Griffith Homesite and Cemetery

Elias R. Wightman, a surveyor in Stephen F. Austin's first colony, returned to the United States in 1828 to recruit additional settlers. Two colonists who joined him in New York were his sister Esther (1788-1863) and her husband Noah Griffith (1786-1853). In the early part of 1829 they arrived at the Texas port of Matagorda, platted earlier by Wightman. As settlers of Austin's second colony, the Griffiths received a land grant at this site from the Mexican government. They moved here with their three sons in 1831 and built a log cabin on the property. Their oldest son, Leroy Alonzo (1821-1883), served in local government before moving to Salado in Bell County. There he helped organize the first Texas grange movement, an alliance of farmers, in 1873. Another son, Joshua Delos (1825-1887), buried here, operated one of the first sawmills in the area. The third son, John Maynard (b. 1828), married Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson, who was known as "the babe of the Alamo" because she and her mother Suzanna Dickinson had survived the 1836 battle. Noah and Esther Griffith were buried 20 feet from her in front of their homesite. The cemetery is used for the burial of family members and friends.

Griffith Homesite and Cemetery is a historical marker in Dobbin, Montgomery County, dedicated in 1980. It is one of 65 historical markers documented in Montgomery County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 153 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.3145, -95.7697 near Dobbin. The nearest cataloged historic site is Griffith, Noah, and Esther Wightman Griffith (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Griffith, Griffith Graves, and Lewis Dupree.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5339007880. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.