This Griffin family history begins in North Carolina with John Griffin who was born about 1810, according to information supplied by Jim Griffin, a descendent. Census records list John's occupation as a farmer, and his wife, Nepsy, was a weaver. Sometime before 1860, some of the family moved from North Carolina to Alcorn County, Mississippi, where John and Nepsy are buried in the Griffin Cemetery at Cornith.
Of the ten children born to John and Nepsy, we only have information on the eldest son, William S. and our ancestor, James Pleasant. Both sons served in the Civil War with William S. serving as a private with Company A, Ham's Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry from 1863-1865. Two days before Christmas in 1872, William S. drowned when the bridge washed out over the Hatchie River. He and his wife are also buried in the Griffin Cemetery. William's son, William Ellis "El" Griffin, seems to have been the only one from that family to make the move to Tennessee because he is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Sharon, Weakley County, Tennessee. The other children of William S. are buried either in Mississippi or Texas.
James Pleasant Griffin was known as "Ples" to his family and friends. He was born in 1824 in Union County, North Carolina, and kept with the family occupation of farming. On September 16, 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served as a private in Company D, 37th North Carolina Infantry, known as the "North Carolina Defenders." He was wounded at Manasses, Virginia, on August 29, 1862, losing his left leg and was reported "absent wounded" or "absent without leave" until October 5, 1864, when he was retired to the Invalid Corps.
Ples and his family were chartered members of Travis Chapel, a Methodist Church that is near Sharon, Tennessee. In an article written February 1942 by H. A. (Babe) Stacks who married Ples's oldest daughter, Laura, states "…in the winter of 1877 there were two families of us near Cornith, Miss., the late J.P. (Ples) Griffin and wife and three girls and one boy, and my father and mother, four boys and two girls. We rented land for our first crop from the late Ben Rogers, about one and one half miles west of Dresden. The following winter we took leases from the late Bob Scott, then of Dresden. So this leads up to what I want to say about our church, first built just a few years later. The Griffin leases joined the ground where the church now stands…we had closed our first meeting under the brush arbor which was at that time on the ground where the cemetery now is, just back of the church…the first person that was buried in the cemetery…was the late Clint Johnson, a cripple know as "Soap" Johnson, as he sold soap around the country. Then later we built our first church, perhaps about 1881, and my wife's father, Ples Griffin, and part of his family transferred their membership from Salem to Travis Chapel, and by doing so they became charter members."
After Elizabeth died, Ples married Polly Ann. We don't know when they were married or even her maiden name. The only evidence we have is that she is named in his will as "my wife Polly Ann Griffin." He left the following household goods to her and one-fifth of his property: one rocking chair, one set of plates, five bowls, one dish plate, one pitcher, and three pictures. Also receiving one-fifth of his "real and personal property" are his daughters: Laura Stacks, Rebecca Vickers, Tiney Garner, and the heirs of his deceased daughter, Minnie McDonald (spelled McDaniel in the will). However, Rebecca had borrowed $100, and Minnie had borrowed $50 so those amounts were deducted from the inheritance. His son, John H. Griffin, is not mentioned in his will, having died two years earlier. Ples and Elizabeth are buried in Travis Chapel Cemetery. Other members of the Griffin family that have been laid to rest there are Ples's son, John H. Griffin and John's daughters, Gertie and Ima.
Griffin/Stacks Family
