Sybil (Tubbs) Griffin, b 1 Oct 1835

BATES, BLISS, HANER, HARRIS

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 11:30:01

Mrs. Sybil Griffin, a very intelligent lady with excellent business qualifications, owns and operates a good farm of 120 acres on section 33, Maquoketa Township, of which she has had the supervision since the death of her husband, the late Hiram Griffin, who departed this life at the homestead, on the 7th of December, 1870.

Mrs. Griffin was born near Glen Falls in the vicinity of Lake George, Warren Co., N.Y., Oct. 1, 1835, and spent her childhood days in that romantic region, receiving her education in the common schools. When a maiden of eighteen years she came to this county with her father in the fall of 1853, making the trip via the Erie canal to Buffalo, and from there by the Lakes to Chicago, thence by rail to Freeport, and from there here, where she lived until her marriage, Oct. 1, 1855.

Mr. Griffin was born on the 3rd of September, 1833, in Warren County, near Lake George, N.Y., and was the son of Isah Griffin, who was a native of Warren County, N.Y., and a lumberman and farmer combined until coming to Iowa about 1840. At Maquoketa he was first employed as a stage agent with headquarters at Cedar Rapids, but finally confined his attention to farming, which he prosecuted until his death, in February, 1860. He had married Miss Lucy Bates, a native of Vermont, who died in January, 1887, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Hiram was the youngest of his five children, and came to the West with his father when quite young, and, being a bright and ambitious boy, began driving stage with his father as soon as he could handle the reins, running between Davenport and Dubuque.

Before reaching his majority Mr. Griffin had purchased the farm now occupied by his widow, and the young people as soon as married took up their abode upon it. There were no improvements, and Mr. Griffin bent his energies to the cultivation of his land, and to bettering the condition of his homestead until he could do no more labor. Since his death Mrs. Griffin has, as far as possible, carried out the plans of her husband, and each year added something to the beauty and value of the property. She has had considerable fencing made, put up a house, barn-stable, etc., and devoted the land largely to the raising of grain. Mr. Griffin was quite prominent in political affairs, serving on the Grand Jury, on the School Board, and as Township Treasurer. In politics he was an uncompromising Democrat.

To Mr. and Mrs. Griffin there were born six children; Merritt B., the eldest, is unmarried; Melissa L. is engaged as a dressmaker in Maquoketa; Seneca I. is at Goodenow, Ill.; Nora C. became the wife of Dillon Bliss, is the mother of five children - Oma, Earl, Eda, an infant, and one deceased, and resides in Maquoketa; Hattie L. married Mr. Edward Haner, a farmer of Maquoketa Township, and they have one child, a daughter - Zora; Harry M. remains at the home farm. The residence and its surroundings form a picture of quiet country life suggestive of peace and plenty, and most delightful to comtemplate.

Mrs. Griffin is the daughter of Seneca and Louisa (Harris) Tubbs, both of whom like their daughter, were natives of Warren County, N.Y., and born in the vicinity of Lake George. The paternal grandfather, Jeremiah Tubbs, spent his entire life in the Empire State, where he was born. Seneca Tubbs followed farming on his own land until the fall of 1853, then came with his family to Iowa, and locating in Maquoketa Township operated a saw mill one year. He then purchased land, and commenced breaking it with ox-teams. He was prospered, and in due time was the owner of 300 acres. He lived to attain the age of nearly seventy-four years, and died on the 7th of November, 1885. The mother survived her husband less than a year, dying at the homestead on the 7th of September following, at the age of seventy. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Griffin was William B. Harris, likewise a native of Warren County, N.Y., and a soldier in the War of 1812. He was a cooper by trade, which he followed in connection with farming, and died in his native state. The great-grandfather, Moses Harris, distinguished himself as a patriot in the War of the Revolution, and later prosecuted farming in Warren County, N.Y. It will thus be seen that the two families were represented in that region for three generations. The mother's grandfather, the Rev. Mr. Bates, officiated as a minister in the Baptist Church, and also owned a farm. To Seneca and Louisa (Harris) Tubbs, the parents of Mrs. Griffin, there were born five children, namely; Sybil the eldest; Morgan, now a resident of Humboldt County, Iowa; Charity and Harris, who live in Maquoketa Township; and Clark, who died when twenty-eight years old.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)