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| After the death of his wife, John Griffiths moved to Linton, and got into a partnership with a very wealthy Englishman named George Murphy. He opened a saloon across from where the Linton Post Office sits now. He did so well there that they opened another saloon in Terre Haute. He would travel from Linton to Terre Haute by passenger train each day. He sold so many cigars in his saloons that the cigar company introduced a brand of cigars called "Griff's Favorites" and had his picture on the box (see picture page 2). John had a little dog that would come to the saloon to see him each day. If the dog didn't find him, he would hop on a train and travel to Terre Haute to be with him there. Apparently, somehow the dog knew which train to get on and the train employees were familiar with him and allowed him to hitch a ride. He eventually sold out the saloons, he and Agnes split up, and had a vast sum of money which he went through in 5 years. He then lived with William and Maude until William got him on at the mine where he was working. One day the mine crew was sitting around taking a break to eat when one of the miners said that he read in the paper that they had a new machine in Pennsylvania that will dig coal. All the guys laughed, thinking what a joke - a machine that would dig coal! Everyone laughed but John, who bought a paper read up on it. He wrote to the company and got all the information on the machine that he could. It wasn't long before the coal company brought the machine into the mines where John and William worked. John was the only one that knew how to run them, so he got put in charge of the machine and William helped him run it. Then John started studying. First he got his fire boss license then made his mine boss license. He became very active in the United Mineworkers Association. He became close friends with John L. Lewis, the National President of the United Mineworkers. He became such a powerful speaker/orator for the cause of the union miners that the coal mines promoted to get him out of the working class into the boss class. William was wanting to get out of coal mines and got a job working for a painter in Linton named Cisco Alexander, who did sign work and painted cars. John came down to see him one Sunday and William showed him some of the cars that he had been working on. John told him that if he was that talented that William needed to be in business for himself. William stated that would be nice but he had no way to get a building to start a business. John said that William could use his building in Jasonville to start his business (the old Velvet Bottling Co.) It had an apartment up above where William and his family could live. So William went into the automobile painting business which failed, because of a larger business of the same kind located in Jasonville. After that, William went into electric business with John in 1921. John L. Griffiths died March 26, 1925, from complications after a gall bladder surgery in Union Hospital at Terre Haute. I believe the cause of death was pneumonia. One morning, in the late 1950's, I went to open our family business, as was my morning custom. This morning an old man was standing outside, and as I approached, he asked me if I was related to John Griffiths. I told him I had a brother by that name and it had also been my grandfather's name. He asked me if I had known my grandfather, and I told him no, my grandfather died twelve years before I was born, so I never knew him. He said, "then let me tell you about your grandfather". The old man, whose name I have long since forgotten, told me that he had to go to work in the coal mines while he was still a child. He described it as about the most miserable existance one could possibly imagine. He said one day my grandfather came to the mine where he worked and spoke to the men. He said that my grandfather gave the most eloquent speech he had ever heard, before or since. In that speech my grandfather told of how he was put into a Welsh coal mine at a very young age, of how he ran away and made his way to America, and of how he had to overcome not only his lack of proper schooling, but also his Welsh accent, to be able to become a public speaker. The old man said he was so inspired by grandfather's speech, that he quit the mine and enrolled himself in school. In time, with much study and hard work, the old man said he also became a public speaker. He said he had spent the rest of his life traveling all over the country giving lectures, and was always in great demand wherever he went. He said that if my grandfather hadn't came to the mine that day, and spoke to the miners, that the miserable little child, that he was then, would probably been killed in a mining accident before the year was out. He went on to say that he wanted John L. Griffiths' family to know of the great effect one speech, he had made, had on this man's life. I have never forgotten the story the old man told me of my grandfather, nor have I forgotten how eloquently he told it. |
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| John Griffiths and William Griffith outside of their electric business which was located between where the Jasonville post office and Wally's Station is now. It was William that dropped the "s" from the end of our last name. Max was born in this building. |
| The music you hear is: "Llwyn On" (The Ashgrove) (A Welsh Folk Song) There are many different lyrics to this song. I felt this one was the most appropriate by Talhaiarn (John Jones 1810-1870) Shine, blessed sun, on the home of my boyhood, Bright be thy rays on the ancient "Ash Grove"; Dear to my heart is the home of my parents, Home of my infancy, home of my love; Far, far away I have sailed o'er the ocean, Still guided by fate on the wings of unrest; Oh! that I had the swift wings of the swallow, To fly to my home, to return to my nest. Here in the night when I'm sleeping and dreaming, Far, far away in the Land of the West; Innocent friends of my childhood surround me, Visions of happiness lull me to rest: Ah! when I wake with a start in the morning, Bedewed are my cheeks as I silently mourn; Longing for home and my youthful companions, How hopeless the wish! I shall never return. |
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