Ramblings
Saunterings
Ramblings: about North-West England
Ramblings is a set of articles about North-West England, of unknown authorship and
indeterminate date, believed to have been written for amusement on rainy days,
which are not unknown in North-West England.
44. Barking up the Wrong Tree
An Email from the Editor of the Courier
>>>>>At 13:44 3/10/2006, you wrote:
>>>>>Greetings from an American cousin!
If you are a cousin of mine you are far removed! But greetings in
return.
>>>>>I am mailing to ask you and your readers for help in tracking
down my ancestors. I have managed to work out a complete
family tree back five generations, that is, to my 32 great-great-great-grandparents. 31 of these were worthless vagabonds,
crooks and ne’er-do-wells. It follows that all my genes are
inherited from the 32nd great-great-great-grandparent, Jeremiah
Garfield-Grigg, who hailed from Cumberland. Have you heard
of him?
No, I’m afraid not.
>>>>>Don’t be misled by the Garfield, by the way. It was the custom
for immigrants without a middle name to invent an impressive
new one, to help make a better start in the New World. When
he set off for the United States in 1889 he was a plain Jeremiah
Grigg.
Still never heard of him, sorry.
>>>>>He hyphenated the Garfield when he set up Garfield-Grigg’s
Guns, or GG Guns, as it became known throughout America.
He made millions manufacturing bespoke blunderbusses from
the spokes of recycled penny-farthings. He was, by all
accounts, a warm, generous man of great energy and wisdom.
I am his sole living descendant, and I have inherited his vast
fortune as well as his genes!
Congratulations indeed!
>>>>>I am trying to find out more about the Grigg family and the
circumstances of Jeremiah Grigg’s emigration. The Griggs
are, I understand, from Greygarthwaitedale, which I’m told is
pronounced ‘Grdl’.
Yes, but do you pronounce ‘Grdl’ how we pronounce ‘Grdl’?
>>>>>I have spent many hours searching through on-line databases
of censuses and church archives back to the 17th century but it
is hard to make sense of them. All the Griggs had about a
dozen children (must be the long, rainy nights), about half of
whom immediately disappear (die, I suppose). They all seem
to marry relatives, some of whom are also called Grigg. And
Grigg is sometimes spelled Grig, Greg, Gregg or even Grogg.
Are there any Griggs about nowadays?
Yes, they often appear in the Courier, in the court proceedings.
There is still an enclave of them in Greygarthwaitedale, a disgrace
to the region. They live on turnips and tourists.
>>>>>If so, I expect that, being from the same stock as Jeremiah
Garfield-Grigg, they are all senators and lords (or ladies) now.
Sinners and layabouts, more like.
>>>>>I have found an on-line microfiche of the Cumberland Courier
dated April 22nd 1889. This has a brief enigmatic item
entitled ‘Grigg Case Suspended’. Do your files have any further
information on this?
I have just spent a few hours consulting the files and, yes, here I
can help you.
The report to which you refer was brief probably because the case
involved scandalous matters concerning Sir Digby Denvers, the
then owner of the Courier.
There’s stuff in those files that my predecessor editor would never
have dared to print!
To cut a long story short: George Grigg (Jeremiah’s father) was
a gamekeeper on the Denvers estate at Satterthwaite. Jeremiah,
then 15, shot Sir Digby with George’s blunderbuss after finding
him ‘dallying with’ his sister Mollie, then 13. George was charged.
Jeremiah and Mollie ran off, taking all the Grigg’s money (about
£300, a large amount in those days). They drowned crossing
Morecambe Bay (or so it was believed at the time). George hanged
himself in prison. Martha, the wife, became deranged. The
remaining children were left motherless, fatherless, Jeremiahless,
Mollieless and penniless.
>>>>>I would be very grateful if you would put something in the
Courier to help me track down my relatives, past and present.
Certainly. I will serialise this melodrama over the next ten weeks.
It has everything: class, sex, money, trauma, death. Circulation
will increase no end. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
By the way, do you know what happened to little Mollie? I am
sure our readers would like to know.
>>>>>Could you give me the addresses of any present Griggs. I am so
much looking forward to becoming part of the English nobility!
Of course. I am sure that they will be delighted to hear from you.
That £300, with inflation and interest since 1889, will yield them
a fortune, not as vast as yours no doubt but adequate perhaps to
help them towards the nobility you desire.
>>>>>Thank you. Eleanor Garfield-Grigg
You’re welcome.
Photos:
A GG Guns blunderbuss, showing the artistry for which GG
Guns was renowned.
Jeremiah Garfield-Grigg on
a penny-farthing similar
to those he converted into blunderbusses
Comments:
• GG Guns is not to be confused with G&G Guns.
GG Guns went bankrupt as its guns became too magnificent for its clientele.
G&G Guns sells airsoft guns, which aren't real guns - they are replica firearms (or toys).
• Any news of little Mollie?
• There is a Greggs in Ambleside. Any relation?
Ramblings
Saunterings
© John Self, Drakkar Press, 2024-
Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale;
Bottom photo: Ullswater