History of the Griste Family in America
By J.C. Griste Morris, Illinois February 6th, 1901
(Transcribed, edited, and reprinted by R. Cole Goodwin, August 1999)

In presenting the following history there are but few objects held in view, that of tracing
the descent, and, as far as possible, the wanderings of the various members of the family,
and to let each and every one now living know where the other members of the family are,
there is no romance about it, nothing but a plain unvarnished history of a hardy rugged
race that nearly always found their place to be on the frontier, leaders in civilization,
seldom followers, a sturdy, hard-headed tribe that has never produced a dishonest man
nor worthless woman, personal information such as financial standing, politics, religion,
profession, or occupation, will be ignored, for although such information might be
interesting, it would also be outside the scope of a work of this nature. The various
traditions of the family have been collected and sifted, and much personal knowledge
has been obtained and all that is written may be relied upon as being correct in the main,
there is some little difference in dates, but none of importance.

The correct spelling of the name is Griste, of this there is no doubt, but the final letter has
been dropped as useless by the entire family, with a few exceptions, as noted in the
directory.

In this work, the original spelling will be held, the final letter disappeared about 1835,
whether wisely or not each must decide for himself.

There is a well-grounded tradition that the family originally came from Germany to England
and lived there several generations, where they were weavers by trade. Of this, there is no
absolute proof but this bit of folklore is found in all the older members of the family, many
of them utter strangers to each other, and may, perhaps, thereby be more relied upon than
if there were much stronger proof from a single individual; again as to the time when the
family name was brought to America, we have to depend upon the same argument-tradition
in the troublesome times just before the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, personal
histories were lost and forgotten but all the older members of the family unite in the belief
that the first one of the name came to America about the middle of the 16th (sic) century
and, if they believed it, we will have to, the name is peculiar and in all the search that has
been made, no one of the name has been found outside the family.

By the chart, each one can trace their family back to a common head and by the Directory
see the present post office address of as many of the family as are known to the writer. It
has been found impossible to trace the women of the family beyond their marriage and no
attempt has been made to do so. With this general introduction, we will now proceed.

The original founder of the name in America was George Griste, an Englishman who came
to this country about the middle of the 16th century. He was a weaver by trade, which
occupation he followed during his life, whether he was married in the old country or here,
no one knows, but somewhere between 1660 and 1680, he settled on the Quinnebang river
near Norwich, Connecticut, now the county seat of New London County. Here he is
supposed to have passed the remainder of his life. He had two boys, George and John.
George was a trapper and, while still a young man was drowned, thereby saving the
present historian an immense amount of labor. The other, and now only, remaining son,
John, became the sole representative of the family and with him begins the real history of
the Gristes in America.

John, now the only son, was born in 1734 and during his boyhood, waded, fished and
swam in the Quinnebang River , played with the Indian boys and worked, sometimes,
when he couldn't help it in his father's shop and when he was fourteen years old, was
apprenticed to a cabinet maker and learned the trade and in 1764, when he was thirty
years old, married Delight Lathrop and continued to live at Norwich . He had five
children , Thomas L., Eunice, Charlotte, George and John B. and it will be observed how
these old family names have been handed down from generation to generation to the
present day. He bought his supplies at New London on the Long Island coast and had
cans holding about twenty gallons marked "John Griste," one for sugar, one for molasses,
and one for rum, which was in those days considered as indispensable as the sugar or
molasses.

In 1788, he moved with his entire family to Luzerne County , Pennsylvania and named his
new home, Griste Flats, by which it is known to this day. The tract of land, which he
settled upon, he held under a patent from the colony of Connecticut. This needs some
explanation.

When King Charles II granted a charter to the Colony of Connecticut in 1620, it was made
to include all the territory in a strip as wide as the Colony of Connecticut and extending to
the Pacific Ocean. Later on, in 1681, William Penn obtained a grant from the Crown of
what is now the State of Pennsylvania, covering some of the same territory, so it was
possible to live in Pennsylvania on land bought from Connecticut and and he found his
title in danger and with many others became what was known as a "Pennsylvania
Claimant," and in 1812, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a consideration perfected
his title and guaranteed him peaceable possession. The original deed from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to John Griste is in the writer's possession.

Here in Pennsylvania, he built a log cabin in the woods and they made their home
among the wild animals and still wilder Indians in what was then a complete wilderness.
They brought many relics of the Revolutionary War with them, such as cannon balls,
swords, bayonets, muskets, etc., which were objects of much curiosity to the younger
members of the family and, no doubt, by their associations and by arousing their
curiosity were the means of transmitting many traditions and much family folklore that
otherwise would have been lost. He was quite deaf and like most persons of defective
hearing was more prone to talk than to listen and his stories of early times must have
been deeply impressed on the minds of his youthful audience for many incidents of that
early day are found among his descendants who are entire strangers. Like his father, he
was an Episcopalian in religion as were most of the early Puritan settlers. In his later
years, when old age came upon him, and his family were grown up and began to do for
themselves, he made arrangements with them by which two of his sons, George and
Thomas L. came into possession of the homestead and built houses on it with the
understanding that they should take car of the old folks during their life time. This they
did until his death in 1832 at the wonderful age of 98. From this time, the history of the
various members of the family became so widely divergent that it will be best to take
them up separately.

We will now take up the history of John Griste's family of five children. The two
daughters are soon disposed of (sic). Eunice married Willis Hyde and Charlotte
married Joel Whitcomb and had one daughter, Palma, who in turn married some one, no
one knows whom and had two children and from this time disappeared forever from all
knowledge of the remainder of the family. No one seems to have taken any interest in
their affair or made any effort to trace their history. The same difficulty is met with
throughout this entire history. When a woman marries and changes her name, she
disappears for good and all. We will giver her our blessing and let her go and turn our
attention to the part played in the drama of life by the three brothers, George, Thomas L.,
and John W , who were born in the order which their names appear.

George, the oldest son, was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1772 and came with the
rest of the family to Griste Flats in Pennsylvania in 1788, where he lived until the death
of his father in 1832. He, with his brother, Thomas L., inherited the homestead and he
built his house and lived on the premises. He was a quiet, gentle-natured man with a
strong religious tendency and but little is known of his early life. In 1796 he married
Loice Bradner. The result of this union was something tremendous, they had thirteen
children of their own besides raising an orphan girl, whom they took home to them out
of pure charity. He continued living at the Flats until his family were al grown up and
doing for themselves or dead. In 1850, his good old wife died at the age of 72 and in
1851, he sold out and went to Illinois with two of his sons and after a short stay joined
an emigrant train and went across the plains overland to California. He paid his way
and had the choice of riding or walking, as he liked. They had ox teams and this hardy
old man made the journey as well as the best of them, until he met with a grievous
mishap by blundering into a hot spring one morning, badly scalding one of his feet.
He walked no more and although he finished the journey, he never recovered and the
following year, 1852 , died, aged 80. His thirteen children, all born at the Flats, scattered
from there and were all gone before the old man sold out, with the exception of the two
sons who went with him to Illinois and who accompanied him on the fatal overland trip
to California. Some died young and the girls married and were lost track of completely.
The following is the list of his children.

Polly, born 1797, married Humphrey Taylor
Eunice, born 1798, married Artemus Sweetland
Rebecca, born 1800, married Samuel Carney
Fannie, born 1802, died at 16, unmarried
Fila, born 1805, died a baby
Charles, born 1807
Joel, born 1809
Hon B., born 1811
William, born 184, died at 20, unmarried
Otis, born 1816, died a baby
George O., born 1818
Isaac, born 1820
Ruth born 1822 died in infancy.

It will best to take the sons in the order in which they were born, omitting those who
died unmarried and only giving the death or marriage of the daughters. They
disappear as completely one way as the other.

Charles, the oldest son, was born at the Flats in 1807 and made his home near there.
He married Susan Bacon and in 1851 sold out in Pennsylvania and went with his
father and younger brother to Illinois and in 1852, leaving his family in the care of
some relatives, accompanied them across the plains to California. He sickened and
died shortly after getting there at Rio Vista. He left six children, as follows:

Benjamin, born 1833
Lois, born 1835, married A.E. Day
George, born 1837, died unmarried
Sophronia, born 1841, married Charles Brown
Butler, born 1856, died unmarried
Alice, born 1850, died unmarried.

Benjamin, the oldest and only living son and male representative of this branch of the
family is located at Springfield, Mo., with his two daughters .
Maud F., born 1869, unmarried.
Susie E., born 1878, married F.A. Smith.

Joel, the second oldest son, lived to man's estate at the Flats and, when he was thirty-
one years old, married Lovina Shiner, by whom he had two children, a boy and a girl, ,
and when the oldest was two years of age, both children and his wife died inside of
two months. He never married again, but made his home with his brother, George O.,
in Illinois, until his death in (unreadable) aged 58 years.

John B., the third son, like all his brothers and sisters, was born and raised at the Flats
and when twenty-four years old, struck out for the west like all his siblings and landed in
Geauga County, Ohio, where in 1837 he married Louisa Hale and where, in 1867, his
honorable life ended at the age of 56 years. He left two sons, both now living, Perry O.,
born 1840 and married in 1865 to Millicent L. Quiggle, with no children, and Luman G.,
born 1844 and married in 1867 to Zilpha Freeman. The family of the latter consists of
two children. LeMarr, born 1868 and married in 1898 to Carolyn Van Camp. Ethel L.,
born 1870 and in 1900 married to Frederick V. Viall.

George O., the fourth living son, left home when a young man of twenty and drifted
westward to Illinois and in 1845 married Hannah Qliff. He made his home in Grundy
County, then a new, unsettled country. Here he lived until 1875, when, his family being
grown up and his wife dead, the migratory spirit of his broke out afresh and he sold out
and moved to Newport, Michigan, where he lived until his death in 1900 at the age of
eighty-three years. He left four children:
Mary F., born 1846, married M.G. Yarnell
Joel C., born 1849
James W., born 1851
Mattie M., married 1860
Joel C. married Leonora Hoenshel in 1886, no children.
James W. married Dietla M. Huill and have one child Edwin B., born 1876.

We will now take up the history of Thomas L., the second son of John Griste. He was
born in 1782 at Norwich, Connecticut and came with the rest of the family when they
moved to the Flats in 1788 where he lived until his death in 1837 at the age of 55 years.
He, with his brother, George, inherited the homestead at the Flats and, like him, built a
house and lived on the premises, seemingly contented and less imbued with the roving
spirit of his brethren. He was a jovial man, a genial companion, and a favorite with the
younger members of the vast tribe of Gristes who, at that time, clustered around the
Flats. He married Polly Osborn, by whom he had eleven children, as follows:
Lyman, born 1807
Cenath, born 1809, died unmarried.
Delight, born 1811, married George Blakely.
Lydia A., born 1812, married Louis Fletcher.
Ziba, born 1814.
Chester G., born 1816.
Eunice, born 1819, married Benjamin Thomas
Mary, born 1824, married Jason Frost.
Harriet, born 1826, married Steven Robinson.
Thomas J., born 1829, died unmarried.
Sarah T., born 1832, married Washington Burgess.
Lyman, the oldest son, was born at the Flats in Pennsylvania and, in 1826, married
Caroline Ellis and ten years after, moved to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where he
lived until 1871 when he went to Mulvane, Kansas, and, like the rest of his sturdy race
took his share of trials and hardships of the pioneer. Here he lived until his death in
1900 at the remarkable age of 93, leaving behind him a record for honesty, integrity and
an upright life that will forever be an honorable name and a credit to humanity. He had a
family of nine children, as follows:
Thomas H., born 1836;
Norman, born 1843;
John W., born 1850, unmarried;
Sarah E., born 1852, married John Mauser;
Lydia A., born 1846, unmarried;
Harriet S., born 1840, married Andrew Melville;
Mary, born 1833, married George;
Savannah, born 1830, married Morris Wilcox
Polly married 1828, died in childhood;

Thomas H., the oldest son of Lyman, was born in 1836 and in 1876 married Sara A. Kern
and had a family of seven children, as follows:
Harry C., born 1876;
Lawrence K., born 1878;
Beatrice M., born 1879;
Thomas H., born 1880;
Sara L., born 1883
Harriet C., born 1888;
John De L., born 1890;

Norman Griste was born 1842 and in 1869 married Elizabeth Davis. Children as follows:
Harry B., born 1870;
Carrie A., born 1872, married David Hughs;
Maggie M., born 1874, married C.H. Forney;
Earl J., born 1877;
Harriet S., born 1880;
Kate E., born 1884;
Lura F., born 1886;
Fay L., born 1889
Ruth H., born 1893;
Harry B. Griste married Ida M. Hunter in 1888. They have one child: Iris Griste, born 1900.
Of Ziba, but little is known, born in 1814 at the Flats. He married twice and finally went
to California and died there, even the date of his death is unknown, but he has now a
son, Solan, and a grandson, Walter, living in San Diego, California, and here, all
knowledge of him ends so far as the writer is concerned.

Chester G. was born in 1816 at the Flats and was married to Amanda Bowman and died in
1883 at the age of 67 years. His wife only survived him a year, passing away in 1884.
They had ten children, two dying in infancy and one son, Clayton, who was a soldier in
the Union Army, and was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War.
John B., the third and youngest son of John Griste, was born in 1780 at Norwich,
Connecticut, and came with the rest of the family to the Flats in Pennsylvania in 1788
and lived there until he came to manhood and in 1806, being then twenty-six years old,
married a girl by the name of Abigail Pray, who at that time was living at his father's
house and two years after took his bride and moved out into the wilderness after the
manner of his hardy race and located in the far west at Delaware, Ohio and here he
lived until his death in 1840. Like his brother, he had a large family of children nearly all
of whom died in infancy, as the following list will show. The date of their deaths was lost:
Seth, born 1807, died unmarried;
Rachel, born in 1809, died unmarried;
Mahala, born 1812, died unmarried;
George, died 1814, died unmarried;
Eunice, born 1817, married a Mr. Wix;
Elizabeth, born 1819, married a Nathaniel Wells
Abigal (sic), born 1821, died unmarried
Mary, born 1823, died unmarried
John B., born 1825, died unmarried
Harvey, born 1826, died unmarried
Abby J., born 1827, married Mr. Simpson
John W., born 1832,
Edwin A., born 1835.

After the death of their father in 1840, the three boys, George, John W. and Edwin A. and
their mother sold out and again moved to the westward, this time about 1855, to
Waupello County, Iowa, where in 1863, their mother died and George went back to Ohio,
the first of the family to turn his back to the setting sun. Here, he married and died
leaving one son, Edwin, whose location is unknown.

Edwin A. settled in Plano, Iowa, where he is now living, but with no children.
John W., the only remaining son while in Iowa, married Mary L. Barker in 1856 and
moved to Lancaster, Mo., where he is now living. The following is a list of his children:
Martha J., born 1857, married John Reid;
George M., born 1858
Mahala, born 1859, unmarried
Anna A., born 1861, married Hugh O. Hagen
Lucy J., born 1862, married C.C. Combs
John

George M., the only living son, was born in 1858 and in 1879 married Constance M.
Farrell and they have a family of six children as follows:
Walter W., born 1880
George H., born 1882
Mary E., born 1885
Blanch, born 1890
Ruth, born 1894
Edward, born 1898

And now our history is complete as far as we are able to make it, down to the present
time, but of course it can never be finished until births, marriages and death, all
become things of the past. There are many places where more information would
have been better but could not be had, but something has been learned about every
member of the entire family, and now that the work is done, the writer wishes to thank
each and every one for their kindness and courtesy in furnishing the information
without which this history could never have been written. Perhaps some future and
abler historian may take up the work where we drop it and even if this should never
happen, but if the vast and widely scattered members of the family should be brought
into closer and more friendly communion the writer will feel ample (sic) repaid for the
labor expended.

J.C. Griste
Morris, Illinois
February 6th, 1901

(Transcribed, edited, and reprinted by R. Cole Goodwin, August 1999)

DIRECTORY