Troup County, Georgia Biographies JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, son of Augustus Griggs and Elizabeth Mathews, grandson of Wesley Griggs and Martha Brown, of Putnam county, Georgia, and Reverend James Mathews and Kittura Pope, of Lumpkin, Stewart county, Georgia, was born March 29, 1861, in Troup county, Georgia. He acquired the rudiments of his education in the common schools of this State. In the year 1879 he entered the Peabody Normal College at Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated with honors in 1881. After graduating he spent three years in teaching. He was at one time Superintendent of the Public Schools at Palatka, Florida. Subsequently he taught at Canton and Alapaha, Georgia. His thorough preparation for the work, his kindness, his deep interest in those entrusted to his charge, made of him a successful educator. Had he chosen the vocation of a teacher he would have attained a high place among the educators of this State. But early in life he made choice of another profession. When twenty-two years of age he was called to the Bar. He was not a graduate of a law school; but while engaged in teaching he had, in addition to discharging the arduous duties of an instructor, pursued his legal studies, and when, after passing his examination for admission to the bar, he entered upon the active practice, he soon demonstrated that, though he had not enjoyed the advantages of a legal education in the ordinary meaning of that expression, few of the younger members of the Bar were so well equipped to discharge the duties which the lawyer owes to his client as this self-taught young practitioner. He located at Jackson, Georgia, and there first opened a law office. After he had been in Jackson but a short time an offer came to him from South Georgia, and he went to Dawson. There his home was during the remainder of his life. Soon after locating in Daw-son he formed a partnership with Honorable James Guerry, who was then the Solicitor-General of the Pataula Circuit. This partnership continued until the latter was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of the circuit. Success in his chosen profession came to him from the very first. Kindly and genial by nature, the circle of his friends was ever rapidly widening. Loyal and steadfast in his character, he bound the members of that circle to him "with hooks of steel." In a very brief space of time, without having to undergo the years of apprenticeship which so many young professional men are compelled to pass through, he had built up a gratifying clientage. His success and distinction at the Bar was assured from the beginning of his career. But he was not destined to remain long in private life ; he was soon called to public station. In 1888 he was elected Solicitor-General of the Pataula Circuit. This position gave opportunity for the display of his marked ability as an advocate. His reputation as a strong, vigorous, fearless prosecuting officer was soon established. He never permitted himself to become possessed of the desire to convict the accused in every case where he was called upon to prosecute, in the discharge of his official duties. He had too much of the milk of human kindness in his make up to allow him to become an agent for the accomplishment of private or public vengeance. He always tempered justice with mercy. But given a case where the facts clearly indicated the guilt of the accused under indictment, he was strong and convincing in his argument before the jury. Always fair in dealing with the evidence adduced for and against the defendant in a criminal case, he summed up and arrayed the facts in a masterful manner and presented the law applicable to the evidence in a clear and luminous way that was ever helpful to the jury and to the court. In the trial of a criminal case where, under the evidence, the defendant was shown to be guilty, and the defendant-s counsel, realizing that the facts and the truth of the case were against his client, was compelled to rely upon specious argument, sophistry and eloquence, Solicitor-General Griggs demonstrated his possession of those high qualities as an advocate and as counsel for the State which won for him the admiration of his professional brethren and the confidence of the people generally in his judicial circuit. In such a case apprehension that justice might be thwarted because of a misapprehension of the law on the part of the jury, or of a surrender on their part of [can't read] to sympathy created by the eloquent appeals of counsel the young Solicitor-General would tear down the structure of specious argument by sound reasoning and a convincing statement of the law, exposed fallacies of the defense, and, with an eloquence which he could always be expected to display when thoroughly aroused would [??] in the breast of each juror trying the case [?can't read] the law, and of his responsibility under the oath [??] when he was enpaneled to try the cause that a just and [?can't read] verdict would promptly follow the submission of the [?can't read this section] in an unfailing memory the evidence as developed on the witness stand, he was prepared, when argument of counsel was concluded, to instruct the jury in a clear and enlightening way as to the law proper for their consideration in the particular case. His charges to the jury were marked by great precision and clearness. Clearly apprehending the principle of law which he desired to make a part of his instructions to the jury, he was able to state it clearly to them. But not only in the characteristic above referred to did he excel as a trial judge. ln all other respects, in his bearing and conduct, he made an impression which, day after day, established him more firmly in the confidence and admiration of the people generally and of the members of his profession. Not only did the lawyers and laymen of the Pataula Circuit have an opportunity to observe and note his qualifications for the office which he adorned, but the people of many circuits in the different sections of the State saw him preside on the circuit and can attest the justice of the tribute paid him as a judicial officer. Ever ready to aid and accommodate his brethren of the Bench, few members of the judiciary were so frequently called upon to preside in courts beyond the limits of their own circuits. At one time or another he presided in one or more of the Superior Courts of a majority of the circuits of the State. Any everywhere he was welcomed with cordiality, and rarely did he fail to leave behind him, upon departing for his home, warm friends and open admirers. After having completed the unexpired term of his predecessor as Judge, so conspicuous was his fitness for the position, he was twice elected without opposition. As engrossing as were the responsibilities, cares and duties of that position, he had never ceased to find an ever present interest in the larger problems which concern and affect our national life. A close student of the history of our country and its institutions, he turned his attention to national affairs. He was delegate to the National Convention of the Democratic party in 1892, and in 1896 he became a candidate for the Congressional nomination in the Second District. Successful in that contest, he became a member of the Fifty-fifth Congress. He was successively elected to the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses. His thorough training as a lawyer was of incalculable advantage to him in his Congressional career. The handling of questions of moment was no longer to him an experiment . He leapt into the arena of forensic strife fully armed, and soon attained a conspicuous position in the front rank of the party-s representatives in the House of Representatives. His political principles were the outgrowth of years of study of the Constitution and American institutions. He understood and knew the rights of the people. He knew his own rights as a representative of the people. And knowing those rights, he always dared maintain them. He was not daunted by the fact that his party was in the minority. He knew how often the majority was wrong and the minority right. From the date of his first speech in Congress to the close of his career he was regarded as a strong and forcible debater. Accustomed to thoroughly master the subject to which he addressed himself, ready with the facts bearing upon the question in hand, cogent in his reasoning, strong in his power of analysis, enabling him to lay bare the weakness of an adversary, convincing in the statement of his own side of the question, rich in illustration which tends to render an argument readily comprehensible, ever prepared to reinforce argument with a story directly in point, pouring forth an unfailing stream of humor, natural to him and unforced, he took his place among those leaders of his party who maintained and championed its principles and the measures which it favored upon the floor of the National House of Representatives. Few men had the courage of his convictions in a higher degree than Judge Griggs. He was uncompromising in his maintenance of the right as he understood it. But he never permitted himself to become bitter in his feeling nor offensive in his language towards those who differed with him and were of a different faith. Few Representatives on the Democratic side of the House had more warm friends on the other side. His open, generous nature, his untiring delight in the society of his fellows, his rare gift-as an entertaining conversationalist, his inexhaustible store of anecdotes, drawn largely from his varied experiences, in teaching, in practicing law, on the hustings and on the Bench, rendered him an exceptionally attractive personality. Judge Griggs did not consider his duty to his constituents and to the country as discharged by his advocacy of right and his opposition to wrong measures on the floor of the House. He was diligent and conscientious in his attendance upon committees. He was a member during his term of service of various important House committees. He served as a member of the Committee on Postoffices and Postroads, and while a member of that committee gave earnest attention and support to measures which have proven to be of incalculable value and advantage to his State and to the country. He was an earnest advocate of the extension and perfection of the rural free delivery system, and many other beneficent legislative measures. At the close of his service he was the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. At every point in the course of his Congressional career we find proof of the high esteem and confidence in which he was held by his fellow Representatives. In 1904 he was made chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As the head of that committee he had the duty imposed upon him of supervising the conduct of the campaign waged by his party in the momentous struggle to gain control of the House of Representatives. He was fitted for the important and honorable position by his large acquaintance with the public men and the leaders of his party in every section of the United States. They had confidence in his capacity as an organizer and master of the innumerable details which had to be considered and weighed at every step in the campaign. His position as chairman of the committee just referred to made him a national figure, upon whose wisdom, diligence and generalship matters of vast concern depended. So capable did he show himself to be in meeting the requirements of his trying position, that he was again chosen in 1906 as the head of the committee. He was a born leader of men. No one can say to what eminence in public life, but for his early taking off, he might have attained. He died before he had reached the age of fifty years. Half of his life he had devoted to the service of his State and his country. Twenty-five years of active, intelligent, earnest patriotic service he had seen, ere he was removed. Notwithstanding this, in private life he was a busy, practical, successful man. He achieved much, and he could have achieved much more if he could have been spared to round out his career. Judge Griggs' father died when he was a mere child. But he was blessed with the love and care of a devoted Christian mother. She stimulated the boy's ambition and inspired him with zeal in the pursuit of knowledge and a thorough education. She was repaid for all of the care and patience involved in the right training of her son. He responded to every effort put forth in his behalf to quicken his intellectual growth and to advance the development of his character. And [can't read] after years he still more richly repaid the loving mother her unfailing and constant devotion during the years of his childhood and boyhood, by years of unremitting consideration and filial devotion and tenderness. Another woman was to shed her beneficent influence upon the life and career of this able and distinguished Georgian. In 1886 Judge Griggs was married to Miss Theodosia [? can't read] the daughter of Honorable D. R. Stewart, of Randolph [?] Georgia. This accomplished lady was ever a congenial and helpful companion of her husband; not only adorning his home, but sharing with her husband his cares and his triumphs and taking a keen and intelligent interest in all that pertained to his public career. Scores of Judge Griggs' friends and associates who enjoyed the hospitality of his home in Daw[?] and in Washington during the sessions of Congress, will dwell with pleasure upon the charms and delights of that [?] circle. In matters of grave concern affecting his public career and his private business affairs, she was his confidant and adviser and his most trusted friend. This devoted companion and their children were left to mourn him, when be was suddenly called from the scene of his earthly activity and [?] usefulness. He died in the enjoyment of the confidence and admiration of his fellow citizens and blessed by all the sweet influences that radiate from the hearts and countenances of loved and loving ones. And upon his tomb it is truthfully inscribed: "Nor died he when his ebbing fame went less. But when fresh laurels courted him to live." [Source: "Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the State", 1912 - Submitted to Genealogy Trails by K. Torp]  Return to Troup County Biographies  Return to Troup County Main Page ©2008 Genealogy Trails