The Genealogy Soap Opera

When you break through a genealogy "brick wall" the bricks sometimes fall all around, leaving a lot of clutter that has to be re-assembled to make some sense. For years we wondered about the parentage of our 3Gt Grandfather Jonathan Griffin, born in Connecticut and found in Bath/ Pocahontas County, Virginia (later to be West Virginia). I now am 90% sure that we have found his father, siblings, and many generations back. There is so much circumstantial evidence, but not yet a paper document that says, "Jonathan was the Son of Benoni! " Ready for the soap opera?

Benoni Griffin Jr., b. 1743 in Simsbury, CT, was the oldest son of Benoni Sr. and Mary DeLacy. Some say she was daughter of a prominent man who lived or traded in the West Indies.

Junior lived in Simsbury CT and married Martha Viets in 1762. They had three children: Martha Griffin b.1763; Benoni Griffin III, b. 1764; and Viets Griffin, b. 1768. Then Junior divorced her in 1773, because of her adultery with Bildad Eaton or Easton. Two of her children, Benoni III and Viets, moved to Vermont. We do not know if Martha remarried or where she or daughter, Martha lived after the divorce.

A couple of years later Benoni Jr. married for a 2nd time, possibly a Miss Seely in CT. (This info from a family record in a WVA book.) I believe they had two sons, Samuel Seely Griffin, 1776, and our ancestor, Jonathan Griffin, 1777. We do KNOW (through a land document) that Samuel Seely Griffin was son of Benoni. Jonathan's parentage is not recorded anywhere.

Family lore says the second wife [Ms. Seely] died and Benoni Jr. went to Virginia. At this point we do not know if the two boys, Samuel S. and Jonathan went with the father or stayed in CT. We do believe that Jonathan was educated in CT, and we know that Samuel S. became a minister, which would make me think they stayed in CT for their childhood and teen years to be educated.

Benoni Jr. must have married a third time, as we have a census and land records showing that he had at least 3 children born in VA.... Abraham, Mary, and Levi... with the youngest, Levi, born in Culpeper Co. VA, 1788 (Bible record.)

We then find the family in Western VA, Green Bank (telescope) area of Bath County, as early as 1791. Benoni has 220 acres patented there. By 1798, 1799, we find the two boys born in CT as achieving adult status of age 21 and listed in Bath County tax lists, along with Benoni. Benoni Jr.'s sister, Elizabeth and her husband, Timothy Holcombe, live in Bath Co. also, and are mentioned in court records along with Benoni. His brother, Abner, also has land and family in Bath County near Benoni and Holcombe.

By 1797, there is a marriage record for a Sarah Smith and Benoni Griffin, perhaps a 4th wife. He died by 1799, and Sarah Griffin paid the taxes.

The children are Samuel S., Jonathan (not proven), Abraham, Mary, and Levi. At Benoni's death, young Levi acts as executor and pays taxes for several years, even though he has gone to KY (War of 1812.) The children share 1/7 of the 220 acres owned by Benoni Griffin Jr.

The stories of each of these children of Benoni Jr., and his children in Vermont, are like the novels of the Western Migration of the United States. Maybe someday we'll write one.