DONE: John Harold Griffin and Dorothy Wilkes

John Harold Griffin and Family

When John Harold Griffin was born on December 28, 1885 in Kingston Seymour, Somerset, England, his father John (1860-1937) was 25 and his mother, Sarah Jane (nee Goodland) (1857-1931) was 28. He was the eldest child of six, and he was born within nine months of his parent's marriage on March 24, 1884. John lived with his parents until at least 1901 and appears on the 1901 census in their home.

Specific records after this time are difficult to find, but an electoral record indicates that by 1911, he was living in Wairau, Malborough, New Zealand. The specifics of his marriage are unknown, but at some point before the birth of their children, Charles married Dorothy Wilkes, likely while in New Zealand (several of Dorothy's immediate family members also emigrated to New Zealand).

When Dorothy was born on October 26, 1895, in Manchester, Lancashire, England, her parents Edward Fleming Wilkes and Ada (nee Greenhalgh) were 28. Dorothy was baptized on November 30, 1895 at the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St. Mary, St. Denys and St. George (now known as Manchester Cathedral). The couple had three children during their marriage, all born in Masterton, Wellington, New Zealand:

• Charles Griffin (1922-?) (named for his uncle, Charles Owen Griffin who died four years before his birth)
• Dorothy Elizabeth Griffin (1922-2006) (named for her mother) m. George Dunphy (1924-1983)
• Joan May Griffin (1923-1974)

I have no specific records, but Ancestry indicates that John Harold died on May 14, 1943 in Masterton, Wellington, Newzeland, at the age of 57. Dorothy died just short of her 79th birthday on October 5, 1974, in Paraparaumu, Wellington, New Zealand.

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