Descendants of Sir John Griggs, Sr.

Sir John Griggs, Sr. was born about 1410 in Suffolk County, England, about 100 miles northeast of London. He is the earliest-known ancestor in our branch of the Griggs Family and is the thirteenth-great-grandfather of Gary Griggs, who was born in 1940 in Tomah.

According to "Muskett's Suffolk Memorial Families," Sir John is the earliest person known to have used the name Griggs, and we have been able to develop a direct link from him to the Griggs family members that lived in Monroe County. Three of his fifth-generation descendants--namely, Thomas, George and Stephen--emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639, less than 20 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The five siblings of the three sons are believed to have remained in England.

Over the next 200+ years, the descendants of Thomas lived in Connecticut and Vermont, before one of his fourth-great-grandsons, Lucius Smith Griggs, moved to Wisconsin in 1855. Lucius was the original owner of the first drug store in Tomah, which is now Rexall Drugs. After selling the store in 1874, Lucius purchased a 160-acre farm on the southeast corner of the intersection of Highways 12 and 21, north of town. The farm is no longer in existence, as that property is now part of the I-94 interchange.

Major family names that married into our branch of the Griggs family since the 1800's include Root, Dewey, Griswold, Richardson, Smith, Watrous and Vandervort. The people who have "(*)" after their name are the direct descendants of Sir John Griggs, Sr., who were ancestors of the Griggs Family of Monroe County.

The Griggs Coat of Arms is shown for his son, Sir. John Griggs, Jr. It contains the motto "Casu Non Mutatus," which is interpreted to mean "I will not be stayed from my cause" or "My cause will not be changed." "Casu" is "reason behind or cause," "Mutatus" is "change or alteration" and "Non" is "not."