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"There is a known fact, going back to well before the Civil War, that there was Negro blood in the Griffins of what is now Hale County [Alabama]. Several of us, including direct descendants of Archibald's sons, decided we would get to the bottom of the story. Not for the purpose of gossip, but to answer people who continue to say the Griffins from Hale County are part Negro. What we found confirms a Griffin family legend.(1
"Sarah Ann Griffin, daughter of Archibald and Elizabeth, born about 1825, was mentally retarded and never married. About 1839 she had a baby named Joshua Griffin by a Negro slave of Archibald's. About 1847 she had another baby of mixed blood named Aaron Richard Griffin."(1
In the 1850 and 1860 census records of Perry County [this part of Perry became Hale in 1867] Sarah Ann, with the two boys who are listed as mulatto, is living in the household of her parents. In the 1870 census of Hale County Sarah Ann, Joshua & his family, and Aaron Richard, were living together in a separate household. Sarah Ann is listed as mother, age 45.(2
The Hale County census of 1880 shows Sarah Ann living with her oldest son, Joshua, and his family. Aaron Richard lives in another household with his family. Joshua, Aaron, and all their offspring are called mulattoes in the census records, even though the wives are listed as white.(2
Aaron Richard Griffin was married to Mary Dockery 7 September 1870 in Hale County, Alabama [Book A, p 42]. Both of Sarah's sons married twice, always to white women.(3 This practice continued in the next generations, as well, resulting in white skin with no Negro features, as can be seen in a 1936 photograph.(4 Descendants today go mostly by white.(1
These Griffins kept to themselves in the area called Griffin Town or Griffin Colony. They refused to associate with Negroes but the whites would not accept them.(4 When the Federal government bought up land in the 1930's, some of them sold and moved to Arkansas.(1 However, Aaron's descendants still own land in the Moundville area and return every year to hunt on it.(6
Charles E. "Charlie" Griffin, owner of a large farm in Hale County, gives his family lineage as a great grandson of Sarah Ann.(1 He wrote a letter to the Moundville Times in 2000 objecting to a statement near the end of an article printed in the May 12 issue of the Times, which said: "A SLAVE, SARAH GRIFFIN, IS ALSO BURIED IN OAK HILL CEMETERY. SHE LIVED TO BE 100 YEARS OLD."(7 Mr. Griffin and others mistakenly believe that this grave is that of his great grandmother, Sarah Ann Griffin,(6 and he was disturbed by the reference to her as a slave.(7 The following is an exact quote of a portion of Charles Griffin's letter to the editor of the Moundville newspaper:
"Let's go back to A.H. Griffin, better known as Shipp Griffin. He was the great grandfather of Dr. Rufus Jackson Griffin. A.H. and Sarah Griffin were blood brother and sister. Sarah Ann was never married, but spent her entire life with A.H. Griffin and family. As a servant, but not as a slave."(7
The 1870 census of Hale County shows 60-year-old Sarah Griffin living with the Archibald Hilary "Shipp" Griffin family, identified as black, servant. In the same census Shipp Griffin's sister, Sarah, is living with her two sons, listed as mother, age 45 years. In the 1880 census Sarah is living with her oldest son.(2
The tombstone for Sarah Griffin at Oak Hill in Moundville says she was 100 years old when she died about 1909 and is inscribed "Our Faithful Servant." She is buried in the white cemetery next to the gate of the black part.(6 This grave is clearly that of the A.H. Griffin family's black servant and NOT of A.H. Griffin's sister, both of whom were named Sarah Griffin. Therefore, the statement in the May 12 article to which Charles E. Griffin objected was, indeed, accurate; the Sarah Griffin buried in that grave was born around 1810 and spent half of her life as a slave.(8
References:
1- from a letter written by anonymous source in Bibb Co AL
2- AL census
3- AL marriages
4- W.P.A. article & picture (1936)
6- Griffin descendant, native of Hale Co AL
7- clipping from Moundville Times (P.O. Box 683)
8- my own conclusion
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