JOSEPH J. GRIGG 1839-1926

GRIGG, NICHOLS, COKER, ELLIOTT

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 2/7/2019 at 21:45:22

JOSEPH J. GRIGG a contractor and builder of Dubuque is a native of England and was born in the Parish of Duloe Cornwall England on the 8th of February 1839. His father Robert Grigg was also a native of that country and there spent his entire life his death occurring at the ripe old age of seventy seven years. By occupation he was a farmer and followed that pursuit as a means of support for himself and family. His wife who in her maidenhood was Ann Nichols was also born in Cornwall Under the parental roof Mr. Grigg of this sketch was reared to manhood spending the days of his boyhood in the usual manner of farmer lads. The public schools afforded him his educational privileges but his advantages in that direction were somewhat meager as during the greater part of the time his labors were needed in the fields where he began work as soon as old enough to follow the plow. At the age of fifteen he began serving an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade his term covering five and a half years. On the expiration of that period he went to Plymouth England where he engaged in carpentering for two years and then removed to London where he spent six years as a carpenter employed by various parties in that city. One of the most important events in the life of Mr. Grigg occurred in September 1865 at which time he crossed the Atlantic to America. He has never had occasion to regret the step then taken for he has here met with success gaining both a comfortable competency and a pleasant home together with many friends and agreeable acquaintances. On coming to America he made his way at once to Dubuque where he worked for two years in the employ of others he then began contracting and building on his own account and has since carried on operations along that line. That his work has found favor with the public is shown by the liberal patronage which he now receives. He has erected some of the most important structures in the city including the Klein & Walker Block, the Conchar residence, the Schriber & Conchar Works, the Iowa Block the Boston Dry Goods, Hadlock the building owned by Dr. Peterson and many other of the fine residences and buildings of Dubuque together with the seminary at Epworth Iowa. Mr, Grigg has been connected with other enterprises including the Dubuque Pressed Brick Company of which he was one of the organizers and is now a stockholder. He is one of the organizers and stockholders of the Key City Fire Insurance Company and in politics he is a supporter of the Republican party while socially he is a member of Harmony Lodge IOOF and the Iowa Legion of Honor. Both he and his wife hold membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Grigg was in her maidenhood Miss Charlotte Coker a native of Plymouth England. Their marriage was celebrated December 27, 1864 and has been blessed with six children two sous and four daughters namely Charlotte, Joseph, Matilda M, William H, deceased Maud N. and Georgia. They reside at No. 165 Bennett Street. Matilda M. married Byron Elliott August 1, 1894 and now resides at No. 60 Cleveland Avenue Dubuque.
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THE HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY IOWA
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