Martin Ignatius Joseph Griffin

Background

Griffin was born on October 23, 1842, in Philadelphia, the son of Terrence J. and Elizabeth (Doyle) Griffin, both recent immigrants from County Wicklow, Ireland.

Education

Griffin was educated in parochial and public schools.

Career

Griffin commenced his business career as a bookkeeper and entered journalism as a correspondent of various diocesan papers and as a writer for the Catholic Herald of Philadelphia. From 1867 to 1870 he was part owner of the Guardian Angel, a Sunday-school organ, and from 1870 to 1873 assistant editor of the Catholic Standard of Philadelphia. Militantly active in civic, religious, temperance, and Irish movements, Griffin organized the National Catholic Beneficial Society in 1871; served for twenty-two years as secretary of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, whose Journal he founded and edited (1873-1894) and later published as Griffin's Journal (1894-1900), with a wealth of literary, historical, and temperance notes; established a Youth's Catholic Abstinence Society; promoted the work of the archdiocesan Temperance Union and assisted in the formation of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America at Baltimore in 1872. Despite episcopal fears of the Irish Land League, he organized a local unit, was secretary of the Parnell-Dillon demonstration, and attended the League's national conventions. He introduced the Catholic Knights into Philadelphia and was a supporter of the Knights of Columbus. He was credited, in fact, with the foundation of more Catholic societies and a longer connection with Catholic journalism than any of his contemporaries. At the same time, as one of the organizers of the Continental Title and Trust Company and of many building and loan associations, and as secretary for the Parnell Building and Loan Association from 1890 until his death, he was respected in financial circles. In 1884 he was one of the founders of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, chairman of the committee that drafted its constitution, and one of its first vice-presidents. To its Records he made valuable contributions and became director of its library in 1910. In December 1886 he acquired A. A. Lambing's American Catholic Historical Researches, which he published quarterly until his death, when it was merged with the Records mentioned above. The Researches comprised documents, notes, clippings, and essays, and was caustically and often ill-manneredly critical of the boastful and inaccurate statements of nonprofessional Catholic writers of history with their bombastic claims and extravagant assumptions. Griffin made enemies and hence found less support and appreciation than he deserved until late in his life. A zealot, but no bigot with a persecution complex, he wrote with the avowed purpose of making known the true history of the Catholic Church and its eminent adherents in the middle section of the United States. His style, organization of material, and, sometimes, his judgment suffered from his lack of formal education, but credit must be given him for his steady output of lengthy essays on early Catholic parishes and worthies of Philadelphia and for such works as the History of Rt. Rev. Michael Egan, D. D. , First Bishop of Philadelphia (1893), Commodore John Barry (1903), General Count Casimir Pulaski (1909), Stephen Moylan (1909), and Catholics and the American Revolution (3 vols. , 1907-1911). Indefatigably laborious, he kept at his writings until he was stricken with paralysis a few days before his death on November 10, 1911. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Philadelphia.

Achievements

• Griffin was credited with the foundation of more Catholic societies and a longer connection with Catholic journalism than any of his contemporaries. His lasting reputation, however, rests upon his labors as an untrained but meticulous, critical, and honest compiler of historical materials in many volumes, which afford a firm foundation for later writers interested in Catholic contributions to American life and in ecclesiastical development.

Works

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  • Stephen Moylan: Muster-Master General, Secretary and Aide-De-Camp to Washington, Quartermaster-General, Colonel of Fourth Pennsylvania Light Dragoons ... for American Independence (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Stephen Moylan: Muster-Master General, Secre...)

  • Commodore John Barry: "The Father of the American Navy" : The Record of His Services for Our Country

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Story of Commodore John Barry

    (The Story of Commodore John Barry is presented here in a ...)

  • Catholics and the American Revolution: (V.2 ) (1907-11)

    (Originally published in 1907-11. This volume from the Cor...)

  • Catholics and the American Revolution: (V.1 ) (1907-11)

    (Originally published in 1907-11. This volume from the Cor...)

  • History of Rt, Rev. Michael Egan, First Bishop of Philadelphia (Classic Reprint)

    (History of Rt, Rev. Michael Egan, First Bishop of Philade...)

  • Frank R. Stockton; a critical biography, by Martin I. J. Griffin.

Membership

Vice-president of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia (1884), secretary of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, secretary of the Parnell Building (1860-1911), secretary of the Loan Association (1890-1911)

Connections

Griffin married Mary A. E. MacMullen, a daughter of immigrants from Donegal, on October 2, 1870. Of his six children, four survived him.

Father:

Terrence J. Griffin

Mother:

Elizabeth Doyle

Spouse:

Mary A. E. MacMullen

Daughter:

Philomena Griffin

Daughter:

Dorothea Griffin

Son:

William Griffin

Son:

Martir Griffin

References

• Records Of The American Catholic Historical Society Of Philadelphia; Volume 1
• Gallant John Barry 1745 1803 The Story Of A Naval Hero Of Two Wars - Primary Source Edition