Solomon Bulkley Griffin

Background

Solomon Bulkley Griffin was born on August 13, 1852 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the third of the four children of Nathaniel Herrick and Hannah Elizabeth (Bulkley) Griffin, and the sixth in descent from Jasper Griffing, a Welshman, who settled in Southold, about 1675.

He was named for his maternal grandfather, Maj. Solomon Bulkley of Williamstown.

His father, a Congregational minister, was connected with Williams College for thirty-two years, first as professor of ancient languages and later as librarian.

Education

Griffin was a member of the class of 1872 at Williams, but because of weak eyes he did not take all the courses required for graduation. He did become locally famous, however, as an expert first-baseman.

Career

In 1872 Griffin began his lifelong service on the Springfield Daily Republican, his first salary being twenty-five dollars a month. He was promoted to managing editor on the death of the second Samuel Bowles in 1878 and retained this position for forty-one years. To him, almost as much as to the third Samuel Bowles, belongs the credit for maintaining the Republican as the best of American provincial newspapers.

At first much of his work consisted of reporting the news of the Connecticut Valley and of western Massachusetts, and for years he wrote the bulk of the editorial matter printed under the caption “State and Local Topics” in the Sunday Republican. His wider reputation rested on his political reporting and on his editorials. In 1885 he spent an extended vacation in Mexico, sending home to his paper a series of letters later republished as Mexico of To-day (1886).

He was an alumni trustee of Williams College, 1910-20, and a permanent trustee for the rest of his life.

He succeeded his employer as a member of the advisory board of the Pulitzer School of Journalism in Columbia University.

After his retirement in 1919, he wrote a volume of reminiscences, People and Politics Observed by a Massachusetts Editor (1923), and at the time of his death had just finished the proofs of a panegyric on W. Murray Crane: A Man and Brother (1926). He and Crane had been close friends for many years.

Griffin’s death came without warning as the result of a heart attack.

Achievements

• Griffin was famous as president of the Hampshire Paper Company of South Hadley Falls, vice-president of the Carew Manufacturing Company of South Hadley, and a director of the Southworth Paper Company of Mittineague.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Mexico Of Today (1886)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • After the busy years, 1872-1919; some evidences of their fruitage, assembled for my family and friends

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Mexico of to-day

    (Mexico of to-day by Solomon Bulkley Griffin. This book i...)

  • People and Politics Observed by a Massachusetts Editor
  • W. Murray Crane: A Man and Brother

Personality

His old-fashioned dignity, simplicity, and solidity of character were incorporated in a stalwart, thick-set body and a bushy, reddish-brown beard.

Connections

On November 25, 1892, he married Ida M. Southworth of Springfield. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Father:

Nathaniel Herrick Griffin

Mother:

Hannah Elizabeth (Bulkley) Griffin

Spouse:

Ida M. Southworth

Friend:

W. Murray Crane