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REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER TIMOTHY SCRUGGS



BURIAL SITE:

BURIAL SITE: Griffin Cemetery, 4 miles south of Battlefield, Christian County, Missouri.

Directions:

From the intersection of Kansas Expressway (13) and the James River Freeway (60/160) in Springfield, go west on the James River Freeway for 2.7 miles until you reach FF. At FF turn left (south) 2 miles to the town of Battlefield.

From Battlefield continue going south on FF for 2 more miles to the Greene/Christian County line. The road will curve right (west) and become FR 194/Blue Springs in Christian County. Go 3/10 mile until you reach the first road going south. This is Old Mill. Go left (south). You will pass the Glidewell Cemetery on the left after 2/10 mile. Keep going for 1 mile until the road comes to a "T." Turn left (east) on the T (FF-4). After 1/10 mile you will pass the Manley Cemetery on the right. Keep going for 1/10 more miles to where the road turns south and becomes Nelson Mill. After going 3/10 mile south you will cross a one-lane low water bridge that crosses the James River. After crossing the bridge, go 2/10 more mile to River Bluff Drive on the right. Here is the entrance to River Bluff Estates, a private housing development.

Because there is a locked security gate at the entrance to River Bluff Estates, you will need to park your car alongside Nelson Mill road and walk into the River Bluff Estates.

The Griffin Cemetery is on the right in a grove of trees and brush just behind the first house in the housing development.

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Timothy Scruggs was born in 1761 or 1762 in Virginia. He enlisted into the Revolutionary War in 1779 and served to the end of the war. He first served for 18 months under General Nathaniel Greene. He enlisted again in 1780 and served with the 1st Continental Dragoons in the North Carolina Militia. He served as a private under Capt. John Randolph of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee's Legion and was discharged at Charleston, South Carolina.

After the war he married Mary Welch and is thought to have moved to the part of western Virginia that later became part of Tennessee. He lived in Buckingham and Nelson counties of Virginia. Timothy and Mary had five known children: David, Daniel, William, Timothy, and Gustavus.

Timothy is remembered for claiming Bounty Land as the only heir of his father and his brother, who both died at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary conflict. There were other heirs, and they took the case to Chancery Court in Richmond, Virginia and won.

Timothy Scruggs applied for a pension for his own Revolutionary War service on July 29, 1831 while a resident of Buckingham County, Virginia, at the age of 69 years.

He came to Missouri probably in the spring of 1843, coming first to Calloway County. On April 15, 1843 he appeared before a justice of the peace in Calloway County, asking that his Revolutionary War pension be transferred from Virginia to Missouri, as he was now a resident of the state of Missouri and intended to remain. He listed his reasons for moving that his children, who had formerly lived with him and who had taken care of him in his old age, were disposed and had moved to Missouri to better their condition. He also removed with them in order to be protected and cared for by them in his old age.

Within a few years, he moved on to Campbell Township of Greene County. He lived to be 91 years of age. (Although in the 1850 Census of Greene County, his age is listed as 100 years. He was living with a son Timothy and family.)

When Timothy Scruggs died on August 29, 1853, he was buried at the Griffin Cemetery, at the top of a hillside overlooking a tributary of the James River which he loved. He was either 91 or 92 years of age. His grave is likely the oldest one in the cemetery. Among others buried at the cemetery are John and Mary (Scruggs) Griffin. Mary Griffin was a great-niece of Timothy Scruggs. That is how the cemetery came to be called the Griffin Cemetery.

In 1911 the Rachel Donelson Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, ordered a government stone and had it erected at his burial site. The unveiling service was held on Tuesday, October 31, 1911, at 2:30 p.m. Ozark Mountain Chapter SAR placed an SAR insignia marker and held a dedication service on November 19, 1994.


(c) Copyright 1998-2005.

Last updated May 15, 2005.


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