The Lost Son of Daniel Griffin

In early records Daniel Almond Griffin is listed simply as Dan. The record of his baptism in Killingworth, his name in his fathers will both refer to him as Dan. Dan was the baby brother.  He moved with his father and two older brothers to Essex, Vermont sometime in the 1790s. His early years were spent on the farm with his brother John and their father. His marriage to Catherine Meriam was the 2^nd marriage recorded in Essex, December 21, 1800. The couple then moved some 5 miles north and made their home in Westford. Early genealogists identified their family as Julia, Joel, Olive and their oldest son Almon Daniel Griffin who town histories indicate carried his fathers name he went by Almon, his father Daniel or simple Dan. The marriage record spells Catherine’s name as Meriam.  This spelling is used in the middle name given their daughter. In almost every other record the names is spelled Merriam. She is almost always referred to as Caty instead of the full Catherine. With the advent of computer files it was discovered that there were some discrepancies in the birth date for Dan’s daughter Julia. Some listed it as 1809 others 1813. Then we found a birth and then a death record for a Julia who died March 31, 1813 age 4 years. With numerous records for a daughter Julia alive well past the age of four it became apparent that their existed two Julia’s. So last year we conducted the temple work for the first Julia. On a Wednesday I received a call from Sue describing her experience in the Temple performing the work for Julia. An experience of joy as a lost daughter was united with her family. That following Saturday, during a discussion on family history, Royce posed the challenge that we needed to find the burial place for Harrison Griffin. Harrison’s life is quite well documented in Essex. So why were we unable to locate him in the local cemeteries along with the rest of our families? Knowing that I had reviewed the Essex cemeteries in detail I was not sure where I could turn. I took out one of my old research books and began a review of my past research. In doing so I came across a library reference to a supposed master file on Chittenden County cemeteries.  The following Wednesday while in the genealogy Library I pulled the film and reviewed its content. It was indeed somewhat of a master file. It was organized by town with each town usually having multiple cemeteries. There was no master index so a review involved going through the file page by page. I skipped along passing by towns that had no history of Griffins having living there. I was in fact trying to find Colchester. The records were obviously a work of love performed by some very dedicated people. Some were typed and all were well organized. Many were hand written and those records often included a hand drawn picture of unique headstones. As I was moving along I came to Westford.  I casually thought I wonder if they have a record of Dan and Caty. In a delightful moment of discovery I found recorded in a hand written document. “In memory of Catherine consort of Dan Griffin who departed this life Sept. 11^th 1821 aged 38 years and 5 months”. Included was a picture of the headstone. As I prepared to move on I noted in the space below a hand drawn picture of a little double headstone. The first name listed was “Julia dau of Dan & Caty Griffin died March 31, 1813 aged 4 years.” But to my total surprise on the 2^nd half was written “Charles son of Dan & Cathy Griffin died March 30, 1813 aged 2 years”. This single entry represents the only record of the life of Charles Griffin, a child who's  existence up to this point was unknown to us. The date of this discovery was one week from the time that Julia had crossed the veil. Brother and sister died one day apart. Julia having been separated from her family since the 1930s once empowered had reached across the veil to bring her brother into the family circle. I am sure that Charles's reunion with his family was a joyous occasion.