Ellen Griffin - Grove Street Cemetery - New Haven, CT - Broken Column Headstones on Waymarking.com

Ellen Griffin has one of three broken column tombstones in a family plot that includes her parents. She made headlines after her death for being an unmarried woman whose unsuccessful engagement seemed to leave her jaded, and for leaving a large inheritance to her beloved dog.

She was born on September 18, 1844 in New York and died on April 12, 1901 in Santa Barbara, California.

This article was found on newspapers.com:

"Santa Barbara, April 14- [Exclusive Dispatch] Miss Ellen Griffin who died in New York and left $10,000 for the care of a pet dog and the balance of a large estate to nieces in Santa Barbara, was very well known here. Her mother was the beautiful Pastora de Forest, who, in 1854, married Charles A. Griffin of New York. When she came back years after she was an ugly, ill-tempered old woman, who fought with every one, put on airs of a social dictator and browbeat her daughter, Ellen, until the latter left her. Mrs. Griffin endeavored to have Ellen confined in an insane asylum, but failed.
Ellen, who persistently refused to be with her mother even when death was approaching, hastened to her aside as soon as life had left her body and shocked the community by tearing valuable rings from the dead fingers, explaining that if she waited, she feared she would have to cut off the fingers in order to remove the coveted jewels.
The estate was estimated to exceed $100,000. It was divided between the daughter and children of Mrs. Griffin's dead son, a civil engineer well known in San Francisco, who was t the head of the original Atlantic and Pacific Railroad survey in 1881."

Source: Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1901; retrieved from newspapers.com

Additional articles about Ellen and her funeral are in the photo gallery.

The Grove Street Cemetery is the resting place of many prominent residents of New Haven, including writers, scientists, and students from the Yale community. Famous people buried here include Noah Webster and Eli Whitney.

Headstone/Monument Text: Ellen A. Griffin Daughter of Pastora DeForest Griffin Born September 18, 1823 Died April 12, 1901 Website with More Information: Not listed

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