THREE MEN OF TACOMA, CHAUNCEY WRIGHT GRIGGS. SINCE the American branch of the Griggs family settled in New England over two centuries ago it has never failed to produce worthy representatives in every generation, and its chief representative in this generation is no exception to the rule. Chauncey Wright Griggs is the fourth and next to the youngest son of Chauncey Griggs, born in Tolland, Connecticut, April 10th, 1795, and who, in 1822, married Hearty Dimmock, daughter of Capt. Daniel Dimmock, also of Tolland county. By both lines of ancestry C. W. Griggs is therefore connected with that fine old New England stock "in whose tombs scandal never slept." On his father's side the chain of descent is: 1. Thomas Griggs, at Roxbury, Mass., in 1639. 2. Joseph, youngest son of foregoing (16251715), lived at Muddy Brook, then a part of Boston, was selectman of the town two terms; served as member of town committees, etc.; eight children. 3. Ichabod, youngest son of foregoing (1675-1718), lived in Brookline and Roxbury; married Margaret Bishop, of Ipswich, Mass.; nine children. 4. Ichabod (1718–May 9, 1790), lived at Norwich, Connecticut; removed to Tolland, Connecticut, about 1744; deacon of the church there; representative in the General Assembly three sessions; selectman five years; three children. 5. Ichabod, second child of foregoing (June 7, 1744-September 30, 1776); ensign in the war of the revolution; died and was buried in New Rochelle, New York; married Mary Hatch, daughter of Joseph Hatch, Jr.; home in Tolland, Connecticut; five children. 6. Stephen, third child of foregoing (October 3, 1769-December 14, 1856); married, March 18, 1792, Elizabeth Lathrop, daughter of Solomon Lathrop, of Tolland; selectman one year; captain of a militia company; home in Tolland; six children. 7. Chauncey (C. W. Griggs' father), second child of foregoing; lived till late in life in Tolland; removed thence to Detroit, Michigan, where he had living two sons and a daughter, and where he died December 11, 1866, at the home of his daughter, widow of Gurdon O. Williams, a wealthy and respected citizen of Detroit; representative in General Assembly two sessions; judge of the Probate Court for the district of Tolland two years, and hence often called Judge Griggs; also, for fourteen years a justice of the peace; captain of a militia company formed for service in the Dorr rebellion, On his mother's side the chain of descent is as follows: I. Elder Thomas Dimmock, first settler of that name, and common ancestor of the Dimmocks of New England; through him they trace their kinship to the Dymockes, of England, a name applied to the hereditary champion of English kings, and through him also C. W..Griggs is one of the heirs to the Dimmock estate of some £19,000,000, now held in the Bank of England; died at Barnstable, Massachusetts, 1658; "he was identified with the early history of town (Barnstable), the leading man, and in some way connected with all of the acts of the first settlers; assistant justice of the County Court; one of the Council of War, lieutenant of the militia, ruling elder of the church, the town's first representative" (see Amos Otis in his "History of Barnstable"). 2. Deacon Shubael Dimmock (1644-1732); selectman and deputy of the County Court of Barnstable for two years; also ensign of the militia; later, selectman, deacon, and otherwise prominent in Windham, Massachusetts, where he died. 3. Capt Thomas Dimmock (1664-1697), killed in the French and Indian wars at battle of Canso, September 9, 1697, a gallant and fearless officer. 4. Ensign Thomas Dimmock (1698-1741), died in the king's service at Cuba. 5. Desire Dimmock, who married her cousin, Timothy Dimmock, of South Coventry, Connecticut. 6. Capt. Daniel Dimmock (1767-1833), lived at South Coventry; married Anna Wright, of Mansfield. 7. Hearty Dimmock, December 24, 1794, C. W. Griggs' mother. After about 1750 the Griggs family was identified with the history of Tolland, Connecticut, as was the Dimmock family with that of South Coventry. Both families were prominent in the civil, military and ecclesiastical life of their times and places, so much so that we expect to find C. W. Griggs, as by right of birth, a worthy civilian, a prominent churchman, and a soldier, and such he is in history. It was in Tolland county that C. W. Griggs passed the earliest years of his life, where he received a rudimentary education in the public school. Even as a child he displayed amazing industry, and as he advanced in years his genius for mathematics was the wonder of his teachers. At the age of fourteen he became a clerk in an office in Ohio, but later on he was sent to Monson to continue his education. He then became a teacher at Palmer, Mass., where by his tact and kindliness he endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. But the quiet and laborious life of a teacher did not suit the enterprising spirit of young Griggs. He desired to follow a business career, and to prepare for it he repaired to Detroit, Mich., where in an incredible short time he graduated in the business college of that city. When leaving college he foresaw that his best business chance would be found not among slow New England folks, but in the new country to the west. He consequently secured employment as a clerk in a banking banking house in Detroit. His fine qualities were soon recognized, and won him a reputation among the business men of Ohio and Iowa, where he was subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits. From Iowa he returned to Detroit to a partnership with his brother in the furnishing business, and remained there till 1856, when he formed a resolution to go still further west, to the outskirts of civilization, where he might grow rich with a new country, and aid in its upbuilding. He was then but twenty-two, in the very prime of youth, full of energy and worthy ambition. He located at St. Paul, Minnesota, and opened a general store. Minnesota was then a howling wilderness, and St. Paul was a village in the midst of the wilds, where a few thousand adventurers or optimists had gathered to await the coming of prosperity. Chauncey Griggs nerved himself for the effort of his life. Around was a great country whose virgin soil was prolific of untold wealth. But to harvest the riches of the soil railroads were necessary, and young Griggs set himself, with all his wonted activity, to promote the building of the railroads and the settlement of the lands. In addition to his general merchandise business, he became a railroad contractor, and a coal and lumber merchant, and he was soon marked out as foremost among the business men of the young city. It was then, when success was assured, that he married the one of his choice, a lady whom he had known and loved in his old home in Connecticut, and who was brave enough to share his crude frontier life in the then thinly populated west. Miss Martha A. Gallup was the daughter of the Rev. Timothy Gallup, pastor of the Congregational Church of Ledyard, Connecticut. She was a member of the family of Milton Gallup, of revolutionary fame, and she inherited the strength of character and worth of her Puritan ancestry. She was also connected with the heroic revolutionary family of Stanton. They were married in April, 1859, and their marriage was followed by more than a year of true and quiet happiness. Then came the great crisis in the national life of America. In the hour of his country's needs Chauncey Griggs heard the call of duty, and abandoned his business, his home, his young wife, to range himself in the forefront of the nation's defenders. He enlisted in 1861 as a private in the Third Minnesota Infantry, but was immediately promoted to the rank of captain. Bidding farewell to his devoted wife, he marched to the front, and was engaged around Nashville. During the operations of Grant before Vicksburg, his regiment was constantly engaged. It was then in command of Col. Lester, a good parade officer, but utterly lacking in soldierly qualities. Capt. Griggs had just been promoted to be lieutenant-colonel when the pusillanimity of Col. Lester brought disaster on the regiment. During some manœuvres at Murfeesboro Lester's command became isolated, and was attacked by Gen. Jackson. The attack was gallantly repulsed, and the regiment would have been able to hold out till reinforced had not Lester overridden the prayers, entreaties and even threats of Col. Griggs and the other officers and disgracefully surrendered. He was a prisoner for four months in a cotton mill at Madison, Georgia, when he was exchanged. Lester was at once court-martialed, and expelled the army, and Griggs was immediately appointed colonel. He handled his regiment with extraordinary bravery and skill, and became the idol not only of his own troops, but of that portion of the army. At one time he was in charge of four regiments, but, robust as he was, his health gave way, and in July, 1863, he was compelled by sickness to resign and quit the army. He did not recover sufficiently to share in the concluding battles of the great struggle, but immediately after the war we find him as active and enterprising as ever among the business men of St. Paul. He was the moving spirit of the house of Hill, Griggs & Co., which subsequently became the firm of Griggs & Johnson, and finally of Griggs and Foster. All this time St. Paul was growing with amazing rapidity, new banks and new enter prises were daily started, and Col. of Chicago, and George Browne, of New York, he formed a corporation known as the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. They established mills and offices at Tacoma, and purchased 80,000 acres of timber land from the Northern Pacific Railroad. They subsequently purchased a coal mine for $80,000, and the company have become the principal stockholders in a large smelter built at Tacoma. Railroad contracts, vast real estate deals, and enterprises of every kind are engaged in by this corporation, and they are each day extending their sphere of operations. They are about to build a line of ships for the South American trade, and when they are built they will ship coal and lumber by their own vessels to Chili and Peru, and these vessels will return laden with the rich ores of gold and silver with which the mountains of the Cordellieras are stored. Col. Griggs is president of this company. It is to-day the greatest business concern in the northwest, and there cannot be a doubt but that in a generation it will be one of the richest corporations in the world. Its three principal owners are monied kings, each in his own sphere an in comparable man of business, and Col. Griggs, the guiding spirit, is as clean cut, as far seeing, and as skilled a business manager as ever handled an enterprise. He is tall and handsome, robust and stout, with an aldermanic air, but with a charming and captivating manner. There is a kindly look in his grey eye, and a warm smile that wins and pleases, and he need not be seen twice to know that he was born to be a leader of men. In politics he is a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school. He believes that the liberty and prosperity of the nation depends more on local effort than on the paternalism of the national government. In religion he is a liberal. Broad-minded and free from the conceit and pettishness of small minds, bigotry or intolerance find no place in his creed. The altar at or the church in which others worship is of small concern to him. numerous family share the virtues, grace and affability of their parents, and while his sons give promise of emulating the career of their father, his daughters are the delight and happiness of the social circles in which they move. His |