John Marcellus Griffith (1834 - 1912)

Ancestors Descendants

Biography

The following biography was taken from a book compiled by John Marcellus Griffith's grandson, Roger Marcellus Griffith in 2000, titled Griffith Generations.

John Marcellus Griffith

Marly was born on November 3, 1834, in East Dorset or Danby Vermont. He was the son of John Tabor Griffith and Olive (Hulett) Griffith.

Marly was educated at Danby district schools and learned surveying, Latin, and Greek at Burr & Burton Seminary (now Academy) in Manchester, Vermont.

With no plans for a trip mentioned in his diary, this twenty-year-old man set out for Minnesota on March 18, 1855, and in five days, trains took him via Troy, Buffalo, and Toledo to Moline, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi and across that river from Iowa. Then, by taking a boat and walking, he arrived in Minnesota.

During the next three and one-half years he played a role in the settling of Minnesota, surveying for many of their claims, claiming and selling land himself, laying out streets in St. Paul (where he named one of them Griffith Street (map)), and many other cities and towns, and mingling with Indians and the immigrants from many nations.

One of his greatest adventures in Minnesota was when he, accompanied by a cousin, Peleg (Pete) Griffith, hiked to Moline, Illinois, to visit his sister, Maria, and her husband, Elihu Kelley.

Leading mules carrying their baggage, they set out on the hike of more than 200 miles on December 4, 1855, with snow on the ground and temperatures far below zero.

Their worst experience was near the Big Cider River, where they found shelter with others in a shed of a cabin. They woke in the middle of the night and dashed out the door as flames destroyed the hut.

His diary tells what happened: They were unhurt but without a roof over their heads, so,

“Up early. You bet." No fire. Can't get on my boots. Froze stiff. Walk 1/2-mile barefoot to another hut. Can't get a show at the fire. Ten people in front of it. Thermometer -30 degrees below zero. But bring in my boots to get thawed out and freeze my toes eating breakfast. This beats the original Norway all hollow. Start at 10 o'clock. Walk 18 miles today to Brink house 6 miles into Iowa.”

They reached Moline on December 21. And what did they do for the next five days? The diary tells: “Lie by at Elihu's. Resting.”

They returned to Minnesota the same way, hiking most of the way.

On Sept. 2, 1858, he, accompanied by another Danby man, Seth Kelley, started back to Vermont, first on the steamboat N. Belle. via Prairie du Chien and Chicago, then by train via Niagara Falls and back in Danby Sept. 6, 1858.

On the way he stopped at Niagara Falls. Here's what he wrote in his diary about the falls:

“All the big adjectives have been used up in describing them, so I will say that they were very pretty, quite nice, made a fellow feel pretty small by the side of them, and should dislike to fall over. Think 'twould be dangerous, if I may be allowed the expression without incurring the stigma of “coward.” And on the whole would make a splendid mill site.”

At 9 p.m. on September 6, 1858, they arrived in Danby aboard the cars. And he commented in his diary how different the town was compared with his recollections of only a few years before.:

“Looks some like a very quiet, small country village, and has lost the magnificent proportions which it once impressed me with. The two and a half miles up to Father's house have lost nothing of their former longitude.”

For eight months he was content to “live along at the rate of 24 hours a day and feel perfectly comfortable” in Danby.

Then, with only a hint in his diary of his plans he wrote on March 8, 1859,

“Very rainy morning, but I make a big break in temporal affairs and start for California.”

With him on the train and also headed for California on the same ship were Thomas and George Kelley and George's wife [Emily (Button) Kelley] and their two children [Clarence George Kelley and Frank Anson Kelley], all from Danby.

Arriving in New York, he bought for $50 a “cattle ticket to California” on the Northern Light, and sailed aboard that ship on March 10. They reached Aspinwall (now Colón) on March 20, debarked, then took a train south to Panama and the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama, where they boarded a steamer, the Orizaba, and sailed to San Francisco, reaching there on April 5, 1859.

The gold rush lasted only about four years after the discovery of gold in 1848. This meant that the panning for gold in every stream and promising site by hordes of men from around the world had come to a near halt by the time he reached California.

But the vast mines that reached far into the earth produced millions of dollars worth of gold for many more years. Too, ranches were being started and acres of grapes were being planted, many of them by Italian immigrants, to produce the California wine that is still favored by many today.

The growth of California in so many ways was only well under way when he arrived. There was work and work aplenty for a man like Marly who could and did survey, teach school, and not only could but loved to raise crops.

By 1868 he had spent nearly ten years in California. He had roamed vast areas of the huge state, sought and found gold, established a home with fine grape vines with Pic Griffith in Jackson and owned other property including a gold mine that produced. Most important, he had become a respected citizen of Jackson and Amador County.

Map of Amador County by J. M. Griffith

As the elected surveyor he had drawn the first map of that county, a map that is still a part of the county records in Jackson.

Sacramento Daily Union, 19 May 1866

He was elected county surveyor several times, held other offices, was involved in city, county, and state politics, was trusted to survey the valuable gold mine areas, and regularly participated in church and other community activities.

Why, then, does he surprise us with this entry in his diary?

December 22, 1868. Start for New York from San Francisco on Steamer “Golden City.”

Many circumstances suggest that he was only planning a visit back in Danby. His father was still alive but aging. He had not sold his California properties nor written in his diary about anything that would suggest he was leaving California for good.

But was there a simpler reason? Marly was not yet married and was thirty-four. There were men by the thousands in California, but eligible women were scarce and had many men anxious to marry them.

John Marcellus Griffith

Did Marly go back to Danby to find a wife? It's a guess that the answer is yes.

He did not write down his arrival date in Danby in the diary, but on March 9, 1869 he was writing in Danby.

Some eight months later he married Mary Kelley^[1]. Then on September 1, 1870, he bought, then operated for the remainder of his life a general store in East Dorset, Vermont.^[2] Then, except for a very few trips, his roaming days were over.

He died June 20, 1912, in East Dorset^[3]. He and many of his family are buried in the cemetery in the south part of East Dorset^[4].

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage to Mary Kelley: "Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFVL-NP2 : 6 December 2014), J M Griffith and Mary Kelley, 02 Nov 1869, Marriage; State Capitol Building, Montpelier; FHL microfilm 27,601.
2. ↑ "United States City and Business Directories, ca. 1749 - ca. 1990", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZP8-9C8S : 2 February 2022), John M Griffith, 1878.
3. ↑ Death: "Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KFYF-SQ2 : 6 December 2014), John Marcellus Griffith, Death, 20 Jun 1912, Dorset, Bennington, Vermont, United States; from "Vermont, Birth Records, 1909-2008," "Vermont, Death Records, 1909-2008," "Vermont, Marriage Records, 1909-2008," and "Vermont, Vital Records, 1720-1908." Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2010); citing Vital Records Office, Vermont Department of Health, Burlington and New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #139528004

Census Records

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MC2F-M8F : 9 November 2014), Marcellis Griffith in household of John T Griffith, Danby, Rutland, Vermont, United States; citing family 234, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDKH-W9F : 30 December 2015), J M Griffith, 1860.
• "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6RZ-M6T : 17 October 2014), Marsellan Griffith in household of Timothy Kelly, Vermont, United States; citing p. 21, family 162, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,123.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8W4-8M3 : 14 July 2016), J Marsellus Griffith, Dorset, Bennington, Vermont, United States; citing enumeration district ED 27, sheet 396B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1341; FHL microfilm 1,255,341.
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MMGT-9TX : accessed 2 May 2017), John M Griffith, Dorset town, Bennington, Vermont, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 29, sheet 12A, family 283, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,689.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MPF4-CMD : accessed 2 May 2017), John M Griffith, Dorset, Bennington, Vermont, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 27, sheet 12A, family 294, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1612; FHL microfilm 1,375,625.