- John Smith Griffin
Infobox Politician
name = John Smith Griffin
imagesize = 100px
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office = Participant at theChampoeg Meetings
termstart = 1843
termend = 1843
constituency =Tualatin Plains
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appointer =
predecessor =
successor =
office2 =
constituency2 =
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birthdate = Birth date|1807|11|23|mf=y
birthplace =Castleton, Vermont
deathdate = death date and age|1899|01|5|1807|11|23
deathplace =Oregon
party =
spouse = Desire C. Smith (d. 1884)
Lina Harvey KenyonJohn Smith Griffin (1807-1899) was an American missionary in
Oregon Country that participated at theChampoeg Meetings that created theProvisional Government of Oregon in 1843. In Oregon he served as a tutor atFort Vancouver and later organized a church on the Tualatin Plains in theTualatin Valley .Early life
On
November 23 1807 , John Griffin was born inCastleton, Vermont , to parents who immigrated from England.Corning, Howard M. (1956). "Dictionary of Oregon History". Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 104.] InNew England andOhio he received an education in both the schools and seminaries. Griffin was then ordained a minister and sent toLitchfield County, Connecticut . His church, the Congregational Church, then sent him as an unaffiliated missionary to Oregon Country to convert Native Americans, where he arrived in 1839.Oregon
Griffin arrived in Oregon and stayed at the
Whitman Mission the first year before moving to theHudson’s Bay Company ’sFort Vancouver on theColumbia River . Staying until 1841, he tutored children of the fort and served as the post’s chaplain. In 1841 he settled on the Tualatin Plains in what is nowWashington County, Oregon where he would establish a church onJune 26 1842 .Buan, Carolyn M. (1999). "This Far-Off Sunset Land: A Pictorial History of Washington County, Oregon". Donning Company Publishers.] He had planned on setting up a mission on the east side of theCascade Mountains , but did not receive funds from the missionary board and instead set up a farm in the Tualatin Valley. From the time he settled there until 1848 Griffin kept a journal of the arrivals of settlers on the Tualatin Plains. The church was the first church on the plains there, established at East Tuality Plains. [http://www.washingtoncountymuseum.org/localhistory/featured-tuality.php West Tuality (Forest Grove).] Washington County Museum. Retrieved onFebruary 18 2008 .] Members of the church includedJoseph L. Meek ,George W. Ebbert ,Joseph Gale , and Charles Richard McKay among others. Griffin continued as minister of the congregation until the parishioners removed him in 1845 due to his rigid beliefs, replacing him withHarvey L. Clark . While leaving on the plains Griffin set up his own personal jail in order to detain Native Americans who would steal from him.In 1843 Griffin attended the meetings at Champoeg on the
Willamette River where he opposed the type of resolution introduced at the May third meeting. Though opposing the type of measure, he did vote for the creation of the Provisional Government in what was a 52 to 50 vote in favor of the formation of a government.cite book
last = Dobbs
first = Caroline C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Men of Champoeg: A Record of the Lives of the Pioneers Who Founded the Oregon Government
work =
publisher = Metropolitan Press
year = 1932
doi =
id = ] This temporary government continued until the government of theOregon Territory arrived in 1849 once the region south of the 49th degree of latitude became part of theUnited States . In 1848 Griffin took possession of Mission Press and began printing The Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist. Griffin invested in the Portland & Valley Plank Road Company in 1851 that began building a plank road fromPortland, Oregon , to the Tualatin Valley.Family
In 1839, Griffin was married in
Saint Louis, Missouri , to Desiré C. Smith, who would die in 1884. He then married Lina Harvey Kenyon inThree Oaks, Michigan . Griffin’s sister Rachel Johonet Griffin married fellow missionaryHenry H. Spalding as Spalding’s second wife. [ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=81&GScid=38908&GRid=20493577& Rachel Johonet Griffin Spalding.] Find-A-Grave. Retrieved onFebruary 18 2008 .] John Smith Griffin died onJanuary 5 1899 and is buried atHillsboro Pioneer Cemetery inHillsboro, Oregon . [ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Griffin&GScid=38908&GRid=20493427& Rev John Smith Griffin.] Find-A-Grave. Retrieved onFebruary 18 2008 .]References
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