Bell from the boat "Sally Bell" owned by the Griffin family, Circa 1910-1930
Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 1 Item
- Language:
- English
Background
- Scope and content:
Bell, brass, has white braided rope tied to ringer. The bell was on the boat Sally Bell, which traveled on the New River Canal in Davie. Written on side: "Sally Bell Griffin Co." Bell is 5 7/8" diameter and appx 5" tall. The boat was named after Sally Griffin. The business was started in 1910.
- Biographical / historical:
Anna Elida Griffin Hammer gives the following account: "In 1909, due to appealing ads and enthusiastic salesmen, William David Griffin, a railroad man, moved from Kentucky with his wife Sally Frances and two sons, T. M. and William Alfred (Al). The elder Griffin farmed and the sons started a boat hauling business, picking up the farmers' produce, passenger and mail, and transporting them to Ft. Lauderdale. The produce was then shipped out by train to northern markets. On their return home, they brought groceries, mail, ice, animals, furniture, fertilizer, seed, farm implements, hampers and passengers, according to what had been ordered for the needs of the small settlement.
The younger son of the Griffin Family, William Alfred, met and married Anna Zanetti, a Panamanian, who came to this area with her mother and other member of her family, from the Panama Canal Zone, to seek their fortune from the rich agricultural land. Al and Anna established their home in a houseboat which Al built. Their family grew to six sons and two daughters. In later years they banked the houseboat, and the older boys helped their father build on a basement and add extra rooms to the house. The children swam in the nearby canal, always being cautious of the snakes and alligators. In 1937, when A. D., the oldest brother was sixteen, and Jerry, the youngest was six, both parents were killed in an automobile accident. Their older sister and her husband, Anna Elida and Ralph Hammer, moved into the home of their parents, and took over the responsibility of the Griffin boys until their adulthood. Anna's younger sister, Christina, was already married to Kenneth King, and they lived nearby. The six boys all attended Davie Elementary School; they all graduated from Ft. Lauderdale High School; three served in the U. S Army during World War II."
Griffin Road in southern Broward County is named after Al and Anna Griffin.
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Produce trade
Boats and boating - Places:
- Davie (Fla.)
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
Broward County Historical Archives, Broward County Library100 S. Andrews AvenueFort LauderdaleFL33301USA
