LaSalle County Biographies
RICHARD E. GRIFFITH
Donated by Danni Monn Hopkins
RICHARD E. GRIFFITH, Postmaster of Lewistown, has long been closely connected with the business interests of the city and county and is numbered among the foremost citizens of the community. He is a native of this State, born in Peru January 28, 1853, and a son of Michael and Margaret (McClaren) Griffith. The father of our subject was a man of much learning and was a pioneer teacher in the public schools of Peru, where he died in 1853. The mother subsequently married Thomas Bowen, who established a wagon shop in Lewistown, this county, and carried on business as a wheelwright here until his death in 1872. The mother passed away in 1865.
He of whom we write received a substantial education in the city schools and when but a boy commenced to work with his step-father and learned of him the trade of a wagon-maker. After the latter's death he and his brother C. V. engaged in the business and carried it on until 1880 and then began to deal in agricultural implements, and also dealt in railroad ties, etc. Mr. Griffith continued in that business until his appointment as Postmaster in 1889, a position for which he is amply qualified in every respect and whose duties he is discharging very satisfactorily.
December 31, 1876, the marriage of our subject with Miss Calista E. Guernsey was duly solemnized. She was born in Illinois, in Lee Township, this county. They have here a very pleasant home and the gracious cordiality of the hostess and the courteous hospitality of the host often attract to it friends form a large circle of acquaintances.
In his career as a man of business and a civic official, our subject has displayed an excellent capacity for the management of affairs with tact, promptness and discretion, and the possession of these qualities pointed to him as a man well fitted for the responsibilities of the federal position he is so ably filling. He has always been a Republican and has given his party his most earnest support. He has served eight years as Deputy Sheriff and for two years was a member of the City Council. He was identified with that honorable body at the time the water-works were projected, and as a member of the water-works committee was very active in securing their establishment. He was also one of the committee of ways and means and of streets and alleys, and was chairman of the committee on police and fire. He has served as delegate to numerous county, Senatorial and Congressional conventions, and his wise counsels are valued by his party. He is a member of Lewistown Camp, No. 228, M. W. A.
-- PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF FULTON COUNTY, ILLINOIS 1890 Pages 526-527
Names mentioned: BOWEN; GRIFFITH; GUERNSEY; McCLAREN