Philanthropy
for Education
The Griffin Legacy Touches Many
Mosel Griffin Free School, rear elevation, n est side of Georoe Street. Photo taken between
/
tifi 5-1 900.
Xortb Carolina Office of Archives and History.
By Karen O’Connell
oscs Griffin lived alone,
had few friends, and never
married. But the legacy of
Moses Griffin touched the lives of many
poor, orphan girls. Born in 1753 and
a lifetime resident of Craven County,
Moses inherited property from Solomon
Griffin, his lather.
With little formal education, Moses
Griffin ran successful mercantile and
real estate businesses and accumulated
extensive property holdings in New Bern.
Living frugally, investing his profits
wisely, and avoiding social interaction,
Moses Griffin earned a reputation as an
eccentric miser.
Conscientious caretaker of his resources
in life and death, Griffin appointed
five executors in preparation for the
administration of his estate. His will,
probated in June of 1816, directed the
executors to invest estate funds in bank
shares or to make loans at interest. With
ample investment returns, the trustees
were instructed to purchase two acres
of land in a convenient and healthy
place near New Bern and oversee the
construction of a story-and-a-half
brick house. Griffin allowed for a large
space on the first floor suitable for a
schoolroom and finishing of the rest in a
“plain manner fit for the accommodations
of indigent scholars which house shall
be called Griffins Free School.” Griffins
will detailed the employment of a proper
schoolmaster, and the school’s purpose
was to teach and educate
"... as many orphan children or the
children of such other poor and
indigent persons as are unable to
accomplish it with their own means,
and who in the judgment of my
trustees are best entitled to the benefit
of this donation.’
The executors incorporated the school
in 1 833 and purchased a tract of land on
George Street northwest of Cedar Grove
Cemetery. In 1835, construction of the
schoolhouse commenced.
Under the guidance of the trustees, the
Griffin estate flourished; however, some
of iMoses Griffin’s plans did not come
to fruition. Because boys had access to
various trades, the trustees decided to
educate only poor girls. Rather than
hiring a headmaster as Griffin specified,
the trustees selected a headmistress, Arete
Ellis, daugher of George and Amaryllis
Ellis, who dedicated her life to the
school. She followed strict rules and
regulations as she cared for 20 girls, who
were provided with housing, clothing,
a proper diet and medical treatment.
Classes were conducted in reading,
writing, mathematics, and also in sewing,
weaving, knitting, spinning, cooking,
milking, housework, and gardening. The
girls were instructed in the bible, religion,
and morality and were led in evening
prayers. Regularly, Ellis took the girls
and her Saint Bernard into the woods to
gather wildflowers, and on Sundays she
accompanied rhem - decked in white
uniforms in summer and blue in winter
- to Christ Episcopal Church.
Financially stable in 1861 ar the
dawn of the Civil War, the Griffin Free
School fund claimed $60,000 in bank
stock, and classes continued until March
1862. During the War, the school
closed and the pupils, placed in local
homes, attended classes held in the west
wing at Tryon Palace and in a makeshift
classroom in the back of All Saints
Chapel.
Ihe Griffin School also played a role
in the history of the New Bern Academy
and the New Bern Graded School. In
1 882, the New Bern Academy was
struggling financially. The trustees of the
Academy battled to revive the school,
bur eventually deemed the school no
longer fiscally viable. In August, the
trustees agreed to manage a graded school
subsidized by $900 generated by the lease
of Academy property, $2,000 from the
Educational Association, $1,000 from the
Craven County Educational Fund, and
$500 from the Moses Griffin Fund. The
New Bern Graded School opened on
October 2, 1882.
In 1908 the Griffin School closed,
and the property was sold. At the final
accounting, the remaining Griffin School
assets of $4,500 transferred to New Bern
Graded Schools. The Griffin School
building burned during the Great Fire of
1922.
Moses Griffin obviously believed in the
consequences of education. I Iis legacy
continued on page 7
Summer 2008
Glace 9
