Bannock County
IDGenWeb
Coming to the West in the early pioneer days when this section was not
near enough civilization to be called a frontier. Mr. Griffith has had
an adventurous life in connection with the development of civilization
in various portions of the great West, where he has resided and where
have been the centers of his activities in many and widely diversified
directions, and his unbounded energy and remarkable powers of weaving
discordant elements into harmonious relations has given him an honorable
reputation as a most capable and efficient supporter of law and order,
and as one of the best types of the social and hospitable Westerner,
whose geniality is as broad as her wide plains. Mr. Griffith, the
popular and efficient sheriff of Bannock county, Idaho, has taken
distinctive pride in watching the various transition stages which have
eventuated in the creation of large states and commonwealths possessing
the facilities, improvements and even the luxuries of a high
civilization. He was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, on February 19,
1852, a son of S. R. and Mary J. (Newell) Griffith, natives of
Pennsylvania, who emigrated from their Ohio farm to Missouri in 1865,
his father there making his permanent home and remaining engaged in
agriculture until his death, at the age of eighty-seven, in 1897, the
mother still residing there at the age of eighty-five. In the district
schools of the county of his birth Mr. Griffith was educated until 1868,
when he went to Denver, Colo., and became connected with prospecting and
mining operations until 1889, in that year coming to Idaho and locating
in the little town of Pocatello, then aspiring to be recognized as a
city. He first established himself in the liquor business, which he
conducted for three years and then relinquished it, giving his abilities
to the discharge of the duties of chief of police, holding this
important position for about two years to the satisfaction of the
law-abiding citizens and the decided dissatisfaction of the criminal
element, and in 1900 he was appointed deputy sheriff of the county, a
large share of the sheriff's duties devolving on him and which were so
ably discharged that he was thereafter nominated by the Republican
county convention of 1902 as its candidate for sheriff, and at the
subsequent election he was elected by a decided complimentary majority,
in view of the great efforts put forth to defeat him. While a pioneer of
the city he was a member of the first council of Pocatello.
In
brotherhood circles he holds connection with the Masonic fraternity, the
Woodmen of the World and the Eagles. On November 23, 1884, occurred the
marriage of Mr. Griffith with Miss Ellen Mayers, a native of Dayton,
Ohio, and a daughter of John D. Mayers, a prominent citizen of that
place. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith have had six children: George, Maud, Myron
R., John, Mary J. and Charles, deceased. In the respect that has been
accorded to such men as Mr. Griffith, who have fought their way to
success through unpropitious environments, there is a recognition of
intrinsic strength and worthiness of character.
Extracted from Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, published in 1904, pages 176-177, contributed 2021 Jun 15 by Norma Hass
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