Joshua Griffith

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Joshua Griffith (great-grandfather of Joshua Todd Griffith) of Maryland, born March 25, 1764, was twice married: first in 1783 to Elizabeth Ridgeley of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She was born in 1765 and died in 1797. His second wife’s name, county and state were the same as that of his first wife. She was born in 1769; married Joshua Griffith in 1798 and died in 1803. By the first marriage there were three children: Lydia, married in 1808 to Warner Crow; Remus, born 1786, married in 1809 to Sallie Handley, died 1845; and Ruth, married Moses Cummins. By the second marriage there was one child: William (grandfather), who was first married to Aria Mosely, in 1822; and again to Martha Hopkins, in 1848, and one child of this union, Carey, died in infancy. His children by his first wife (Aria Mosely) were Ridgely, born in 1823, died in 1841; William Henry, born in 1825, married Margaret Calhoun in 1845, died in 1848; and Daniel M. (father), born February 28, 1826, married Virginia Shelby Todd in October, 1857, died November 3, 1893.

Joshua Griffith was one of the most charitable men of his day. The following instance of his love and generosity towards his neighbors is remembered: At a time when there was a great scarcity of provisions in the county, a number of men came to him wanting to buy his large stock of provisions, but he positively declined to sell, saying, if they had money to buy provisions with they would not suffer, and he must care for his neighbors and supply the wants of those who had neither money or meat. He had some knowledge of medicine and, although he was not an educated physician, his medical advice was sought by his neighbors for miles around. He cheerfully rendered what service he could to ameliorate the sufferings of others, but he never charged one cent for such services. He was one of the few men who lived and died in the county without an enemy. His useful life, so helpful to others, was spared until he reached a ripe old age, being eighty-two years old when he died.

Source: Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.