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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of James GRIGGS 

[Surnames: BROWN, CHAMP, FRANK, GRIGGS, GRUNIGER, HARKER, JACOBS, LARGENT, LONG, THURSTON, YAW] 

GRIGGS, JAMES 

    
There are few older settlers in Fulton County than James Griggs, who arrived here in 1829, and in his more than four-score years, has built up a reputation for integrity and general worth as rare as it has been upbuilding to Orion Twp. He is the owner of a farm of 160 acres on Sect. 1, in Orion Twp. 
    
In Cayuga County, NY, where he was born, June 10, 1819, Mrs. Griggs parents, George and Sarah (HARKER) Griggs, owned a small farm, the resources of which were inadequate for the support of their family. George Griggs had served in the War of 1812 and was destines for further service in the Black Hawk War, which occurred the year after his arrival in Fulton Co., in 1829. 
    
James Griggs was ten years old when they settled in this county and his educational chances were meager and uncertain, but his opportunity for hard work unlimited. When old enough to handle a gun he found abundance of wild game to test his aim and strategy and caution were necessary to ward off the approach of stealthy Indians. the family circle continued to widen until there were eight children, and of these:
Harvey married Elizabeth LONG
Pruella, married William THURSTON
Mary remained unmarried
Franklin D., married Deborah LARGENT
Asenath, married George CHAMP
Susan, married William BROWN
Jeremiah, m. Eunice YAW
James married Mary Ann BROWN for his first wife, her death occurring about a year later. For his second wife, he married in 1856, Dulcena E. McMAINS, of which union there were five children:
George W. married Belle GRUNIGER
Edwin E. married Maud FRANK
Mary Ann married Frank JACOBS
Susan remained unmarried, for years engaged in the profession of teaching. 
    
It was the privilege and pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. Griggs to give their children far better educational advantages than they themselves enjoyed. He was a member of the School Board for twenty-five years. His first presidention vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and he has ever since supported the doctrines of the Democracy. In religion he is a Baptist. He survives like an oak in the forest, and his memory is a panorama of those small and large events which make up the history of the whiteman's labors in Fulton County.