On November 23, 1807, John Griffin was born in Castleton, Vermont, to parents who immigrated from England.

[1] Griffin arrived in Oregon in 1839 and stayed at the Whitman Mission the first year before moving to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.

[1] In 1841 he settled on the Tualatin Plains in what is now Washington County, Oregon, where he would establish a church on June 26, 1842.

[2] Griffin continued as minister of the congregation until the parishioners removed him in 1845 because of his rigid beliefs, replacing him with Harvey L.

[3] While living on the plains Griffin set up his own personal jail in order to detain Native Americans who would steal from him.