Cyrus Griffin

Cyrus Griffin
Portrait by Lawrence Sully, 1799
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia
In office
November 28, 1789 – December 14, 1810
Appointed byGeorge Washington
Preceded bySeat established by 1 Stat. 73
Succeeded byJohn Tyler Sr.
8th President of the United States of America in Congress Assembled
In office
January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788
Preceded byArthur St. Clair
Succeeded byOffice abolished
George Washington as President of the United States
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lancaster County
In office
October 16, 1786 – October 14, 1787
Serving with James Gordon
Preceded byJames Ball Jr.
Succeeded byJames Ball Jr.
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lancaster County
In office
May 5, 1777 – 1778
Serving with James Gordon
Preceded byJesse Ball
Succeeded byCharles Bell
Personal details
Born
Cyrus Griffin

(1748-07-16)July 16, 1748
Farnham Parish,
Colony of Virginia,
British America
DiedDecember 14, 1810(1810-12-14) (aged 62)
Yorktown, Virginia
Resting placeBruton Parish Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
RelativesSamuel Griffin
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh
Middle Temple
Signature

Cyrus Griffin (July 16, 1748 – December 14, 1810), a Virginia lawyer and politician, was the final President of the Congress of the Confederation and first United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia.[1]

Education and career

Born on July 16, 1748, to the former Mary Anne Bertrand and her husband Col. Leroy Griffin in Farnham Parish (now Farnham), then in Lancaster County (which became part of Richmond County in his lifetime), Colony of Virginia, British America,[2][3] He was a descendant of an Englishman named Thomas Griffin, who settled to the Virginia Colony in the early 1600s, and received land grants including from Edward Bradshaw of Lancaster County.[4][5] That Thomas Griffin may have emigrated with relatives, for one old genealogist stated his widow married Samuel Griffin of Northumberland County, and bore another Col. Leroy Griffin of Rappahannock County, who married Winifed Corbin (daughter of a member of the King's Council) and bore sons Thomas Griffin (who became a burgess), Corbin Griffin of Middlesex County, and daughter Winifred who married Burgess and Col. Peter Presley of Northumberland House, and whose only daughter, also Winifred, married Anthony Thornton and whose son therefore was Col. Presley Thornton who served on the King's Council 1760-1769.[6] Clearly, this Griffin was a patriot and also had two older brothers as well as a sister who married Col Richard Adams of Richmond County. Thomas Bertrand Griffin, the eldest son, inherited his maternal grandfather's and uncles estates, Belle Isle in Lancaster County and also served as the Lancaster County clerk 1770-1777.[7] Another slightly older brother Samuel Griffin also became a Virginia lawyer, and Continental Army officer before beginning a political career that included service in the U.S. House of Representatives. Another brother, Dr. Corbin Griffin (d.1813) practiced medicine in Yorktown and became the state surgeon during the Revolutionary War but was imprisoned by the British, and after his release served in the state senate.[8] The family could trace its descent from Thomas Griffin, who had received land grant in 1651.[9] Meanwhile, like his brothers Cyrus received a private education appropriate to his class in Virginia, then sailed to England to complete his education.[10] He studied law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and at the Middle Temple in London.[10]

Admitted to the Virginia bar, Griffin had a private legal practice in Lancaster County and surrounding areas in the Colony of Virginia from 1774 to 1777.[3]

Lancaster County voters elected him as one of their two part-time representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates, and he served from 1777 to 1778 (resigning to serve in the Continental Congress as discussed below), and later from 1786 to 1787 (during which session his brother represented Williamsburg).[11] Fellow legislators elected him among Virginia's delegates to the Second Continental Congress, where he served from 1778 to 1780.[3]

He was a Judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture from 1780 to 1787.[12][3]

Griffin became a delegate to the Ninth Congress of the Confederation from 1787 to 1788, serving as the final President of the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation in 1788.[13][3] He aligned with the Federalist party and served as United States Commissioner to the Creek Nation in 1789.[3]

Federal judicial service

Griffin received a recess appointment from President George Washington on November 28, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Virginia, to a new seat authorized by 1 Stat. 73.[3] He was nominated to the same position by President Washington on February 8, 1790.[3] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 10, 1790, and received his commission the same day.[3] His service terminated on December 14, 1810, due to his death in Yorktown, Virginia.[3] He was interred in Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia.[10]

Personal life

Griffin was the son of Col. Leroy Griffin and his wife Mary Ann Bertrand.[14] He married Christina Stewart, oldest daughter of John Stewart, the sixth Earl of Traquair (1699–1779).[15] They had at least a daughter Mary, who married Thomas Griffin, son of Dr. Corbin Griffin of Yorktown and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates as well as U.S. Congress, although their degree of consanguinity is unclear.[9]

Death and legacy

Griffin suffered from various illnesses late in his life, and a letter he wrote from a Newport, Rhode Island health resort about his diminished appetite and swollen limbs to his cousin De. Samuel Stuart Griffin survives.[16] He returned to Virginia and died on December 14, 1810 at Yorktown, in York County, probably at the home of his daughter or of Dr. Griffin as referenced in that letter. However, a state historical marker commemorating his legislative and judicial career is further north along the coast in Richmond County near Belle Isle State Park, which includes two historic houses, one constructed by a descendant.

References

  1. ^ Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915) vol. 2, p. 10
  2. ^ Tyler p. 11
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cyrus Griffin at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  4. ^ Virginia Magazine of History and Biography vol. 1(1894), pp 254-256
  5. ^ 1902 Biographical Memoirs of Henry County, Indiana. The Bookmark. 1902.
  6. ^ 1 Va.Mag. at 254-255
  7. ^ 1 Va.Mag at 255
  8. ^ Slaughter, R.M. "Griffin, Corbin" . American Medical Biographies . p. 467.
  9. ^ a b Tyler p. 111
  10. ^ a b c United States Congress. "Cyrus Griffin (id: G000459)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  11. ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 126, 130, 161
  12. ^ "Journals of the Continental Congress --FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1780". memory.loc.gov.
  13. ^ Wilson, Rick K. (1994). Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774–1789. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 76–80. ISBN 0-8047-2293-5.
  14. ^ "The American Historical Register". Historical Register Publishing Company. July 17, 1895 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Traquair, Earl of (S, 1633–1861)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  16. ^ 22 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography vol. 22, pp. 275-276.

Sources

Political offices
Preceded by President of the Congress of the Confederation
1788 		Office superseded
Legal offices
New creation Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia
1789–1810 		Succeeded by