Person:Robert Griffith (10)

ROBERT W. GRIFFITH, resided upon section 13, Clay Township, was a pioneer of 1848, and was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Washington County. He was a native of Sussex County, Del., born Sept. 22, 1804, and is a son of Paris and Sarah (Warren) Griffith, who were also natives of Delaware, but of English descent. Their ancestry were Quakers, who came to this country with William Penn in 1680. They reared a family of seven children. In 1805 the family moved from Delaware to Pickaway County, Ohio, where Paris Griffith purchased wild land and opened up a farm. His father died in Pickaway County, Ohio, April 20, 1828, at the age of fifty-one years and eleven mongths, and was buried in the old Salem churchyard in that county. The mother survived the father some fifteen years, and died in Crawford County, Ohio, at the age of sixty.

The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Pickaway County, Ohio, and received but a limited education in the schools of that early day. When a youth he was endowed with extraordinary strength, to which was coupled a will to make something of himself. After leaving the parental roof, he engaged as a farm-hand one year for $8 per month. He then struck for higher wages, desiring of his employer $9 per month; that amount was considered too high by his employer, and he therefore left and engaged with another man for that sum. After working one year his wages were increased to $10 per month, and at that sum he continued with his employer for two years. Nearly every dollar of wages in that time he saved. He now thought it time to choose a helpmeet for life and, forming the acquaintance of Miss Eleanor Long,they were united in marriage Dec. 27, 1832. She was a native of Northampton County, Pa., born near the Delaware River, April 3, 1813, and was the daughter of William and Sophia (Drake) Long, the former of German and the latter of English descent.

In 1834 Mr. Griffith moved from Pickaway to Crawford County, Ohio, and to what was known as the Sandusky Plain, purchased 200 acres of land and improved a farm. Crawford County at that time was almost a wilderness, and the land purchased was mostly prairie, but he settled in a small grove. Leaving his wife and child at the house of a friend, about four miles away, he went to his land and, erecting a temporary structure through the forks of some trees, he ther lived until he could erect his log cabin. After the erection of his cabin, which was of the typical kind, with mud and stick chimney, he returned for his wife, and they at once commenced living the life of pioneers. Here they continued until 1846, in the meantime improving an excellent farm. Desiring to come West, where the advantages would be greater and the land cheaper, he sold his farm in Crawford County, and started West. On reaching Macon County, Ill., two of his children were severely hurt, one being kicked by a horse and the other being run over by a wagon. He therefore stopped, for the purpose of caring for the little ones, and while there was induced to purchase a farm of 940 acres of land. After living there about one month, he became very much dissatisfied, and offered $500 to be released from his contract. This was refused, and it finally cost him $1,100 to secure a release. Packing up his personal property, he once more turned his face westward and started for Iowa. Arriving in Washington County, he purchased 200 acres of land on section 13, Clay Township, where he continued to reside.

To Mr. and Mrs. Griffith thirteen children had been born. Elias, born Oct. 2, 1833, was a farmer residing in Franklin Township; Eliza, born June 27, 1835, became the wife of Thomas Bane, a farmer who resided in Smith County, Kan.; Samuel, born Jan. 14, 1837, was a farmer who resided in Franklin Township; Mary, born May 28, 1838, became the wife of William Hart, a farmer in Harrison County, Mo.; Isabella, born July 21, 1840, was the wife of Thomas Whittaker, a farmer in Clay Township; Jane, born April 19, 1842, was the wife of Jacob Engle, a farmer in Keokuk County, Iowa; George W., born Jan. 2, 1844, was a farmer whom resided in Franklin Township; Martha, born July 10, 1846, was the wife of Wellington Harbaugh, a harness-maker in Lincoln, Kan.; Sarah, born Oct. 12, 1848, stayed home; John Q., born April 20, 1852, died Dec. 2, 1874; Harriet, born Oct. 18, 1852, stayed at home; Robert, born Feb. 20, 1855, took charge of the home farm; Abigail, born June 11, 1857, was the wife of Albert Reahkopf, whom resided in Clyde, Kan.

Since coming to Washington County, Iowa, Mr. Griffith had been exceedingly prosperous. To his original purchase of 200 acres on section 13, he added by subsequent purchase until the home farm grew to 640 acres, in addition to which he had 320 acres on section 35, Clay Township, and 160 acres in Franklin Township, a total of 1,120 acres. In addition to this, he had given to his children as they left the parental roof, in all, 900 acres of land which would have made for him a grand total of 2,020 acres of land. The old cabin in which he first lived upon coming to Washington County, had long since given place to a fine two-story brick residence, which was convenient in every respect. On the premises was probably the finest barn in Washington County, being 50x100 feet, 20-foot posts and 10-foot basement. The foundation was of natural stone work, and therefore required but three outside walls for the basement. The three walls contain 400 perch of stone. The roof required 60,000 shingles, and the sides, 8,000 feet of siding, made of inch flooring. There are twenty-nine windows in the barn, which was surmounted by a cupola ornamented with weather vanes. It stabled thirty head of horses, 100 head of cattle, and in addition, held 200 tons of hay. The barn was erected at a cost of $5,000, and was built just 100 years after the Declaration of Independence. About eighty feet from the house was a never-failing spring of water. By means of hydraulic pressure, water was furnished from this spring to both house and barn.

As already stated, few men were better known in Washington County than Robert W. Griffith, the pioneer of 1848. He was industrious as the day was long, and in addition to his general farming, had made a specialty of stock-raising, which had been to him a source of considerable revenue. His grade of stock would compare favorably with that of any other farmer in Washington or adjoining counties. He had always been willing to lend a helping hand to every public enterprise, and in the construction of the railroads through his section of the county, had given much of his means. His home was always a hospitable one, himself and wife doing all in their power to render comfortable and happy those spending time beneath his roof. The poor, in him have alway four a friend. No man stood higher in the estimation of the people than did Robert W. Griffith.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Portrait and Biographical Album Washington County Iowa.
2. ↑ United States. 1850 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432).

   1850 US Census Image

3. ↑ United States. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication M653).

   1860 US Census

4. ↑ United States. 1870 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publications M593 and T132).

   1870 US Census Image

5. ↑ United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T9).

   1880 US Census

6. ↑ Iowa, United States. 1885 Iowa State Census. (FamilySearch Record Search).

   1885 Iowa State Census