John Strother Griffin

[2] His father dying when young John was seven and his mother when he was nine, Griffin was then brought up and given a "classical education" in Louisville, Kentucky, by a maternal uncle, George Hancock.

Griffin succumbed in his Eastside Los Angeles home, 1109 Downey Ave., where he lived with his nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. Hancock M. Johnson, and their children.

Worth in Florida and, with the rank of captain, on the Southwest frontier at Fort Gibson, Griffin came to California for the first time with General Kearney on the trek from New Mexico in 1846.

[8][9] Doctor Griffin's story concerns the hardships endured by General Kearney's small force as it crossed the unknown and trackless deserts, and it recounts what took place in the battles of San Pascual, San Gabriel, La Mesa and Los Angeles, and reveals his methods of treatment for wounds and diseases afflicting the soldiers in his charge.

[3][4] In Griffin's obituary, the Los Angeles Times noted that: Physicians were scarce in those days, and a man with a university education and seventeen years' experience as army surgeon and general pratictioner was instantly welcomed and called to minister to the ailments of all the best people around.

[12] Medical historian John Long Wilson wrote that King, who was active during the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance era: dared to expose scoundrels in both public and private domains; and by relentlessly pursuing a campaign against them, he changed the course of history in the beleaguered city.

[13]Doctors who first treated King had inserted a sponge into the bullet wound to stanch the bleeding and were debating whether to remove it in order to fight a severe infection that had arisen.

[14] Wilson opined that: Dr. Griffin's conspicuous army service in Southern California combined with his sterling personal qualities no doubt contributed to his rapid rise to leadership in civic and business affairs in Los Angeles, and to his acquisition of a large surgical practice within a few years.

Although memorial statements about his career say that he sought new treatments and was not hesitant to discard old methods, we have no specifics as to the meaning of these generalities and we have no information about his experience with vascular surgery.

[15] In return for his work in stemming a smallpox epidemic, the city of Los Angeles awarded Griffin a plot of land on what was called the "Enchanted Hill" where Lincoln High School was later built (now 3501 North Broadway).