BIOGRAPHY: William H. Griffin, Jr.; Logan, Cache co., Utah

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen for The USGenWeb Archives Project
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History of Utah
The Storied Domain
A Documentary History of Utah's Eventual Career
by J. Cecil Alter
Vol. 2, published 1932 (expired copyright)
The American Historical Society, Inc.

WILLIAM H. GRIFFIN, JR., who is serving in 1931 his second term in the Utah
State Senate and who is one of the influential business men of the Cache
Valley, with headquarters at Logan, judicial center of Cache County, was born
and reared in this county and is a representative of one of its prominent and
honored pioneer families. He was born at Newton, Cache County, January 11,
1872, and is a son of William H. and Elizabeth (Treherne) Griffin, the latter
of whom is deceased.

William H. Griffin was born in England and was a lad of twelve years when he
accompanied his parents to the United States. In Utah he has continuously
maintained his residence in Cache County, and from Clarkston he was sent with
Bishop Rigby to settle the Newton community, in which he has since maintained
his home and where he has been a successful farmer and merchant, with
important interests in cooperative stores. He still resides at Newton, is a
Republican in political affiliation, has served as justice of the peace, and
has been a zealous and influential figure in the local affairs of the Church
of Latter Day Saints, in which he served as first counselor to Bishop Rigby
and later to Bishop Funk. He subsequently gave twelve years of service as
bishop of the local stake and he now holds the church office of patriarch and
is one of the venerable and revered pioneer citizens of Cache County.

William H. Griffin, Jr., whose name initiates this review, received the
advantages of the public schools of the Newton community and after being
graduated in Brigham Young College, at Logan, he taught one year in the public
schools at Lewiston and two years in those of Carbon County. He then served a
mission of about two years in England, as an emissary of the Church of Latter
Day Saints. In England he passed ten months in the great industrial City of
Birmingham, three months in Hereford, and the remainder of his time was spent
in Northhampton and Wolvorhampton. After his return to Utah Senator Griffin
soon went to Paris, Idaho, where he taught in the school maintained under the
auspices of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Upon coming again to Cache County
he became associated with the W. 0. Kay Grain Company, with which he remained
twenty years. The company then sold its physical properties and its business
to the Colorado Milling & Elevator Company, and he has since been retained as
manager of the business of this corporation in the Cache Valley and
surrounding territory.

Senator Griffin has never swerved from the line of strict allegiance to the
Republican party, and the first public office to which he was elected was that
of justice of the peace. In 1913 he was elected representative of his native
county in the Lower House of the State Legislature, and in this position he
made a record in his support of constructive legislation in behalf of his
constituent district and the state at large. He gave special attention to
legislation in behalf of the State Agricultural College, which is situated
near Logan, and this has been true likewise in his work as a member of the
State Senate, to which he was first elected in 1924. In his first senatorial
term he was made chairman of the agricultural committee and in the next
session was selected chairman of the committee on public health and
institutions, he being still the incumbent of this position and also a member
of the committee on appropriations, his election for a second term having
occurred in 1928 and having attested the high popular estimate placed upon his
in his district. The Senator is deeply interested in the matter of public
taxation, has made a deep and exhaustive study of the subject and is making
earnest effort to bring about a consistent equalization in Utah taxes.

In his home City of Logan Senator Griffin is a valued member of the Chamber of
Commerce, and he is known for his unbounded civic loyalty and progressiveness.
He and his family are earnest members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, in
which he served as second counselor to Bishop Rigby and was then made bishop
of the Fourth Ward in Logan, an office in which he continues his zealous and
able administration. His wife is president of the Fourth Ward Relief Society
and is otherwise active in church work and as a leader in the woman's
organization of the Republican party in Cache County.

On the 9th of June, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Griffin to
Miss Lydia Ballard, daughter of Bishop Henry Ballard and Emily (McNeil)
Ballard, of the Logan community, and a sister of M. J. Ballard, an apostle of
the Church of Latter Day Saints. William Everett, eldest of the children of
Senator and Mrs. Griffin, is now manager for the Graham-Paige Motor Car
Company at Billings, Montana. He married Miss Dale Alvord, of Logan, Utah, and
they have three children. Reid, next younger son, holds a clerical position in
the offices of the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City. He married
Miss Gladys Huckvale, of Montpelier, Idaho, and their one child is a son,
William. Bessie is the wife of Lionel Thatcher, of Ogden, Utah, and they have
one child, Gilbert. Charles was graduated in the Utah State Agricultural
College and is now associated with the Utah State Tax Commission in Salt Lake
City. He married Miss Polly Rich, of Logan, and their one child is Charles,
Jr. The younger children, Maude and Mary, remain at the parental home.