The death of young Isaac Griffen is noted in 1862

#onthisday in 1862 The death of Quaker Spring’s young Isaac T. Griffen was noted in the Liberator. * “Died – At Quaker Springs, Saratoga Co., N.Y., April 4, Isaac T. Griffen, son of Isaac and Anna Griffen, in the 18th year of his age.* The deceased was a young man of rare promise, a dutiful son, and affectionate brother, greatly beloved by a large circle of friends. He had excellent mental powers, was assiduously pursuing his studies, possessed remarkably discriminating judgment, based upon correct principles, and had before him the prospect of an intended career of usefulness. The Liberator has been a weekly visitor from its earliest days in their family, and he grew up with it as a counsellor. He felt a deep in lively interest in the great conflict between freedom in slavery.* We part with him with a sense of deep grief and keen regret, but conscious that a new sphere of life upon which he has for us early entered will be a full of interest and joy to him.* P.”* The Liberator’s first edition was 1 Jan 1831 with the motto: “Our country is the world—our countrymen are mankind.” The weekly newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison in Boston, Massachusetts. Garrison was a journalistic crusader who advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves and gained a national reputation for being one of the most radical of American abolitionists. The Liberator denounced the Compromise of 1850, condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, damned the Dred Scott decision and hailed John Brown’s raid as “God’s method of dealing retribution upon the head of the tyrant.”. The slaveholders in the South demanded the end of the incendiary paper and the state of Georgia offered a $5,000 reward for Garrison’s capture. The Liberator was a mighty force from the beginning and became the most influential newspaper in the antebellum antislavery crusade.* The boy’s father, Isaac Griffen, five years before his death was awarded a patent for a potato diggers (2 June 1857). The Griffen family is still active in our community. They have a long history of servicing on various public boards in the Town of Saratoga. In addition, the family has been involved in the Methodist Church, fire department and the agriculture community. Saratoga Sod is owned by the Griffen family.