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John Griffith (ca. 1748 - 1840)
John Griffith was born about January 8, 1748 near Menallen Township, York County, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas and Eve (Faulkner) Griffith.
John grew up on a farm, the third of ten children. His father was a Welsh immigrant and his mother a native of Pennsylvania. His parents were Quakers, and John grew up in the Quaker faith. They attended the Quaker Monthly Meeting at Menallen Township, and later John became a member of the Warrington Monthly Meeting House.
Around 1769 John's father died. He had been suffering from alcoholism for a number of years.
About April 17, 1770 John married Alice Faulkner in York County. John and Alice were first cousins; Alice was the daughter of his uncle and aunt, Jesse and Martha (Smith) Faulkner. The marriage was administered by a priest, presumably an Episcopal priest. John and Alice were complained of and then disowned by the Warrington Monthly meeting for marrying outside of their faith and for marriage among first cousins. John relinquished his Quaker faith.
John and Alice were the parents of two daughters: Alice Griffith and Susannah Griffith.
Alice was born about 1771, and Susannah was born about 1772. It is thought that Alice died after giving birth to Susannah.
John was left with two infant daughters who needed a mother, and he wasted no time in remarrying. On February 6, 1773 he remarried to Lydia Wilson in York County. Lydia was born on April 30, 1747 in Pennsylvania, the daughter of George and Ruth (Douglas-Bieler) Wilson. Her parents were Scots-Irish immigrants and Quakers. Lydia and John were married by a priest, and she was disowned by Warrington Monthly Meeting. He of course, had already been "kicked out."
John and Lydia were the parents of six children: Sarah (Griffith) Blackburn, Mary (Griffith) Sills, John Griffith Jr., Elizabeth Griffith, William Griffith, and Ruth (Griffith) Clark.
During the American Revolution, John served in the 6th Battalion of the York County Militia under 2nd Lieutenant Isaac McKissick as a private.
Sometime in the 1780s, or perhaps a little before or after, John and his family journeyed 100 miles due West to Bedford County, Pennsylvania. They made the trip by covered wagon, and they were probably accompanied by a number of John's brothers and sisters.
In 1796 John bought land near Dunnings Creek in St. Clair Township, Bedford County. He and his family settled there. By 1800 most of his brothers and sisters and his mother, Eve, now resided in Bedford County.
John's daughters Alice, Susannah, and Elizabeth never married and resided on his farm. In 1805 Alice gave birth to a son out of wedlock, named Thomas Griffith, and in 1807 Susannah gave birth to a son out of wedlock, named Jesse Griffith. Thomas and Jesse grew up like brothers on their grandfather's farm. It is not known who their natural fathers were.
Sarah, John, and William married and raised families in Bedford County. Mary and her husband and children moved West, settling in Indiana. Ruth and her husband also headed West, and settled in Ohio.
In 1811 he aged mother Eve died in Bedford County at the advanced age of about 89.
Lydia died sometime between 1820 and 1830.
John's son William erected a tannery on their land in 1833, which he ran until his death in 1845. His son Joseph and grandson John continued to run the tannery, rebuilding it in 1864 after a fire destroyed it.
John died on December 11, 1840 at his home. He was 92 years old. His is buried at Friends Burial Ground in Spring Meadow, East St. Clair Township, Bedford County. John's burial marker reads: JOHN GRIFFITH /1840. This marker is a replacement for an earlier marker that reads: JOHN GRFth 1840.
In 2002, John Griffith's descendants held the first annual John Griffith family reunion in Bedford, PA, and that tradition has been continued every year since.
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