Interview with
 James and Alethia (Fields) Griffin
452 Cokesbury Rd., Port Deposit, MD 21904
Conducted by Fred Kelso
Oxford, PA
10/3/96  to 10/10/1996
=Three Interviews listed below=

10/3/96 

Alethia and her mother worked as housekeepers for the Cecil Ewing family
Alethia for 50 years, her mother for 18

Alethia’s father, Thomas Fields, worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad

James’ brothers, Charlie & Ben, who worked at the granite quarry, cut granite for their mother’s tombstone at the Cokesbury United Methodist Church cemetery.  Her name was carved into the stone and painted, as was often done.

Alethia’s grandfather, Frank Presberry, came to Port Deposit from York Co., PA with one of the log rafts.
His wife, Anne Warfield, was born in Port Deposit.

Alethia’s great grandmother, Sarah (Anbey) Warfield, is buried at the Cokesbury U.M. church.

Sarah’s husband, Gabriel Warfield, worked at the granite quarry.

Frank Presberry worked as a hod carrier at the Jacob Tome Institute.  He would carry a long pole with a pocket attached at the top end to hold mortar to be handed up to the stonemasons working on the buildings.

Alethia & James were married in 1937.

James started working at the quarry at the age of 12 as a water boy.  He worked there on and off until 1937, cutting and loading stone.

James’ father was Alexander Griffin.  James’ brothers, in order of birth, were Oscar, Benjamin, Charles, and Daniel. They all worked at the quarry.  Oscar was a blaster (he would climb the hill to set the charges). Their grandfather was William Griffin.  William was born in 1839 and also worked at the quarry.

One of the quarry projects on which the Griffin brothers worked was the jetty for Ocean City, MD, for which they cut 10-15 ton capstones as well as rip-rap which was loaded onto scows and railroad freight cars.  They cut stone for 2 large brown & rust-colored buildings at Aberdeen Proving Ground.  In 1937 they also helped cut light brown flagstones for the Lincoln Tunnel entrance in New York City.  Oscar marked the stone and James cut and drilled it - this was James’ last job for the quarry.  James remembered that the contractor for the job was a large man from Philadelphia named Donnelly who was both a stonecutter and a mason.  James said that he had to leave the quarry work or he would be dead from eating the stone dust - while working he always wore glasses and a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.

Thomas Fields laid track for the PRR, and also walked the track and cleaned switches.  During the winter his section to walk ran from Pilottown to Perryville.  He was also a foreman when the railroad put a line into the Bainbridge Naval Training Center property - Albert Chapman worked with him on this project.

The quarry company store was in a big brick building at Rock Run.  The Poist family lived next door to it when it closed.  In 1910 the Johnstown Flood inundated Port Deposit and Alethia remembered seeing shoes float out of the store and down the street.

Alethia and James’ daughter, Evelyn Jordan, has been with the Cecil County Board of Education since 1960.  She is currently the Principal of Bainbridge Elementary School.

The first baseball diamond in town where the Port Deposit Black Sox played was right on the river, behind the train station, where Tome’s Landing Restaurant now stands.  Around 1934 the men of the community cut down trees at the old Log Pond of the Canal and built a new ball field called “Canal Field”.

Joe Stewart was on the team - he was Sonny & Bill Stewart’s father.

Alethia’s father, Thomas Fields, formed the Black Sox in the 1920’s.  They played teams from Elkton, Baltimore, and Pennsylvania.

George McMullin played on the team in the early days and is currently living on Rock Run Rd.

James is 84 years young.

 

Interview with James and Alethia (Fields) Griffin
452 Cokesbury Rd., Port Deposit, MD 21904
Conducted by Fred Kelso
Oxford, PA
10/5/96

James’ paternal grandmother was Jennie (Dunmore) Griffin.

James’ mother, Eva Hopkins, was born on the Pennsylvania line in Peach Bottom, PA.  Her mother’s maiden name was Foard.

Alethia’s grandmother, Annie Presberry, was the first midwife in Port Deposit.  One of the last babies she delivered was Alethia’s daughter, Evelyn.

 

Interview with James and Alethia (Fields) Griffin
452 Cokesbury Rd., Port Deposit, MD 21904
Conducted by Fred Kelso
Oxford, PA
10/10/96

The church at the bottom of Bainbridge Rd. was the Bethel A.M.E. church.  The picture in the Paw-Paw collection was given by Marie (Tilden) Bond.

Alethia’s mother, and her mother’s mother, attended Howard Chapel.  Alethia’s father taught Sunday School there.

Alethia’s paternal grandmother went to Bethel A.M.E. church, while her husband attended Howard Chapel.

Oliver & Mary Mason bought the Howard Chapel building and owned it until it fell down.

Alethia attended the colored school on Center Street, as did her grandmother, Annie Presberry.  This was “Colored School #1”.

Lula Johnson, who married John McMullin, taught at the colored school on the canal.

James served on the Great Lakes and in California during WWII.  He was stationed in Chicago with the Navy.

Men came up from the south to work at the Keystone Quarry, including Morgan and Sims.  John & Bea Walker were the last to come up.  They worked for the Donaldson Browns and lived in one of the quarry houses.  These southern families attended the Baptist church in Port.

Alexander Griffin worked for 90 cents a day at the McClenahan quarries, and left for $1.00 a day at the Keystone Quarries before the Conowingo Dam was built.

The house furthest up Center Street (now covered with kudzu vines) was built by a Caswell lady.  The Caswells were Miss Mary, Miss Georgie, and Mr. Tommy.

Alethia & James’ daughter is Evelyn Jordan, principal at Bainbridge Elementary.  Her son Vada lives in Abingdon and works for Brinks Security Systems in Baltimore.  

Alethia & James’ son is James Griffin, Jr.  He lives in Raleigh and is in the broadcasting business.  His daughter Regina is a TV producer in Chicago.  His son Michael works for a bank in Raleigh.

Alethia’s grandmother had 6 children. 

Alethia’s mother had 12 children; 5 died in infancy.  Alethia’s sister Rosamond “Sabrina” Joyner has worked on the Susquehanna Toll Bridge for 22 years.  Her sister Adelaide Tasco is retired from Aberdeen Proving Grounds.  Her brother Anthony (deceased) was in the Marines and was a photographer at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.  Her older brother Thomas Fields, Jr. (deceased) was in the Navy.

Thomas Fields’ siblings were Mary, who married Horace Stewart (he worked at Campbell’s Wharf and then at the Port Deposit P.O., as did Henry Mason); Hannah Scott; Heddy Nickleson; Catherine “Sue” Dosier, died 1962; Albert; and James.

Annie Warfield Presberry’s sister Margaret was a Catholic in Port. She married Joseph Henry.

Dick Mohrlein had the livery stable in Port when Alethia was growing up.

Annie Presberry’s brother-in-law, James Randall, worked in the Tome mansion for Evalyn Nesbitt Tome.

Benjamin Brown put up his house as collateral for the purchase of the old Presbyterian church building to be used as the First Baptist Church.  He ended up losing the house.  He owned the “Crow’s Nest,” the house where Tom Coudon’s mother now lives.

Alethia and her mother did laundry at Silver Cross Home in the afternoons until 1942.  The home closed in ‘43 or ‘44.  They worked for the Ewings in the mornings.  Miss Emma Brown of Rising Sun was the oldest patient there.  Rev. Mason’s wife did the cooking at Silver Cross, and he did the gardening and ran errands.

When Alethia was to be born, her mother became anemic and was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for the delivery.  Alethia was named by Linda Anderson’s sister Jean, who was a nurse at Hopkins.

Thomas Fields served in France during WWI.

Alethia’s mother was married at 15 and gave birth to Alethia when she was 25.  She “went to housekeeping” at LeBrun’s house (which at one time was Heckart’s School for Girls). 

Thomas’ father, James W. Fields, probably worked at the quarry.  He was born in Fayetteville, NC.

When Frank Presberry came to town from York, PA he boarded with the Caswell family (John & Sarah).  He was a hod carrier in Atlantic City as well as at JTI.