Multnomah-Clackamas County OR Archives Biographies.....Griffith, Franklin T. February 6, 1870 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 17, 2008, 12:46 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     FRANKLIN T. GRIFFITH.  One of the leading professional and business men 
of Portland is Franklin T. Griffith, who has won wide recognition as an able 
and successful lawyer, and is also prominent in business circles, being 
president of the Portland Electric Power Company and officially identified 
with a number of other important enterprises. Mr. Griffith was born in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 6th of February, 1870, and is a son of William 
A. and Hannah K. Griffith. In 1873 the family went to Oakland, California, 
where the father was long engaged in the contracting business, and both 
parents are now deceased.
     Franklin T. Griffith was about three years of age when taken to Oakland, 
and there he attended the public schools, graduating from high school, and 
later also graduating from Oakland Academy. He then went to San Francisco, 
where he held a position as clerk with the California Paper Company until 
1890, when he located in Oregon City, Oregon, where he served as mill cashier 
for the Willamette Pulp & Paper Company. During this period he devoted his 
spare time to reading law and in 1894 was admitted to the bar. He engaged in 
the practice of his profession at Oregon City until 1909, and during ten years 
of that period served as city attorney. Since 1909 Mr. Griffith has been 
engaged in law practice in Portland and is a member of the firm of Griffith, 
Peck & Coke, which is recognized as one of the strongest and most successful 
law firms in the Columbia River valley. In 1894 Mr. Griffith was appointed 
divisional counsel of the Portland General Electric Company and in 1907 he 
became general attorney of the Portland Electric Power Company, of which he 
was elected president in 1913, holding that position continuously to the 
present time. Under his administration this well known concern has enjoyed a 
splendid record of continuous growth and is now one of the most important 
companies in its line on the coast.  Mr. Griffith is also president of the 
Moody Investment Company, president of the Associated Realty Company, vice 
president of the Investors Company of Oregon and a director and vice president 
of the Title and Trust Company. He is an energetic, progressive and capable 
business man, commanding the confidence and respect of all who have been 
associated with him.
     On July 15, 1896, Mr. Griffith was united in marriage to Miss Etta Pope, 
of Oregon City, Oregon, and to them have been born two children, Harriett, who 
is the wife of Zina Wise, of Portland, and Janet, who is the wife of Donald M. 
Drake, of this city. Mr. Griffith is a republican in his political alignment 
and has taken an active interest in public affairs. In Masonry he has attained 
the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and belongs to the Ancient 
Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, He is also a member of the 
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Rotary Club, Arlington Club, Waverly 
Club, Multnomah Club and the Multnomah Golf Club, as well as the Chamber of 
Commerce. His labors have been of a character which have contributed to public 
progress as well as to his individual success and during all the period of his 
residence in Portland he has shown a deep interest in the general welfare of 
the community, in which he is regarded as one of its representative men of 
affairs.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Page 
429



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