Hon. Isaac Griffin and Mary Morris

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Husband Hon. Isaac Griffin ¹

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           Born:  - Kent Co, DE
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       Marriage: 

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Wife Mary Morris ²

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           Born: 
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Children

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1 F Mary Griffin ³

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         Spouse: Andrew Oliphant (      -      ) 4

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2 M James Morris Griffin ⁵

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           Born: 
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           Died: 18 Dec 1812 6
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3 M Isaac Griffin ⁵

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4 F Ann Griffin ⁵

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         Spouse: James Witter Nicholson (1773-1851) 7

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5 M Joseph E. Griffin ⁵

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           Born: 
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           Died: Aft 1882
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General Notes: Husband - Hon. Isaac Griffin

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He was one of the pioneer settlers, as well as one of the most prominent men in public and private life for many years in what is now Nicholson township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, owning a large amount of land there. He was a native of Delaware, being born and reared in Kent County in that state. Although wild and reckless while young, he won the heart of a young Quakeress, named Mary Morris, whose family were strict Friends. She was locked in a room upstairs to prevent her union with the young worldling. He found out the situation, obtained a ladder, put it to the window, and she climbed down and eloped with him. The story of this romance was handed down in the neighborhood for many years. A meeting of the Friends was called, when she was notified that "If thee will say thee is sorry that thee married Isaac, thee can stay in." But as she would not say it she was expelled from their membership.
Isaac Griffin was a captain in the war of the Revolution, and had a great deal of trouble with the Tories, who were very numerous in Delaware. He was mainly instrumental in capturing their leader, Chany Clow, who was later executed. When Clow came home from the Tory camp, Capt. Griffin with his company, and accompanied by Maj. Moore, surrounded the house. It was dark, and in attempting to reach the door Griffin stumbled and fell. Maj. Moore got ahead of him and was shot dead by Clow, who said he was sorry it was not Griffin. The adherents of Clow hated Griffin intensely, and after the close of the war his personal safety was endangered. This in part caused him to change his residence. He bought his first lands in Springhill (later Nicholson) township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, of the Hardins, but the Indians lingering near, his wife feared to move there. He then traded his Western lands to his relative, Charles Griffin, for a farm in Delaware, where the town of Clayton later stood. His wife having lost her health, and his enemies constantly harassing him, she finally consented to go to western Pennsylvania. He again visited the west and bought land of the Evans'. He afterwards bought several farms, and became one of the most successful stock-raisers on the Monongahela.
Mr. Griffin owned a few negro slaves that he brought with him to Fayette County. Soon after he became a citizen of Pennsylvania the Governor appointed him justice of the peace, in 1794, in which capacity he served several years. In 1807 he was elected to the Legislature, and re-elected until he served four successive terms. In 1809 there were six candidates for the office, but Mr. Griffin ran far ahead of all the others, receiving the entire vote of Fayette County with the exception of about two hundred votes. Although living in the opposite end of Fayette County from Mr. John Smilie, Mr. Griffin was appointed by that gentleman one of the executors of his will, and at his death in 1812 Mr. Griffin was elected to Congress as Mr. Smilie's successor. It is related of him that upon being notified of his election he brought cloth of home manufacture to Thomas Williams, Esq., of New Geneva, for the purpose of having him make him a suit of clothes. He informed the persons present that "he raised the sheep, carded, spun, dyed, and wove the cloth on his own premises." At a mass-meeting in Uniontown he was nominated for Congress by acclamation. At the election his competitor was Gen. Thomas Meason, a prominent member of the Fayette County bar. He defeated Gen. Meason by a large majority, and was once re-elected without opposition. He served in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses. In 1812 a gloom was cast over him by the death of his favorite son, James Morris Griffin, who was killed in battle in the war with England.
Mr. Griffin voted to sustain Mr. Madison in all his war measures, and ever enjoyed his confidence, as well as that of his constituents. For no vote that he gave during the ten years that he was in public life was he censured, but for a vote that he did not give he was blamed. It was said that when the vote was taken to increase the pay of members of Congress he was not in the house. He felt stung by the comments of a writer in his home paper, and would not allow his name used as a candidate for re-election.
In 1824, Mr. Griffin was the Crawford electoral candidate for the Fayette district, but was of course defeated, as the state went largely for Jackson. Mr. Griffin could never be induced to make a public speech, but his conversational powers were of a high order, and these made him a general favorite. The ablest men of the nation would with pleasure listen to hear him talk. His personal dislike to Gen. Jackson was caused by the hanging of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister in Florida after they were cleared by court-martial. This opposition to Gen. Jackson caused Mr. Griffin to lose his great popularity among his neighbors, where Jackson was a great favorite.
Mr. Griffin had features of the Roman type, with black hair and deep-blue eyes. In height he was six feet two inches, and had a powerful physical organization. Although he was modest and retiring he possessed a chivalric nature, and he was not slow to resent an insult. While in Congress he had a difficulty with a member from South Carolina, which would have been a serious affair but for the timely interference of other members. At a public dinner in Uniontown an Englishman, who was an officer of the old Uniontown Bank, spoke of Mrs. Madison in the most disgraceful terms, and for this act of ill-breeding Mr. Griffin knocked him down at the table, an act for which he was greatly applauded at the time.
Soon after he settled in his new home in Fayette County his wife joined Father Woodbridge's Seventh-Day Baptist Church, and remained a consistent member until her death, which occurred in her eightieth year, although she had been an invalid for fifty years. Her husband, although not a member, gave his support to the regular Baptist Church. This caused them to have a Sabbath and a Sunday in their house for about forty years, but this occasioned no jar, for everything moved on smoothly, and they traveled life's pathway harmoniously, although differing widely in most things. After Mr. Griffin retired from public life he remained on his farm until his death, at the age of seventy years, occasioned by a fall from a loaded wagon. The Rev. John Patton, of the Baptist Church, who performed the funeral service, said, "Mr. Griffin did not attach himself to the church for reasons best known to himself, but he was an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile." His wife survived him several years. They had ten children, four sons and six daughters, all of whom survived their father except the sons James M. and Isaac.

1 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 698, 766.

2 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 698.

3 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 699, 766.

4 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 583, 699, 766.

5 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 699.

6 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 186, 699.

7 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 696, 699.