Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

THE GRIFFIN HOUSE-
Block 5-Colonial Lots # 64-71
(1940)

^{1st copy (1940)}

The first proof of buildings in Block 5, which is bounded on the north by Francis Street, on the east by Henry, an the south by Ireland and on the west by Boundary (the two last streets were designated as "two other streets" in 1809) is found in the Frenchman's map of 1782 (?). A large rectangular building faced Francis Street (located apparently on parts of lots numbered 67 end 69 on the unknown draftsman map). On each side of this large house and facing Francis Street were two smaller houses.

On the unknown draftsman's map (circ. 1790?) the eight lots in Block 5 are described as "Griffin's 8 lots" and numbered from north to south from the north west corner 64-71 with 65, 67, 69 and 71 fronting Francis Street. The lots described as "Griffin's 4 lots" are numbered simply 1, 2, 3, 4 from west to east, both on Francis and on Ireland streets on the Bucktrout map.

On September 5, 1809, Samuel Griffin in policy No. 971 taken out with the Mutual Assurance Company (Photostat, p. 29) revalued his property and declared:

...... the said buildings are now owned by Samuel Griffin that they are now occupied by Elizabeth Gatliff that they are situated on Francis and Henry and two other streets--on the north his cheminant & other lots--East the Lunatic Hospital and Henry street south Abraham's lot and West the College and other lands.

The dwelling house	A	$3333 ?
Laundry	B	600
Kitchen	C	400
Stable	D	333 ?
		$4666 2/3

(See Illustration A)

Samuel Griffin was born April 21, 1746 (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. XIII (1), p. 184) and died December 4, 1810. (Virginia Magazine of History, Vol. XX, p. 368) He was a colonel in the army during the American 2 Revolution. (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VII (1), pp. 60-61) He was shown as present as a member of the Virginia Board of War from August, 1779 to April 12, 1781 . (Official Letters, Governors of Virginia, Vol. II, pp. 36, 58, 194, 414, 468) He resigned from his office as sheriff of James City County on February 24, 1789 to become a member of Congress. (Letter of Samuel Griffin to Gov. Beverley Randolph, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Col. IV, p. 568) A secondary source says that he was a member of Congress from 1789 to 1795. (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VII (1), pp. 60-61) In 1783, Samuel Griffin was listed as an owner of a lot or lots in Williamsburg. (Ibid., Vol. XI (1), pp. 114-115) For some unknown reason, he is not listed as a head of family in Williamsburg in the census (taken 1782-85) of 1790.

Humphrey Harwood's Ledger shows two accounts with Samuel Griffin:

1784
April 28th	To 15 bushs of lime at 1/. & repairing plastering in Nurcery 7/6	£1. 2. .6
	To repairing larthing & Plastering in Kitchen l2/.	.12.
	To mending Stove 2/6, & 200 larthes 2/6, & 2 ½ Bushs of Lime at 2/6	.11.3
	To 2 Bushels of Hair at 1/6. (30th) To 200 Bushs of Lime at 1/.	1. 3.
	To mending Kitchen Chimney & Oven 5/	.5.
May lst	To Repairing front Steps 8/. & back do & 2 Days labour 7/6	.15.6
3	To larthing & plastering Necessary 16.	.16.
	To 3 Days labour at 2/6 & 14 bushs of lime at l/	1.1.6
8	To repairing plastering & Chimney in the House 2/6	.2.6
	To Whitewashing Nurcery 4/6, Kitchen & Room to do & Shed 12/	.16.6
	To 1 bushs of whitewash 2/ & 400 bricks at 3/	.14.
Octor 30	To 220 bricks 7/6 & 5 bushs of lime 5/	.12.6
	To seting up 2 Grates 15/ & 2 days labour 5/	1.
1785
January 29th	To a Load of wheat straw 21/6	1.1.6
1786
March 29	To 100 lb of Oats 7/. & 172 lb of fodther a 6/	.17.4
April 6	To 400 lb of fodther a 6/. (pr Centum?)	1.4.
3
19	To 209 lb of do a 6/	.12.6
26	To 55 bushels of lime a 1/. & 3600 bricks a 30/. (pr M)	8.3.
	To 5 days labour a 2/6; and underpining Grainery 18/	1.10.6
	To underpining porch 22/6	1.2.6
	To taking out Window frames & puting them in 12/	.12.
	To repairing underpining to Smoke House & others 7/6	.7.6
	To 25 bushels of lime a 1/. & labourers Work 2/6	1.7.6
June 14	To white-washing a passage 6/.	.6.
July 13	To 11 bushs lime 11/. & 2d. hair 1/. & 500 larthes 7/6. & 12 days labr 3/9	1.3.3
	To larthing and plastering porch 12/6	.12.6
August 11	To Mortar, & puting in four window frames 9/	.9.
October 17	To 30 bushels of lime at 1/. 90 larthes 1/3, & 2 days labour 5/.	1.16.3
	To building Celler Cap 12/. & Whe washg 3 Rooms & passage 18/.	1.10.
	To Whit washing kitchen, 1 back Room 7/6. & Repairg Larthg & plasterg up 6/.	.13.6
	To Seting up a Grate 5/ & 1 ½ bus Whe wash 3/. & 2 days labr 5/.	.13.
Novemr 25	To 15 days work underpining your Barn. at Quarter	3.0.
Decemr 19	To 10 bushels of lime 10/. & 383 bricks a 3/	1.1.
	To laying an Harth in parlour 15/. & setting up a Grate 24/.	1.19.
	To laying do in Study 9/. & 2 1/2 days labr at 2/6	.15.3
1787
August 29th	To 3000 bricks at 30/. & 40 bushels of lime at 1/	6.10.
	To underpining Stable 40/. & 5 days labr at 2/6	2.12.6
Sepr 17	To 220 lb of Oats in Straw at 6/./18/ & 296 lb of do at 6/.	1.10.11
Octot 31	To white-washing Kitchen 5/. & ye End Room 4/6	.9.6
	To ½ bushel of White-wash 1/. & 1 bushel of lime 1/	.2.
	To repairing plastering 1/3	.1.3
1788
May 3	To 1 bushel of lime 1/
Novr 10	To 8 bushs of do 8/. layg 3 Hearths in House 7/6 & in Kitchens 1/	.19.6
	To laying Kitchen floor 18/. 3 days labr 7/6 & Haird 6	1.6.
	To mending plastering in House & Landary 1/6	.1.6
	£54.3.6 ¼	£54.3.6 ¼

Per Contra

1784
June 17th	By 1 Barrel of Flower 40/	2.0.
May 29	By 8 Gallons of Rum at 4/6	1.16.
1785
January 15	By 30 Gallons of Rum at 4/6	6.15.
4
October 31	By 30 Gallons of Lisbon wine	12.0.
1786
April 27	By 4 bushels of Mortar taken away 4/	.4.
Octobr 25	By 3 Gallons of wine at l2/. pr Gallon	1.16.
1787
Septemr 5	By 2 Bottles of wine 6/	.6.
18	By Cash in part £12.0.0	12.0.0
27	By 5 Gallons of French Brandy at 4/6	1.2.6
1788
Septemr 17	By a Qr of Mutton 3/	.3.
1789
March 3	By sundry Credits 38/6	1.18.6
	By his Note on settlement of Accounts	14.2.6 ¼

(Harwood's Ledger, Book B, p. 63

	Samuel Griffin Esqr
1791
April 14	To whitewash & whitewashing 2 Cielings	£ .3.6

(Ibid., Book C, p. 45)

The tax records for Williamsburg show the following facts about Griffin's lots:

Year	Name of Owner	No. of lots	Value	Tax
1785	Photostatic records for the G's torn.
1791	Samuel Griffin	8	£ 15	l5s
1797	" "	8	£ 15	15s
1801	" "		$ 51	$ .78
1806	" "	8	70	1.10
1810	" "	8	100	1.56
1812	Samuel Griffin's Estate	8	100	1.56
1815	" " " via Wm Browne Trus	8	100	1.56
1817	" " "	8	130	13.30
1818	" " "	8	130	13.90
1819	" " "	8	130	13.90

A secondary source says that Griffin married Betsey, daughter of Carter Braxton and had only one child, Elizabeth Corbin. (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VII (1). pp. 60-61) It is to her that he referred in the policy above. She first married Samuel Gatliff, by whom she had four daughters. (Ibid.) The third daughter, Susan, died in 1822. (Obituary notice in the 5 Richmond Enquirer, October 22, 1822) Elizabeth's second husband was Ferdinand S. Campbell, professor of Mathematics at the College of William and Mary from 1811 to 1833. (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VII (1), pp. 60-61) This marriage accounts for the insurance of the property by Campbell in his own name on July 8, 1815. The description of the property would be inadequate for identification had it not been accompanied by a drawing which gave dimensions and locations of buildings on the lot almost identical with those formerly given by Griffin. (See Illustration B, Insurance Book) Campbell describes the property as

my building on _______ Street in Williamsburg situated between streets on every side in the county of James City

Dwelling	A	$4000
Laundry	B	400
Kitchen	C	400
Stable	D	250
		$5050

(Policy No. 1515, p. 15)

The tax records for Williamsburg show that the property for years was listed in the name of Frederick S. Campbell as follows:

Year	Name of Owner	Residence	No. of Lots	Estates	Value Lots	Value Bldg.	Yearly Rent	Taxes
1820	Ferdinand S. Campbell	Williamsburg	1	life	$2000	$1700	130	$3.90
1825	" " "	"	1	"	2000	1700	130	2.64
*1828	" " "	"	1	"	2000	1700	130	2.64
1830	" " "	"	1	"	2000	1700	130	2.64
1835	" " "	Philadelphia	1	"	2000	1700	130	2.60
1838	" " "	"	1	"	2000	1700	150	(Folded into back)
1840	" " "	"	1	"	2400	2000	150	3.75
1843	" " "	"	1	"	2400	2000	150	5 (folded in)
1847	" " "	"	1	"	2400	2000	150	3.60
1850	" " "	"	1	"	2400	2000	150	3.60
1854	" " "	"	1	"	2400	2000		8.00
1859	No Campbell

6

Ferdinand C. Stewart (note the change in surname), the son of Ferdinand S. Campbell and Elizabeth Gatliff was in business in New York City in the 1840's. On July 2, 1845, in a letter to George W. Southall about a sale of a tract of land on the College landing road "immediately in the rear of 'Sanders lots' and at the back of my Mothers dwelling house", he wrote that this land had been ceded to him by his mother as a consideration for certain sums of money which he had expended on the account of her property in Williamsburg-acreages of insurance, taxes, repairs etc. (Letter of Ferdinand Campbell Stewart to George Southall, Esq., Williamsburg, Virginia, Southall Papers, Folder 46, Letters July-September, 1845) Both the maps of the unknown draftsman and of Bucktrout show the Saunders lots directly back of the Griffin lots.

Stewart identified himself in his letter with the family that owned the Griffin house by mentioning his deceased half-sister, Miss Gatliff.

The ownership of the property in the years after 1854 cannot be established with certainty. After that year neither the name of Ferdinand S. Campbell nor Ferdinand C. Stewart are to be found in the records. It is possible that the following tax records for Williamsburg refer to it:

Year	Name of Owner	Residence	No. of Lots	Estate	Value Lots	Value Bldg.	Yearly Rent	Taxes
1859	Galt, Gabriella & Sally	Williamsburg	1	In fee	$3500	$2700		$19.69
1861	Galt, Gabriella V.	"	1	"	2700	2500		21.88

It is a tradition--perhaps more than a tradition--that Miss Gabriella Galt taught school in the Griffin house. Mrs. Victoria Lee in her "Williamsburg in 1861" definitely located Miss Galt there:

A large brick, story and a half house stood to the east of the Brooks House--now called Marshall Lodge--then the home of Miss Gibbie Galt, of local renown, who kept a lodging house there. The appearance of this house has changed very little. (Page 3)

7

In the Williamsburg Scrap Book the chapter on Miss Gibbie Galt contains this paragraph:

The house was known in Williamsburg as the Stuart House. It was built and owned for many years by a family of Stuarts, said to be related to the royal family, who came out to the colony of Virginia at the time of the execution of Charles I. At what time it passed from the Stuarts is not known; but at the period of which we write it was owned by Miss Gabriella Galt, who kept the principal school for boys and girls in the town. (Page 70)

Mr. Charles calls it the "Old Galt Mansion" and remembered that at the time of the Civil War it "had attached to it all the rest of the land in this entire square. On this site and immediately east of the residence were several wooden buildings used servants' quarters, kitchen, etc.......(Mr. Charles's Recollections, p. 15)