From the Archives: Who is Jeffrey M. Griffith

 

 

 

 

Death of J. M. Griffith

The Sad Event Occurs in Paris, France

A Brief Sketch of His Life and His Services in the City He Loved so Well

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Dubuque mourns the loss of one of her prominent and most revered citizens -- one whose enterprise did much toward placing Dubuque among the manufacturing points of the west. Knots of men, and women, too, stood upon the street corners lamenting the sad news which was wafted by the breath of rumor, and verified by fact, such as that brought here by means of the ocean cable. a dispatch came to W. J. Knight, Sunday evening, dated at Paris, France, stating that Jeffrey M. Griffith, his law partner, was laying dangerously ill. Mr. Knight was moved with direful apprehension, and almost resolved at once to start for Paris. He answered the dispatch sent by Mrs. Griffith, asking whether she desired his presence. Mr. Knight's business compelled him to go to Chicago Sunday night, but he left word to telegraph him all cablegrams that came concerning Griffith. During his absence a dispatch was received at 11:30 o'clock yesterday morning announcing Mr. Griffith's Death. This was forwarded to him at Chicago, and to Elgin, Illinois, also to Mrs. Griffith's brother, Mr. Packard of Cedar Falls.

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The sad news soon spread throughout the city, and it has cast a deep gloom of sorrow in every household, especially among those who knew him, and those who have felt his benevolent hand.

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Mr. Griffith, accompanied by his wife, left here last August for Europe. His object in going was to benefit his health, which had been failing rapidly since he returned from the continent a year or so before. He was conscious of his declining health and seemed to have a premonition of a speedy dissolution from the fact that a day or two before his departure he made his will, which was witnessed by Mr. Walt Cantillon and Mr. Joe Brown, the document being -- characteristic of him -- in a few words. He also stated to a party of his most intimate friends who called to bid him God-speed on his journey, that he was afraid that he would not live long enough to return to Dubuque and his friends. Those to whom he made these remarks endeavored to cheer him up, and before they left him he was feeling in excellent humor. He was troubled with rheumatism and several ills brought on by close attention to his business and the lack of sufficient physical exercises. In the cablegram announcing his death, Mrs. Griffith requested the presence of Rev. C. H. Seymour. The latter gentleman being in Davenport, a dispatch was forwarded him to that effect, but Bishop Perry and one of the professors of Griswold college being absent, it may be possible that Rev. Mr. Seymour will be unable to respond immediately. A dispatch was forwarded to him to come to Dubuque at once, at any rate.

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Mr. Griffith wrote a letter from London, dated September 5th, to Horace Poole, of this city, in which he expressed the most cheering news in relation to himself, stating that he had not felt better in a long time; also, that it was his intention to leave London in a few days for Holland and thence to Paris; that he would leave in October for the United States in time to arrive in Dubuque by the 5th of November. This s the last letter, as far as is known, received from him; Mrs. Griffith's housekeeper, however, received later news, but mainly referring to domestic matters in relation to the home

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Jeffrey M. Griffith was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, on the 25th of February, 1830, making him fifty-three years old. He was educated in his native state, but at what educational institute is not known at this writing. He studied law in Baltimore and was admitted in 1850, after which he practiced letters of introduction to Gen. Jones and others, who did what they could to obtain business for the young barrister. The next year he became acquainted with Miss Helen N. Packard, who was visiting friends in Dubuque with her father who came west for the benefit of his health. The acquaintance ripened into mutual affection, and on Christmas day, 1855, they were married in Rochester, N. Y., the home of Miss Packard's parents. Soon after his marriage he formed a law partnership with M. B. Mulkern, and subsequently with Wm. J. Knight and Ed McCeney. Afterwards, Mr. McCeney retired, and the firm in 1858 became Griffith and Knight, which has existed ever since, for a period of over twenty-five years, and its success is well known by all our citizens. About twenty-eight years ago Mr. Griffith made his first political speech in Iowa. Though not a politician by any means, he was an active and consistent democrat, using his best endeavors for the success of the democratic gubernaturial ticket at that time, although the election resulted in the choice of J. W. Grimes for governor.

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The new law firm stuck to "Blackstone" and soon became eminent and wealthy. Mr. Griffith especially became noted as a practitioner, careful in the preparation of his cases and earnest and untiring in prosecuting them.

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The firm of Griffith and Knight has always commanded a large and constantly increasing practice, and soon contested the leadership of the Dubuque bar with older established firms. He never spared himself any toil in the preparation of his cases, and never allowed his interest in any case to flag until every remedy known to the law had been exhausted. His great abilities joined to his unflagging industry and clear perceptions made him a formidable opponent. In the heaviest litigation in this part of the country he was always employed, and generaly on the winning side. Such was his intense application on to his business that when engaged in the preparation of a case he would shut himself up for hours alone, denying admission not only to clients and his associates at the bar, but even to members of his own family, and his arguments were often rewritten after they were prepared for the press, in order to make them satisfactory to himself.

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The litigation familiarly known to our bar as the Oat case and the Elevator case are well remembered in this section, involving the largest amounts ever tried to a jury in this state, and that they were won by the plaintiffs was largely due to the ability with which their side was handled by Mr. Griffith.

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~From the Dubuque Daily Herald  of October 24,1883.

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