Lydia Ross Griffing Memoirs

Lydia Ross married Joseph Griffing just days before they came to Nebraska Territory to establish a homestead in the Nemaha River valley near the town that would become known as Table Rock. Her husband and his brother, George Lane Griffing, were the sons of William Martin Griffing -- conjectured to be an illegitimate son of Capt. Jasper Griffing of Guilford, Connecticut. Capt. Jasper Griffing was James Griffing's grandfather. So if the illegitimate relationship is true, James and his siblings -- which includes Clarissa Griffing, wife of Rev. Charles W. Giddings -- were half-cousins to Joseph and George Griffing.

Table Rock, Pawnee County, Nebraska.
August 17, 1887. Written by Lydia Griffing. [1]

While reviewing the past 30 years and taking notes for this meeting, I can truly say that life in Nebraska has been one of lights and shadows, joys and sorrows.

Light and joyful was my heart when health and prosperity dwelt in our home, but Oh! How deep were the shadows when death entered and took a loved one from our family circle. Four times he came, and four of my children passed over to the other shore. None of you can know the grief I felt in parting with these dear ones -- only you who have had the same trial. Again death entered our household and took my husband -- the partner of my life, the sharer of my joys and sorrows for more than 24 years. He lingered here three years with that dread disease consumption; then passed on to his better home; testifying until the last, Jesus power to save even in death.

When my children were taken, I felt that my grief was more than I could bear, but when my husband went, the prop was gone. Oh how unable I felt to go on with life’s duties alone. Soon after my husband’s death, a daughter who had been married a few months before, went to Washington Territory with her husband and his parents. This was another sorrow for I felt that I should never see her on earth again.

Had it not been for God’s precious promises, sorrow would have crushed my heart. E’re this in all my afflictions, God has been merciful in sparing to me two of my children.

Since the Old Settler’s last reunion, a number have gone from us never to return. I miss their faces as I look over this audience. One among that number, whom I learned to love and honor, and whose elegant address on that occasion stirred our hearts as he spoke of the past, present and future of Nebraska…no more shall we hear that loved voice on earth again, for my husband has gone to his better home above. A few more years and Nebraska’s old settlers will all have passed over to the other shore. May God grant us all a happy reunion where we shall meet our loved ones and parting shall be no more.

Among the many reminiscences of early days in Nebraska, which memory brings to mind, I have written only a few to read at this meeting.

My husband and I arrived at Table Rock, June 12, 1857. We came in company with my husband’s brother [George Lane Griffing] and family. The only building on the Town Site was one log cabin [occupied by the Horatio N. Gere Family]. There were a few white settlers along the streams a little way from Table Rock, who came the fall before. My brother-in-law bought one of these settlers out, who lived ½ mile south of Table Rock. This man – Coulter by name – had built a cabin 16x14 in size. Those 2 families, eleven in number, lived together in that small house 6 weeks. My brother-in-law’s wife [Achsah Andrews Griffing] was sick with consumption at the time.

We brought a tent with us and put it up near this house. That year there was a frost the 6^th of June which cut the few patches of corn to the ground. When we came, it had begun growing again. We had but little rainfall that summer, although I remember a few showers – one very distinctly. It came in the night with a heavy wind which loosened all the pegs that held our tent down but one. The tent blew from over us. We had no alternative only to go in the house where we could hardly find standing room, for all the spare room on the floor was taken up by the beds occupied by the two families. After about an hour, the rain ceased and the next morning was bright and clear, so we were able to get our things dried and the tent up again.

A few nights after this, I was suddenly awakened by something in our tent. I awoke my husband. He picked up one of his boots and threw at the object. It yelped as it went out. My husband remarked, “It is only a wolf.”

After living in our tent 3 months, we moved into our house which my husband had built on the 80 acres that he had taken 1 ½ miles farther south. The house was a log cabin, built without a board. The roof was covered with clapboards, split from blocks of wood. The floor was the ground. The doorway was closed by hanging a quilt up. There was place for a window and the cracks between the logs were large enough to throw a cat through.

Our furniture consisted of stove, a homemade bedstead, water bench made of a puncheon, two chairs – the frames bought from a neighbor. I put bottoms in them of hickory bark, which was very substantial. We have one of the chairs yet. Our table was a dry goods box which my husband afterwards made into a table. Some of the box he used to make a window frame and sash.

After getting settled in our new home I said to my husband there are some children in this neighborhood and I would like to teach school. As our means are limited and we came too late to put in a crop, they can pay us in farm produce. My husband first laughed at the idea of my teaching school in our small house which was only 11x13 feet inside. I told him I could find room for all there were to come. He finally consented.

The 1^st of October [1857], my school commenced. The first day 11 pupils came. To find seats for them I put the water pail upon one end of the table, the other end served for a writing desk. Two sat upon the pail bench, two on the wood box, two occupied the chairs, and the others sat upon two trunks while I sat upon the bed. When my husband was in the house, three of the children occupied the two chairs. After a few days, two more came. I was obliged to turn them away for want of room.

When noon came, my pupils had to go out of doors to give me room to get dinner for my husband and myself. One day two Indians came. Finding no room to enter, they laughed and one said to the other, “Ugh! Heap white papoose!” They went away that time without asking for something to eat.

I taught school during that fall and winter, excepting two weeks vacation in the fore part of December while my husband put a floor, door, and window in our house. He had chinked and plastered it before on Saturdays. After living upon a ground floor for six months, you may well believe I appreciated a real board floor and door.

The autumn of 1858 is well remembered by every old settler who was in Pawnee County at that time. We had a great deal of rain during the summer. In the fall, nearly everybody had ague and fever. Many suffered for want of care because there was not enough well ones to take care of the sick. Some died. Perhaps they might have lived if they had a more comfortable place to live in.

I remember one day of intense suffering. My husband had been confined to his bed about a week when I was taken sick. We lay there nearly all day, neither of us able to help the other to a drink of water. How parched our tongues were with fever. Our babe so sick, yet we could not care for her. Oh how I prayed that the Lord would send help in some way. Toward night, Julius Tyler came. He seemed like an angel of mercy sent to us. He said that he had chills and fever every day but they did not last long and he would remain with us until we were better. He staid a week. By that time I had succeeded in breaking my chills by taking Quinine. I managed to care for my sick husband and babe and to do what had to be done. After a week or two, my ague returned but not so hard and I had it only every other day. We had a steep hill to go down to get water. Many times when I have gone down after water, it seemed to me that I never could climb that hill again. My husband was confined to his bed the greater part of the time for three months. I had the chills all winter, only as I broke them with Quinine.

One day I thought I would make some pumpkin pies. After preparing the pumpkin, I was forced to give it up as I had a chill with a hard shake. Mr. Tyler was visiting our house and my husband did not like the idea of going without pie for dinner. They washed their hands, one donned my apron, the other pinned the towel before him. They made so many awkward moves in preparing the crust I had to laugh, chilling as I was. They said they liked thick pies so they lined my large dripping pan with the crust after a good deal of trouble. They then filled it with the prepared pumpkin. When it was baked, my chill was gone and I had no fever that time. I was able to eat my share of the pie. My husband said it was the best he had ever tasted because he did not have to snap twice to get a mouthful.

Many times have I ground corn in my coffee mill to make bread or mush and my neighbors did the same. In 1859 there was a mill at Table Rock. That year there was no wheat nor flour to be bought. Our obliging Table Rock miller, Mr. Fleming, bolted our meal for us when we wished it. Out of that we made piecrust, biscuit, fried cake, in fact all kinds of cake almost that could be made from flour. It was not so expensive to cook with as flour, because in cooking many of these nice things, we could get along without shortening. I remember of making a wedding cake and it was said to be good.

It was generally conceded that ox teams were indispensable in breaking up the prairie – two or three yoke of oxen hitched to a breaking plow, with one man to drive and one other to hold the plow – made up the outfit for breaking prairie.

We rode to [Sunday] meeting after oxen and went visiting with the same conveyance. In those days, horse teams were almost as scarce as ox teams are now. Our nearest mill was at Salem – 25 miles away. With the slow gait of those ox teams, it took three days to go, mill, and get the grist ground, and home again. Our men who went had to camp out for there were no houses on the way where they could stop over night. Going to mill in those days was not a pleasant task, especially in the winter, for the men frequently got caught in a snowstorm.

I must confess to being afraid of the Indians when I was alone, for they were frequent callers and look for them as we might, we seldom saw them until they stood in the door or were looking in at the window. One morning soon after breakfast, I looked out and saw 17 coming down the road toward the house. They rode up and dismounted. Seven of them stood their guns outside the door and came in. The old chief said they were the white man’s friends. They were the Kaw Indians going to fight the Pawnee’s and they wanted something to eat. Their faces were painted and their hair put back in long braids. I put such things as I cooked on the table. After they had eaten, they wanted me to cook more for those outside. I would not, so they wanted some meal. My husband gave them some and I had to bake bread for them. I gave them some milk. The others ate out of doors as there was not room in the house for so many. When they had eaten, the seven came back and brought the borrowed things. The old chief asked for salt. I gave him some. He wanted me to do it up in a cloth, so I did. The other six made me understand that they wanted salt too. I gave each of them some. As they were leaving, they all shook hands with me saying, “good white squaw.” I never was so glad to have anyone go as I was to see them ride away.

I did not leave my babe in the house alone five minutes. When I went for water, or milked the cow, or tended garden, I took her with me. There were times when I was alone that I was not afraid; when we had heavy storm, the harder [it rained] the more secure I felt for I thought the Indians would not come during the storm.

With all the inconveniences and privations which we experienced during the first years in Nebraska, we enjoyed life, for we were all on the same level socially and nearly so financially. The people in Pawnee County were all neighbors. Then and now when we meet an old settler, we feel that we have a very true friend.

In 1858, the first Fourth of July celebration in Pawnee County was held in Table Rock. It was a grand success, for nearly everyone on the County was present. In those early days, the ministers of the Gospel were among us who preached to us in dwelling houses and in the grove. We also had our prayer and class meetings where we realized that God was with His people, and our Sunday Schools.

We also had social gatherings -- our literary societies, where nearly everyone who was old enough took a part in the exercises. These were both enjoyable and instructive.

We had candy pulls – the candy made of sorghum molasses, and watermelon parties. My husband once cut up a new washtub full and invited the company to help themselves. They did justice to that tub of melons for they ate them all.

As there were no cultivated fruits, God had provided for our wants by permitting wild plums and grapes to grow abundantly. Some of the plums were as large as peaches, and the grapes were more plentiful and nicer than they are now. We preserved grapes and plums in sorghum molasses and also dried them. These were good for winter use. We made a great many cobs of cornstarch out of our field corn when it was quite an addition to the good things prepared for our table.

With all the natural resources of this bountiful state of Nebraska and her fertile soil, every farmer might have become rich had there been no reverses. First the little weevil came and destroyed our wheat crop. Then came the armyworm, the potato bug, and the chinch bug, which not only destroyed the small grain but shortened the corn crop. Then the hot winds came which withered and scorched every green thing in its track, and people were glad to remain in their houses with doors and windows closed to keep the wind out. Then the grasshopper became a burden, as they came down upon us like a snowstorm until they covered the ground. Our gardens and growing corn were destroyed by them. Many times when we thought we were sure of a good crop of small grain, the rust has come upon it and it withered before it was ready for the harvest. We have had many seasons of drought, which has caused partial failures of crops. Later the cholera came among our hogs and slew them by the thousands. Many of our future prospects were blasted by this.

We hear many murmurings because of the drought which is upon us. Oh my friends we are forgetful of all the good bestowed upon us by our kind Father who is too wise to err. While our corn crop may be shortened, we have had an abundant grain harvest and beautiful weather to gather it in. We have also had a good hay crop. Instead of these reverses which I have mentioned, being great calamities as some think, I believe they are blessings in disguise sent by our Father in Heaven to show us that we are all stewards set over His works for a little while and to help us to remember to be ready for that better home above, prepared by Christ our Savior.

Notwithstanding all the reverses which have come upon us, God has greatly prospered the people of Nebraska and the outlook is as promising today as in any state of the Union.

Last winter while visiting a friend in the East, they said to me, “Come back to Pennsylvania and live.” I said, “No, I cannot come for Nebraska is my home. I have brought up my family there, my dead are buried there, and when I die, I want to be near them at the resurrection morn we shall all rise together to meet the Lord.”

Joseph L. Griffing, b. January 8, 1827 – Wayne County, Pennsylvania, d. August 9, 1881 – Table Rock, Nebraska

Lydia Ross, b. March 12, 1834 – Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, d. October 21, 1898 – Table Rock, Nebraska, m. March 12, 1857

Sabrina J. Griffing, b. February 1858 – Table Rock, Nebraska, d. August 20, 1859 – Table Rock, Nebraska

Clara Griffing, b. 1861 – Table Rock, Nebraska, d. 1925 – Washougal, Washington, m. 1881 to Frank Marble, children: Flora and Fern are 2 of their 5

Jennie E. Griffing, b. June 25, 1862 – Table Rock, Nebraska, d. October 27, 1862

Nellie R. Griffing, b. September 1, 1864 – Table Rock, Nebraska, d. February 14, 1951 – Geneva, New York , m. September 20, 1893 to Alvy Chancy Boyd, children: Lillian & Kenneth Ross Boyd, both born at Table Rock

Frank Griffing, b. April 23, 1866 – Table Rock, Nebraska , d. November 12, 1945 – New York State, m. Jennie ?, children: Dorothy, Arthur, & Gertrude

Note: The dates for Joseph, Lydia, Sabrina J., Jennie E., John W., and David W., are from a published record of the Cemeteries of Pawnee County, Nebraska. – K. R. Boyd

[1] Kenneth Ross Boyd submitted these memoirs of Lydia (Ross) Griffing to the Table Rock Historical Society in April 1982. The letter accompanying the memoirs reads:

When my mother, Nellie Ross Griffing Boyd, died a number of years ago, she left me a small hand-made oak chest. It contained pictures of people I didn’t know, letters, clippings and other things that had been important to her but meant little to me. So I put the little chest up in the attic and forgot all about it.

Years later, while cleaning the attic, I found the chest and in checking more carefully found in it a number of things written by my grandmother, Lydia Ross Griffing. Among them was her record of thirty years of their life in Nebraska, prepared for a Pioneer’s Meeting. I typed several copies for family use. I am sure grandmother Lydia would be pleased to have me pass on a copy to you.