The Griffith Homesite and Cemetery
Dobbin, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Elias R. Wightman, a surveyor in Stephen F. Austin's first colony, returned to the United States in 1828 to recruit additional settlers. Two colonists who joined him in New York were his sister Esther (1788-1863) and her husband Noah Griffith (1786-1853). In the early part of 1829 they arrived at the Texas port of Matagorda, platted earlier by Wightman. As settlers of Austin's second colony, the Griffiths received a land grant at this site from the Mexican government. They moved here with their three sons in 1831 and built a log cabin on the property. Their oldest son, Leroy Alonzo (1821-1883), served in local government before moving to Salado in Bell County. There he helped organize the first Texas grange movement, an alliance of farmers, in 1873. Another son, Joshua Delos (1825-1887), buried here, operated one of the first sawmills in the area. The third son, John Maynard (b. 1828), married Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson, who was known as "the babe of the Alamo" because she and her mother Suzanna Dickinson had survived the 1836 battle. Noah and Esther Griffith were buried 20 feet from her in front of their homesite. The cemetery is used for the burial of family members and friends.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When surveyor Elias Wightman returned east in 1828 to recruit colonists for Stephen F. Austin's Texas venture, among those who joined him were his sister Esther and her husband Noah Griffith. Arriving through the port of Matagorda in 1829, the family received a Mexican land grant here and built a log cabin in 1831. Their sons spread into Texas life — one helped organize an early grange of farmers, another ran an early sawmill, and a third married Angelina Dickinson, remembered as "the babe of the Alamo" who survived the 1836 battle as an infant.
Why it matters
This homesite links an ordinary pioneer family to the founding colonization of Anglo Texas and, through marriage, to the legend of the Alamo itself.
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Related people
- · Elias R. Wightman
- · Noah Griffith
- · Esther Wightman Griffith
- · Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson
- · Susanna Dickinson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Noah Griffith (1786-1853) _ Esther Wightman Griffith (1788-1863)
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Noah Griffith and his wife Esther, born in the 1780s, came to Texas from New York in 1829 as members of Stephen F. Austin's second colony. After a time in the port community of Matagorda, they moved to this site in 1831 on land granted them by the Mexican government. A farmer and miller, Noah saw the family home serve as an early polling place for the fledgling community.
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