The Griffis family is merely a starting point. My family in the United States starts in the colonial era in the New York state area and includes other ‘family branches’ of the tree.
You can also find additional information on other surnames that may be found in future stories.
You can also view a detailed list of family surnames in my Griffis family tree.
The photograph at the top of the home page is an undated photograph taken in the 1870’s of a glove factory in Gloversville, NY. On back of the photo is an hand writtern inscription: “Littauer’s Paying Off Room, the shop floor”, glove making. (date unknown). John Wolfgang Sperber is in the center with arms folded. John Sperber is a descendant from the maternal side of Harold Griffis.
The second photograph that appears with the ‘Acknowledgements’ page was taken on July 14 1935, entitled “Griffis Reunion”. It includes William Griffis and his wife Charlotte Weatherbee Griffis and their descendants at the Griffis farm in Mayfield, New York.
The collage of photographs at the top of this page contain left to right: a formal portrait of Squire Dutcher (Evelyn Dutcher’s father), a photograph of Evelyn Dutcher Griffis as a young child, Charles Knopf (married to Rose Sperber), Littauer’s Paying Off Room, Charles Griffis (father of Harold Griffis) and young Harold, Fannie Griffis (Charles’ sister) and Charlotte Weatherbee Griffis (mother of George Griffis – Harold’s step father who actually was his 2nd cousin once removed, that will be a future story).
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge Jane Scribner McCrary’s influence on my creating this blog. Through our mutual passion for family research, we discovered through our efforts to document facts related to the Hart family that we are distant cousins. Jane is resolute in her efforts to document family discoveries. I have learned and continue to learn the art of patience, disciplined research, and creativity through her efforts.
I also wish to thank Susan Montagne who provided documents that allowed me to push the ‘wall’ back a generation on the family surname and discover a host of Griffis(th)(es) family members in Canada and the United States! I did not realize there were so many!
I also am grateful for my grandparents and parents for keeping photographs, yearbooks, and other family documents in their possession. All of these documents and artifacts become building blocks to create narratives of our family history.