A Mississippi Family

Book excerpt: From a plantation ledger, an abandoned graveyard, a fragile manuscript, and old newspapers, author Mary Helen Griffin Halloran has raised the bones of her ancestors and made them come alive in this memoir that traces the history of five generations of her Mississippi family. In A Mississippi Family, Halloran has painted a backdrop to the life the family lived. The story begins with the life and times of three men: Jonas Griffin (17621815), his son Francis Griffin (1800-1865), and his son Judge John Bettis Griffin (18261903). It ends with portraits of two remarkable women, Judge Johns daughters, Mary Lane Griffin (18581942) and Helen Knight Griffin (18641949). The stories of these five people, whose fates and values shaped the lives of their children, capture the early history of the Mississippi Delta, Warren and Washington Counties, and the town of Greenville. Telling tales of river journeys and life on southern plantations, Hallorans meticulous research has provided a record of her fascinating family saga at a crucial period in the history of the county, state, and nation.