First Baptist Church. Mrs. Griffin will be buried in Lineville, while Mr. Dean will be buried here, Blair directing. Mrs. Griffin died about 3 a. m. Saturday, her son-in-law several hours later. Mrs. Griffin was honored at a luncheon and received many gifts as she celebrated her 99th birthday last April. Although Mrs. Griffin['s] eyesight became dimmed and her hearing somewhat impaired, she was active and assisted in work about the home in advanced years. BORN IN PIKE COUNTY, Georgia, Mrs. Griffin moved to Alabama with her family at the age of 11. She had lived in Clay County the last 80 years. Mr. Griffin, whom she married in 1867, died in 1924. Mrs. Griffin was the mother of 11 children, seven of whom survive her. There are three sons, Dr. J. O. Griffin, Memphis; G. W. Griffin, Lineville and J. A. Griffin, Sylacauga, and four daughters, Mrs. W. T. Dean and Miss Maude Griffin, Ashland and Mrs. Ike Reeves and Mrs. Robert Whatley, Lineville. Also surviving are 34 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren. Mr. Dean, a retired farmer, is survived by his widow; two daughters, Annie Maude Dean, Montgomery, and Mrs. E. A. Spear, Birmingham; two sons, Otho Dean, of Montgomery and Oak Hill, and Edward Dean, Butler, Pa. and four grandchildren.

A granddaughter, Mrs. Charles (Margaret Whatley) Lee wrote 21 Jan 1990 about some pictures of Good Hope from the Lineville paper of 20 Jan 1990: You see the church? Well that's the church Grandmother and Granddaddy Griffin attended and all their children.... They have remodeled the church in recent years. They added the little steeple, the little porch & also put siding on the outside. Grandmother's children went to school there too. That headstone hasn't always been there. That church must have been there be before 1884. Every one of Grandmother's children was born there in Good Hope. You see the house in the lower right corner? Well I'm familiar with that house, you go on around that house to go to Grandmother's old home place. I doubt if it is still standing there. It was almost impossible to get to their home in a car the road was so rocky & rough.... I think the road going to the left in the picture goes to Pyriton.

In a 12 Apr 1990 letter Margaret Lee added: Mildred [(Whatley) Kerley] drove down by grandmother Griffin's home place between Lineville & Ashland. The house is very old. No one lives in it, looks like it's about ready to fall in. ^[1]

Biographical Summary

Clarissa Eugenia was the daughter of Lewis Peek and Sarah Ann Culpepper.^[2] Her family moved to Alabama by the time she was 12.^[3] She married William Henry Griffin in Tallapoosa County, Alabama on 24 October 1867.^[4] Their first child was born about 1869.^[5] Five more children were born in the next decade.^[6]. They are the parents of eleven children, including Robert Lewis Griffin.^[7]

In 1900 the Griffin family was living in Clay County, Alabama.^[8]

She died at age 99 and is buried at Old Lineville Cemetery, Lineville, Alabama.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Culpepper Connections
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZYH-BW7 : 9 November 2014), Clarasy E Culpepper in household of Lewis P Culpepper, Pike county, Pike, Georgia, United States; citing family 37, NARA microfilm publication.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHD5-999 : 30 December 2015), Clarisa W Culpepper in entry for Lewis P Culpepper, 1860.
4. ↑ "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:29NS-XG2 : 19 February 2021), Wm M Griffin and Clarissa Culpepper, 1867; citing Tallapoosa, Alabama, United States, County Probate Courts, Alabama; FHL microfilm 2,258,851.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHVB-KZY : 28 May 2021), Claracy E Griffon in entry for Wm H Griffon, 1870.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JH-1FH : 13 January 2022), C. E. Griffin in household of W. H. Griffin, Lineville, Clay, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
7. ↑ Culpepper Family Tree at Rootsweb.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M98Q-ZBS : 25 January 2015), Eugenia Griffin in household of William Griffin, Precinct 13 Lineville, Clay, Alabama, United States; citing sheet 3B, family 44, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,240,009.
9. ↑ Clarissa Eugenia Culpepper Griffin at Find A Grave.