Texas I

1872-1891: Texas I

(More Entries and Links Are Forthcoming)

--6/19/72 Is born in Chatfield, TX, one of at least five children, to Baptist minister Allen Ralph (b. Georgia 1850, d. Texas 1922) and schoolteacher Emma Hodge Griggs (b. Kentucky 1854, d. Texas 1919); siblings include attorney William H. (b. 1874, d. 1929), Mary (b. 1880, d. 1901), poet and songwriter Allen Ralph, Jr. (b. 1882, d. 1943), and Alberta (b. 1884, d. 1901); 1880 US Census records and the Griggs family bible at the Dallas Historical Society also list two other sisters Obelia, age 9, and Martha, age 2 Births Griggs Family Bible.jpg  http://www.uptowndallas.net/get-involved/griggs-park; http://www2.dbu.edu/n/texasbaptisthistory/files/2013/09/33024-TBH-2007-2008.pdf (pp.75-85)

--1870s and 1880s Attends public school in Dallas

--1880 US Census lists Elbert S. Griggs, age 7, in Dallas, TX, birthplace: TX

--Mid-1880s Receives baptism at age 13

--Oct 1885 Starts at Bishop College in Marshall, TX (an institution in Marshall, TX, founded and operated by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York), according to a 10/3/85 article in the Dallas Morning News http://iw.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive?p_theme=ahnpdoc&p_action=doc&p_product=EANX&p_nbid=E59Q47GDMTQyNjk3MTg0MC45NjAyNDU6MTo0Om55cGw&f_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1077C383B6D39178@2409818-1077C38448469760@7-1077C385AA7F6CD0@Colored+Female+Students&p_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1077C383B6D39178@2409818-1077C38448469760@7-1077C385AA7F6CD0@Colored+Female+Students&p_docnum=-1

--1889-1891 Assists pastor E. W. D. Isaac at the New Hope Baptist Church in Dallas http://www.newhopebapt-dallas.org/nhbchistory.html; http://afrotexan.com/AfroPress/Editors/isaac.htm

--1890 Graduates from Bishop College, presumably with a normal school degree http://www.pinterest.com/b_free2000/bishop-college/

--May 1890 A. R. Griggs attends the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Fort Worth as a visitor (Journal of the Annual SBC meeting, p. 54)

--5/16/90 Likely attends the Texas Colored Baptist Convention, under the direction of his father, at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Dallas

--3/10/91 Is elected temporary chairman of the executive committee charged with organizing a colored literary society at a meeting attended by over 100 people at New Hope Baptist Church

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/africanam.html (scroll down)

--4/28/91 Argues for the negative in a debate, “That the protective tariff is injurious to the people of the United States,” organized by the Dallas Colored Literary Society

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/africanam.html (scroll down)

--5/27/91 The Dallas Colored Literary Society elects Griggs President, according to a 5/28/91 Dallas Daily Times Herald item  http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jwheat/africanam.html

--Aug 1891 Resigns from the Dallas Public Schools to take a position at Bishop College, according to a 8/26/91 DMN article http://iw.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive?p_theme=ahnpdoc&p_action=doc&p_product=EANX&p_nbid=Y65R53OPMTQyNjk3MTExNC45NDQwMDM6MTo0Om55cGw&f_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1074124A1933C458@2411971-1074124AA68AAB30@7-1074124C110C1708@Dallas+School+Board&p_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1074124A1933C458@2411971-1074124AA68AAB30@7-1074124C110C1708@Dallas+School+Board&p_docnum=-1

--Late summer 1891 Serves as the Chairman of the Committee on Hospitalities for the National Baptist Committee meeting held in Dallas 9/17-9/24, according to an 8/27/91 DMN article http://iw.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive?p_theme=ahnpdoc&p_action=doc&p_product=EANX&p_nbid=O63I51TNMTQyNjk3MjAxNC4zOTI4MTA6MTo0Om55cGw&f_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1074124C4D166720@2411972-1074124C7695F7F0@1-1074124D59713AB8@&p_docref=image/v2:0F99DDB671832188@EANX-1074124C4D166720@2411972-1074124C7695F7F0@1-1074124D59713AB8@&p_docnum=-1

--9/16/91 Gives “the welcome address which is a masterpiece of eloquence” to the more than one thousand delegates of the National Baptist Convention at New Hope Baptist Church in Dallas, according to a 10/10/91 article in the Indianapolis Freeman (p. 2) http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=FIkAGs9z2eEC&dat=18911010&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

--Early fall 1891 Is dismissed from Bishop College over an incident with "a girl," according to a letter of recommendation for Griggs sent to Richmond Theological Seminary by the President of Bishop College, Rev. N. Wolverton

(Below: Images of Griggs Park in the Uptown Dallas, named after Allen R. Griggs; it is close to the site of the no longer extant Griggs family home, at 328 Hall St. near Flora)