HISTORY OF

GEORGE ANDREW GRIFFETH JR.

            George Andrew Griffeth Jr. was the first child of George Andrew Griffeth Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Thurman.  He was born September 20, 1870 at Hyde Park, Utah in what was called the ‘adobe house’ which was located just west of Grandfather Patison Delos Griffeth’s home.  It was a small house but a very clean and happy home.

            The morning after his birth his father yelled to one of the neighbors, “We have a baby boy!”  The neighbor later said, “I imagine that the whole town heard him but I suppose he can be excused because he was only 21 years old!”

            George was blessed on November 30, 1870 by his grandfather James Perkes.  He was baptized on September 20, 1878 by his uncle, Edward M. Thurman and confirmed on September 22, 1878 by George Seamons.

George was a tall, slender, rather delicate boy with blue eyes and reddish-blond hair.  Although he was not too robust he was full of life and always enjoyed a joke on someone.  At one time he and another boy left the school room quickly and hurridly had the door tied so that the other pupils and teacher could not get out without crawling through a window.

“I remember when he took me for a ride on a hand sleigh and let the old dog, Blooch, grab the rope and run away with the sleigh and passenger while he stood and laughed.  I also remember another time when he came into the granary and found me playing in a deep bin.  He put the trap door down, making it dark for me, and I thought I was smothering to death.  Another time he teased my pet lamb until it was very angry and then he took me and stood me in front of the lamb.  I was wearing a pair of Mother’s shoes while mine were being repaired and I didn’t have time to get away before the lamb struck me and took me riding along ‘belly-boost’ on his back.  George and Irene sat on the porch and laughed until they were nearly sick.  I felt better when father came home and said they were foolish to do such a thing and that the child could have been killed.”

At one time a fine young man by the name of Clarence Chadwick came to see Irene and when he stepped into the room George looked frightened and ran behind Mother, peeking out at one side and then the other.  When she finally got away from him he ran over and began to crawl under a lounge, kicking as if he were nearly frightened to death.  The poor fellow, Mr. Chadwick, didn’t know whether to sit down or turn and go out.

When George was a very young man he learned to play the banjo.  A man by the name of John Lollet used to bring his fiddle down to our home and have George play with him.  Grandfather Griffeth, Father and George played for dances all over the valley.  Often George would fall asleep and go right on playing.  He played the violin a little and the guitar real well.

He always made friends real easy.  He also had a way of not giving offense even in giving correction.  He was well thought of by the people that knew him.  He was kind, mild-tempered and honest.

He went to work for John Follet on the railroad on the west side of the valley when he was just a boy.  He sheared sheep out in Lost River country and in 1890 he started to work for old Brother Merrill in the first flour mill at Richmond, Utah.  He then helped Uncle Parley Merrill break up land and helped with the planting and harvesting of the crops, working there for several years.

He enjoyed dancing, singing in a glee club and sleighing.  He had lively horses and two strings of Swedish Bells.  He liked to take a sleighfull of young people and then race with other sleighs.  He used to whirl the sleigh in front of the Fairview store.  Sometimes the horses would hardly move except to step sidewise while the sleigh would be flying in a circle behind them.  Sometimes the sleigh would even leave the ground.

He usually dated all the school teachers who came into town but he never got serious with any of them.  One time a young girl name Evalyn Vilate Pratt went home from church and told her brother, Frank, that she was going to marry George Griffeth.  Frank said to her, “Oh, you could not touch him with a ten foot pole!”  Later Eva was carrying mail from Fairview to Preston and she met George riding on a horse.  He stopped her and asker her for a date.  When he went to her home to ask her fathers permission to take her out Eva was there cleaning chickens.  Brother Pratt talked with him for a long time before he gave his consent.  Brother Pratt said, “She is just a kid, very young and full of life.  You are so much older, she may go but I expect you to bring her back as sweet and clean as she now is.”

George took her to his home for dinner.  He had told his folks that he was to bring a widow home to dinner.  When Aunt Ella Griffeth saw them she said, “Oh, it’s that Evalyn Pratt!”  This hurt Eva’s feelings but it didn’t stop their dating.  She was his girl from then on.  When he bought the ring for Eva she was staying at her sister, Louisa’s place.  George took the rings out at the dinner table and passed them to Louisa and asked how she like the rings.  He then put them back into the boas and said, “Well, you have to take what you cant get in this old world!”  This really upset Eva but he made it right with her.

About Thanksgiving time in the year of 1898 George left for Georgia where he stayed and filled a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He worked where Elders had been killed.  At one time while on his mission a mob gathered where George and his companions were staying in a home.  They could see the mob outside and knew there was not way they could get out without the mob getting them.   There was a banjo hanging on the wall in the home so George asked if he could look at it.  He took it down and began to play and soon the crowd of negroes on the outside began to clap to the rhythm of the tunes.  Soon everyone joined in clapping and singing.  After about two hours he stopped playing and everyone left without molesting them.

Pres. Taylor Nelson from Riverdale, Idaho served in the same mission and he said, in regards to George, “He could really make friends with the people out in the mission field and he was loved by all who knew him.”

He gave Eva her engagement  ring before leaving for his mission.  She waited faithfully for him to return and on June 6, 1901 they were married in the Logan Temple.  They drove up Logan Canyon for a short honeymoon and then came back to Aunt Mellie Perkes for a delicious wedding supper and shower.

The next day after their wedding they returned to Fairview where George worked for Eva’s father, Bishop Mornoni W. Pratt.  Their first child, Vialte, was born while here.  In the summer they would take 30 cows and go up Crooked Canyon (Pratt Canyon) and milk them up there and then churn the milk into butter.  The butter was made with a tread mill run by a buck sheep or a jenny.  They would churn about 30 lbs.  per day then lead a wagon with hay and the butter and drive to Preston to sell the butter.  Eva would cook George’s favorite food while they were up there.  He especially liked Rolly-poly pudding, light dough dumplings and wild berries served with cream and sugar.

They moved back into Fairview and lived in part of a blacksmith shop.  His brother, Edward, lived in the other part of the building.  Their second child, Melvin, was born in that blacksmith shop.

In August of 1907 they moved to a farm near the Bear River in Dayton, Idaho.  It was hard work here to make a living but they had a happy home.  Here too, they had their joy and sorrows.  Their oldest daughter, Vilate, died after a long illness at the age of 19.  George ran the header for years, repaired machinery, did carpenter work, loaded and hauled wood and worked at the Sugar Farm in Dayton cultivating sugar beets with a span of mules to make extra money for his family.

George always had time to serve the Church and community.  He was a trustee in the Dayton School District for nine years.  He served many years as an election judge.  He spent two winters away from home working with Brother Taylor and Brother Kerns as a stake missionary.  He was also a stake high coucilman.

He served as bishop of the Dayton Ward for seven years, October 1925 until November 1931.  The history of the Dayton Ward  states that Bishop Griffeth was a man of great composure, control and wisdom.  In the progressing world he was anxious to keep abreast with the times and promote comforts and conveniences that would bring joy and comfort to the people of the ward over which he presided.

It was during his tenure as bishop of the Dayton Ward that an extensive remodeling program was proposed on the old stone chapel.  The people of the ward gave their wholehearted support.  The building was raised, the basement area was dug out and finished into several classrooms.  A modern kitchen, a lovely new Relief Society Room and lavatories were also added to the building.  The ceiling in the main hall was lowered and new paint and redecorating projects were completed.  New shingles were put on the roof and a new heating system brought the building up to date at that time.

For the first and only time in the History of the Dayton Ward it now became the blessing of the people to have their own beloved President and prophet of the Church participate in the dedicatory services for the newly remodeled chapel.  The dedicatory prayer was given by President Heber J. Grant on November 15, 1930.

George asked for his release as bishop so he could have more time to care for his age father.  George’s father made his home with George and Eva for the last 20 or 25 years of his life.  The father was anxious to move back to his home in Fairview so George and family would take their cows and other animals and move to Fairview for the winter and then come back to Dayton and the farm in the spring.

Many times George said that he wanted to live to be 80 years old and able to work as long as he lived.  He died at his home in Dayton on August 8, 1950 in his 80^th year of life.  He was the father of five children: Vilate, Melvin, Florence, Cora and Vaughn.  They also raised a foster son, Robert J. Ward, who they all loved as a member of the family.

If any of the Pratt or Griffeth families were moving from their homes or for any reason needed a home they could always find a warm welcome at the Griffeth home.  One family was there for as long as three months at one time.  The old adage “if there is room in your heart there is room in your home” may have originated in this home where the crowd was never too large not the hour too late.

His children remember him for always making friends welcome regardless of how many they invited for Sunday dinner.  If they were going horseback riding they all had a horse provided by George.  Not always the racing type but a horse they could ride and enjoy.

He was always kind to his animals and made sure they were taken care of before he went into the house himself.  He planted a garden much to big for the family to use and he enjoyed taking care of it and sharing it with a neighbor or just someone that had stopped to say ‘hello’.  He loved to work with people and could adjust himself to any and every problem that was presented to him.  He had a special way of listening that helped people to make their own decisions.  He loved to work on the farm in the various church positions he was given. 

“We remember him as a very kind and gentle man.  Everyone was his friend.  If more people were like he was we would have a much better world to live in.”

Today, June 1974, he is survived by three of his children, Florence, Cora and Vaughn, by 25 grandchildren and 60 great grandchildren.  His wife, Eva, died in Dayton also on October 28, 1962.