While in Florida with CXL, I stayed in the Los Piños building on the old White Oak Plantation. Many of the buildings were strongly reminiscent of my long-since-departed cousin Hollister Sprague’s home, Forestledge, overlooking Puget Sound – on the outskirts of Seattle.
Despite the glowing coverage of the current denizen in the linked article, I hear that he has been bulldozing much of the wild woodland on the property, with the result that landslips are becoming more common.
Particularly sad since Elaine and I shared such happy times with Hollister at Forestledge, and his family across the state, from Vashon Island to Yakima, back in 1973.
When I arrived back from the States this time, I re-read my copy of our great-great-grandmother Clara Witter’s diary of her family’s move west to the Rockies in the 1860s. She was the grandmother of our paternal grandmother, Isabel Griffin/Elkington/Coaker.
In the diary, she describes setting up a post office in the mountains, where the local miners would pay in gold dust. Every weekend she would pan the dirt floor, making a fair amount of money in the process. I was interested in digging back into the mining elements of the family story because one theme CXL has been pursuing is artisanal mining.
I asked my brother Gray for some background on the Griffin side of the family – Isabel having been one, via her father, Francis Griffin. Turns out that a number of members of that generation owned and operated gold and silver mines in the USA, mainly in the Rockies, which is presumably how Francis met Isabel’s mother-to-be, Hattie Witter.
Also turned out, according to a document called “The Griffin Mystery”, that one of the Griffin brothers, Clifford, committed suicide at the 7:30 Mine near Silver Plume – giving rise to endless theories, rumours and ghost stories. False facts have deep roots.
Gray attached a long document giving the true story, which I must find a way to post here at some point. It’s genuinely fascinating – and references tailing dam failures that ended up wiping out part of the nearest settlement.
Somewhat relevant since, while I was in Florida, I received a request from a major mining company which recently had a terrible tailings dam disaster, asking me to write a contribution for their latest sustainability report. I set such a high bar that they withdrew the offer.
But at some level we are all complicit in these tragedies and catastrophes.
John,
I think we may have been in touch with one another before or your father before he passed. I received some photos from either you or your dad/mom that were of the home in New Hampshire called Three Rivers Farm in Dover/Rollinsford. I am Victoria Rollins, married to Ashton Rollins II and your Hattie was sister to Jessie Witter (who married EW Rollins in Denver) and is my husbands Great Grandmother. EW, Edward Warren Rollins built Three Rivers Farm in NH where my husband grew up.
I see you have found the diary written by Clara Witter and transcribed by the CO Historical Society in the 1920’s. Perhaps you left the hand written family tree that shows all your line from Hattie in the Daniel Witter collection at the Colorado Historical Society. I found that paper back in 2001 while researching the “Denver connection” and have been fascinated with the history I’ve uncovered. We have a huge typed diary written by Jessie Witter that contains so much information about her travels with Hattie, about the Denver social scene in the late 1800’s and of course Hattie and Isabel and Grace, her nieces. Jessie lived in London during WWI and her diary covers from her Denver years 1862 through 1926. Hattie actually met Francis Griffin in England while traveling on her first trip to Europe with Jessie and her 7 year old son Ashton Rollins in 1887. They sailed on April 30, 1887 from NYC to Liverpool on Cunard’s “Etruria”. That’s another whole story that is a Witter mystery you’ll be fascinated to hear about…or can perhaps fill in for me.
I have been reading the incredible information you posted about Tim Elinkington’s life. I’m really curious to know where on Hayling Island Isabel lived when she watched her son’s plane get shot down. By then she must have been Isabel Coaker but I can’t find anything out on her second husband, except that he must have been a Navy man and perhaps that’s why they lived there?
It would be so great to connect with someone about that generation and share some of this information. We lived in New Hampshire when we relocated to Colorado in 1998. Interestingly, in the diary by Clara Witter, there is reference made to them staying in the Bradford Cave one night because the Bradford Inn was full. Ironically, we purchased a home that happens to look right over at that cave. It’s actually a red stone cave in our neighborhood in Morrison, CO that is used for neighborhood events etc. It was always referred to as “Chief Colorow’s Cave” who was a chief of the Ute Indians. One day by neighbor asked if she could read that diary by Clara Witter that I discovered at the CO Historical Society. She called me later that night all excited, saying….”did you read that part about the Bradford Cave?” Of course I had but it meant nothing to me. She explained that our neighborhood cave was actually called the Bradford Cave back in the day and that the old Bradford Inn exists now as some ruins in the next neighborhood over after someone set it on fire a few years before we arrived.
I’m rather sorry that we didn’t take the time to look you up while we were in the UK a couple years ago. We visited some friends in W Sussex before we sailed out of Southampton on a Cunard cruise to the Baltic. I suppose you must know Patsy Churchill Griffin (Cooper, Outram) who emigrated to New Zealand. She’s Grace’s daughter, so Isabel’s niece. We had a chance to visit her in NZ back in 2006 and she and Michael visited us here in CO a couple years later. She has a daughter in NZ that we met and whose name escapes me. Patsy told some interesting tales about the Griffin family. I only wish I’d written them down!
I will close for now and hope that you will communicate through my email address that I’ll list below. It’s victoria@wispertel.net and my cell phone is 303-921-3821. I have an iPhone if FT is an option and text as well. Zoom calls are easy also. Whatever way seems to make sense to connect we can work with. I do so hope you’ll reach out if you have any interest and when you have time.
Wishing you and Elaine all the best,
Victoria and Ashton Rollins
PS I just discovered that information about Clifford Griffin the other day while googling all the people in the diary that are mentioned by Jessie. Have been by Silver Plume many times and just found out about that memorial stone for Clifford Griffin. Will have to check that out when the snow melts in the mountains. It’s less than an hour from our house.