DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at the site of Griffin, in Cherokee County, has to say — and friend, this one's worth the stop. Once upon a time, right here in East Texas, a group of settlers put down roots and named their new home after the place they'd come from — Griffin, Georgia. By the early 1850s, this wasn't just a clearing in the pines.
Griffin was a flourishing town. People, commerce, the whole works. And in 1857, in this very place, a boy was born.
His name was John Benjamin Kendrick. Now, you might think a boy born in a small East Texas town was destined to stay close to home. But John Kendrick had other ideas — or maybe the trail just called to him.
For years he went up the trail with herds of cattle, which in those days was about as hard and honest a way to earn your keep as Texas had to offer. Then, in 1879, he settled in Wyoming. Here's where the story takes a turn that could make you smile a little.
The boy from Griffin, Texas — a town that was already starting to thin out by then — went on to serve in the Wyoming State Senate from 1910 to 1914, then as Governor of Wyoming from 1914 to 1916, and then as a United States Senator from 1916 all the way to 1933. A Texas cowboy, in the halls of the U.S. Senate.
You can't write that. Back home, though, Griffin was fighting a different kind of battle — and losing it quietly. After 1872, the railroad towns started pulling people away, one family, one business at a time.
No drama, no single moment of collapse. Just a slow, steady emptying out. The last store here closed in 1930.
John Benjamin Kendrick died in 1933 — the same year the town that made him was already long gone in all but memory. The senator outlasted the town, just barely. And now there's a marker where Griffin used to stand, holding the whole story together so it doesn't disappear too.
What the marker says
Founded by settlers who came from Griffin, Georgia. In the early 1850s became a flourishing town. Birthplace of John Benjamin Kendrick (1857-1933), Texas cowboy who settled in Wyoming in 1879 after going up the trail for years with herds of cattle. He served in Wyoming State Senate, 1910-1914, Governor, 1914-1916, then as U.S. Senator, 1916-1933. Town of Griffin gradually lost people and businesses to railroad towns after 1872. Last store here was closed 1930.