D-3-6
Deacon Samuel Griffin
Samuel Griffin was one of the early settlers of Packersfield coming after military service around Boston including Bunker Hill. He bought land here in 1777 and is thought to have moved to Packersfield in 1779. He built a house here and married Sophia Foster, the daughter of the first settled minister in Packersfield in 1783. They had 12 children. In 1791 a fire broke out in the night and the family were roused by Thomas Gurler aged 16 and the son of Widow Betsy Gurler who was living with the family. In the days before modern fire-fighting equipment, the house must have been destroyed. Undoubtedly the neighbors turned out to house the family and rebuild their home.
Samuel Griffin died in 1811 and his widow Sophia continued on the place. In 1822 she took in the aging Dr. Samuel Skinner (C-4-4) who lived there until his death in 1826. Sophia probably lived on the place until her death in 1846. After that the occupancy is unclear. When George Hardy acquired the property to add to his farm in 1853, the house was probably abandoned; it appeared on the 1858 County Map, but with no occupant listed.
