"Portrait and Biographical Record of Hunterdon and Warren counties, New Jersey"
Chapman Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, 1898
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JOHN H. GRIFFITH, M. D., ex-mayor of
Phillipsburg, Warren County, N. J., is one
of the prominent citizens of this great commonwealth, and is entitled to a place in her history. He is much thought of in this town, where
he has dwelt since 1870, and here the most useful
and active years of, his -manhood have been spent.
In every local enterprise and every proposed
new industry calculated to benefit the community he takes great interest and endeavors to foster
in material ways by his means and influence. The
old saying "Live not to thyself alone," has certainly been exemplified in his career, and though
his large practice makes great demands upon his
time, he has always devoted much thought and
work to outside matters that he deemed worthy.
In 1880 he was one of a committee who wrote
the history of the medical men of Warren County,
past and present, the object of which valuable
work was to rescue from public oblivion the
memory of many of the pioneers of the profession in this section of the state.
As the name implies to the student of nomenclature, the Griffiths originated in Wales. An
ancestor of our subject, Dr. John Griffith, was
one of the incorporators of the Medical Society
of New Jersey, the oldest society of the kind in
the United States. In tracing the annals of the
family it is a matter of note that such a large proportion of its members have adorned the legal
and medical professions. Another fact to which
our subject may point with just pride is the fact
that one of his forefathers was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His father, James V.,
was a native of Monmouth County, N. J., and
followed agricultural pursuits. His wife bore
the maiden name of Sarah P. Woolley. She is
living, aged seventy-eight years, and eight of her
ten children survive, the eldest being the gentleman of whom we write. The father died in 1883.
Martha and Sarah, the two eldest sisters, are unmarried; Jacob is a resident of Rochester, N. Y.;
Hattie is the wife of Charles Atwood, of Albany,
N. Y.; Clara is Mrs. Bruce Gordon, of Monmouth County, N. J.; William A. lives in Brooklyn, N. Y.; and James Percival is a citizen of Phillipsburg. On the maternal side they are of
English-Dutch descent.
Dr. J. H. Griffith was born in Monmouth
County, N. J., July 3, 1842, and during his
youth gave much of his time to assisting his
father in the management of the old homestead.
His higher education was gained in the New
Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute of
Hightstown, N. J., and Pennington Seminary,
of New Jersey. Having taught school successfully for seven years he concluded to enter the
medical profession, and began his studies along
this line with Dr. Charles Bartolette, of Milford,
N. J., in 1865, and later was under the supervision of Dr. George T. Ribble, of said place. During the winters of 1866, 1867 and 1868 he attended lectures in Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, of New York City, and graduated from
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa.,
March 12, 1870. Soon after this event he settled
in Phillipsburg, and was soon enjoying an excellent patronage. Succeeding Dr. Johnson as
reporter in the District Medical Society of Warren County, he has also served as a delegate to
the State Medical Society and has kept in touch
with the leading minds of the profession in all
practicable ways. In 1871 he was city physican
here, in 1882 and 1883 was mayor, and from 1887
to 1894 was a school commissioner. In the subject of local history he has been very greatly
interested, and for years he has been an official
member of the New Jersey Historical Society.
He is, perhaps, as much of an authority on the
subject of our state history as any other man
to-day, and has in his private library the records
of sixteen of the twenty-one counties in the state,
besides much other local and national material.
Some of the patriotic spirits of this vicinity have
been striving to secure sufficient funds to erect a
monument to the brave soldiers of the late war,
in Phillipsburg, and the doctor is secretary of the
committee appointed for this purpose. He is one
of the three trustees of the Standard Silk Mills,
which large plant employs nine hundred persons.
Fraternally the doctor is past grand master of
the Grand Dodge, I. O. O. F., of New Jersey,
and is chairman of the judiciary committee of
the grand lodge, having been elected in 1897.
He is also past chancellor of the Knights of
Pythias, and is a member of the Uniform Rank.
In addition to those already mentioned, he belongs to the Royal Arcanum and is past regent
and medical examiner. In 1896 the doctor was
appointed one of the board of pension examiners
for the four counties comprising the Fourth Congressional district. The marriage of Dr. Griffith
and Ella K. Knowles was celebrated August 28,
1869. She is a daughter of William and Susanna
(Knight) Knowles of Pennsylvania, a Quaker by
faith, and on her mother's side a descendant of a
man by the name of Knight, who came to America
with William Penn. Mrs. Griffith is president
of the Phillipsburg Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and is very active in church and
religious work. The doctor is president of the
board of trustees of the Westminster Presbyterian
Church, and his wife is also a member of that
church.
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