Warrenville 2024 Cemetery Walk: Mary Williams Griffith

During our winter closed period we are sharing the stories told during our 2024 Warrenville Cemetery Walk. We hope you enjoy reading about the people who helped shape Warrenville history. At our sixth stop, Cemetery Walk attendees got to learn a little bit about the building of the 1858 Methodist Church and a New England family that settled in Warrenville.

My name is Mary Williams Griffith. I was born on September 15, 1813, in New York. My family moved to this area in the 1830s. My parents owned large tracts of land on the west side of Warrenville. 

My mother Maria Williams was born on February 14, 1786, in Mohawk, New York, where her father was a Judge.  My father, William’s family had been in the Americans since the 1600s and had lived in Connecticut.  My parents met and married in New York. Shortly after they were married, war broke out and my dad joined the American fight and helped to defeat the British in the Battle of Sackett’s Harbor in 1812. That War of 1812 was also known as the Second American Revolution and my dad was very proud of his service on behalf of his country and their renewed freedom from British rule.

My seven siblings and I were all born in New York, but shortly after my youngest brother was born my dad took us west seeking new opportunities.  When he heard about open land available in Illinois, our family set off for the prairie.  My dad arrived at Fort Dearborn, what you today call Chicago, in 1834 where he received a loan of $43 to help us purchase land in what was then called Big Woods, just west of the area being settled by Julius Warren.  I came out west with my two oldest brothers in 1836 to help my dad start building our home and my mother and other five siblings joined us in 1838. It was a long time to be divided as a family and as the oldest daughter a lot of responsibility fell to me.

The risk of moving west and starting over in Illinois was well worth it though. Our family farm prospered, and the area grew up around our land. What you all call Williams Road today was actually the lane that connected Big Woods Road, what you now call Warrenville Road, to our farm. Our farm was so prosperous that it even allowed other members of our family to move from out east to join us here in town. My cousin B.C. Williams came to live with us and work on our farm. He also picked up other jobs in the community, including helping to build the Warrenville Methodist Church in 1858. It was a beautiful church and I’m so glad to hear you all still use that building as the Warrenville Museum today. Sadly, one day when my cousin was working on the roof of the church on unsteady scaffolding he fell gravely injuring his back. The church was such a wonderful thing to come from his tragedy, and to know that famous artists also called that building home at one time is so very interesting.  

Our family experienced other tragedies that were not uncommon for the time. My sister Susan died shortly after she married at the age of 20 years old. My brother died at the age of 33, and our brother George died at just 21. We didn’t have the benefits of modern medicine as you all do today.   

I grew up to marry a local boy William Griffith and we had three children of our own. As we lived out our adulthood watching our children prosper, the Civil War shook our nation when it broke out in 1861. Even though William was 51 years old he volunteered to go fight with the 49 other brave Warrenville men. Thankfully he returned home safely from the war. We lived out the rest of their days in Warrenville.  I passed away in 1897 at the age of 83. Thank you