DAVID A. GRIGGS

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 807

DAVID A. GRIGGS, deceased. During life David A. Griggs was one of the leading and highly-respected citizens of Chaplin, Windham county. His ancestry can be traced back as far as that of any family in Windham county, and his maternal grandsire was a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary struggle.

Mr. Griggs was born June 23, 1811, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Hewitt) Griggs, a grandson of John and Ruth (Ashley) Griggs, and of Robert Hewitt, and a great-grandson of Nathan Griggs. A family of eleven children was born to his parents.

David A. Griggs was born in Hampton, Conn., and during his minority lived in Hampton, Brooklyn and Pomfret, in Abington Society. At the age of seventeen he united with the Congregational Church at the latter place, but at the age of twenty removed to Chaplin and very soon became associated with the church in that place. From that time he began teaching school during the winter seasons and worked during the summers on his father’s farm, until 1837, when he purchased a saw mill, grist mill and shingle mill, which he operated for over a half century.

On retiring from active work, Mr. Griggs removed in 1900 to Chaplin Center, but his residence there was short, his death occurring Nov. 21, 1900. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but from the organization of the Republican party was ever an ardent and active member. In 1841 he was chosen justice of the peace, which office he held until 1881, a period of forty years, when age set a limit to further service. In 1854 Mr. Griggs was elected a member of the Connecticut Legislature, where his services were of the greatest value to his constituency. Frequently he was chosen to the position of selectman of the town and was especially earnest in the support of the government during the Civil war and was zealous in his efforts to furnish the quota of his town in that eventful crisis. He was a very patriotic man and a personal friend of Gov. Buckingham. He raised many substitutes.

Mr. Griggs was married first March 1, 1837, to Damaris C., a daughter of Chester Storrs, of Chaplin, who died in 1854, leaving two surviving children. Clark Hewitt, born Jan. 27, 1839, was graduated from Amherst College, in 1863, entered government service as hospital steward soon after, underwent a varied experience and later was discharged on account of illness. For a time he engaged in teaching, then entered the Patent office in Washington city as a clerk, and by his ability won rapid preferment. At the date of his death, Nov. 11, 1872, he was filling the responsible position of chief examiner in that bureau. He married Mrs. S. S. Morris, a widow with two children, Emma and Ballard, and three daughters were born to him: Kate P., who married William Robertson, the well-known trick bicycle rider, who is now engaged in the cycle business in Washington, D. C., and who had two children, Hewitt G., and William Wallace; Dora, the wife of Ernest I. Atwood, a traveling salesman who resides at Springfield, Mass., their one child being Elise Lincoln; and Elise Catharine Griggs, who died in
childhood. The second child of Mr. Griggs’s first marriage was Catherine Ferdon, born June 2, 1847, and the wife of Edgar S. Lincoln, whose biography appears on another page of this volume. The second marriage of Mr. Griggs was to Miss Sarah L. Barrows in 1855, who was a daughter of Phares Barrows, a resident of Mansfield. One child was born of this union, but it did nor survive infancy. Mrs. Griggs is still residing in Chaplin, esteemed and highly respected.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel – great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct.