Clarence Griggs
Source: Biographical & Genealogical Record of LaSalle Co., Ill - 1900
[Page 21] CLARENCE GRIGGS - Ottawa lawyer. The youngest son of Edward Young GRIGGS who traced his ancestry back to Dr. William GRIGGS, a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, who died in 1698. His will, approved the 18th day July 1698 mentions a son Jacob, who resided at Salem and in Beverly, Mass. Among the children of Jacob’s family was Isaac, who was born June 27, 1699 and died in New Haven, Conn., January 27, 1768. His son, Solomon, who lived in Waterbury, Conn., married Elizabeth GRIDLEY on February 19, 1778. He was in the Revolutionary War. One of his children was Ebenezer GRIGGS, born September 26, 1789, and lived at Waterbury and Southington, Conn., and he married Hepzibah BARTHOLOMEW in 1811, and died July 4, 1823 at Cincinnati, Ohio. He was grandfather of our subject. His wife was descended from William BARTHOLOMEW, who was born in Ispswich, Massachusetts in 1640 and died in 1697, leaving a son Andrew, who was born December 11, 1670 and died in Wallingford, Conn., in 1752. He was father of William BARTHOLOMEW, who was born February 2, 1699, and married in New Haven, Conn., on January 25, 1721 and died in Northford, Conn. His son Seth, was born March 6, 1729 and died in Waterbury, Conn. One of his children was Osea, who was born November 7, 1755 and married in Waterbury, Conn., November 16, 1778 and his daughter, Hepzibah was mother of Edward Young GRIGGS. She was born September 6, 1798 and died in Cincinnati, Ohio in summer of 1823. Edward Y., father of our subject, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, October 24, 1818. He married Mary Philbene BARNETT, August 5, 1847. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky, May 9, 1827. The ancestry of the BARNETT family is traced back to John BARNETT, who was born near Londonderry, Ireland in 1678, and came with family to Pennsylvania, prior to 1730, at Lancaster, now Hanover County, and he died September, 1734 and among his children was John BARNETT, who was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1705 and died in Hanover, Penn. In 1738. His son, Joseph, was born in County Derry in 1727 and died in Hanover in 1788, leaving among other children, a son James, born 1756 and died 1805. The last named was the father of Allen BARNETT, who was born in 1796 and was married February 9, 1826, to Elizabeth SHAFFER. His death occurred September 10, 1879 and his wife passed away December 20, 1841. Among the children who survived them was Mrs. E. Y. GRIGGS. On April 17, 1849, the parents of our subject left Springfield, Ohio, and came by canal boat, to Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. GRIGGS worked for J. G. NATTINGER until 1850, then opened a drug store and book store. Clarence GRIGGS, youngest son of Edward Young GRIGGS was born January 2, 1857, and attended school in Ottawa, then graduated in 1878 from University of Michigan. He opened a law office in 1881. Mr. GRIGGS, on September 6, 1883, married Lura NASH, eldest daughter of John F. NASH, who traces his ancestry back to Thomas NASH, who came from Lancashire, England, to America, landing at Boston, July 26, 1637. He died at New Haven, Conn., May 12, 1658. His youngest son, Timothy NASH, was born in 1626 and died March 13, 1699 at Hadley, Mass. His son, Thomas, was born at Hartford, Conn., in 1661 and died January 8, 1727. This Thomas NASH, had a son, Thomas, who was born February 26, 1692 and died March 12, 1783. John NASH, son of Thomas NASH Jr., was born October 20, 1736 in Williamsburg, Mass., and had a son, John Jr., who was born November 12, 1764 and died October 17, 1824. Among his sons was Almerin NASH, who was born February 25, 1801 and married Mandana WARNER, a descendent of Jonathan WARNER, a captain in the Revolutionary War. They moved to Granville, Putnam County, Illinois in 1840, where Mrs. NASH died January 25, 1844. John Fiske NASH, son of Almerin, was born in Williamsburg, Mass., December 16, 1824 and came west with his parents, and taught school in Putnam County, and in 1847 came to Ottawa and became a lawyer in 1849. In 1865 became bank cashier. On November 26, 1849 he married Lura M. PENNELL, and her ancestry can be traced back to John PENNELL, who in 1728, left home in Yorkshire, England and came to America, and located at Colerain, Mass. Among his sons was John PENNELL, who was in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1721 and died in Halifax, Vermont, October 21, 1797. Among his sons was John PENNELL, who was born in 1758 and died June 23, 1793. He was father of John PENNELL Jr. whose birth occurred in Halifax, Vermont, April 8, 1787 and died in Granville, Illinois, June 15, 1858. His wife’s maiden name was Betsey GAINES, and with their family they came to Illinois, bringing with them their daughter, Lura M., who became wife of John Fiske NASH. She was born in Heath, Massachusetts, January 7, 1826 and spent her girlhood in Bennington, Vermont. Among her children was Lura NASH GRIGGS, wife of our subject. Mrs. GRIGGS was born August 27, 1858 and attended Ottawa schools and Mt. Vernon Seminary at Washington D. C. Mr. & Mrs. GRIGGS had only one child, Lura Florence who was born May 27, 1890.
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