Ancestor of the Day #2: Ernest Emmit Griffith — The Morning the Dynamite Went Off

He was 26 years old, a farmer in Whitney Township, Michigan, and he died at 11:30 on a Thursday morning — September 23, 1915. His death certificate says it in handwriting I can read plain as day: “Dynamite Shot (accidental).”

Ernest Emmit Griffith was my great-grandfather. The newspaper called him Emmett. The death certificate calls him Emmet. My own research files say Ernest Emmit. I believe they’re all the same man — records spell names the way ears heard them — and his mother’s name wobbles the same way: Cortright, Courtright, Cartnight. I grew up hearing “Cartright.” That’s how family history really sounds.

Here’s what happened that morning, from the Arenac County Independent, September 23, 1915 — “EXPLOSION KILLS TWO MEN”:

Emmett Griffith and 19-year-old Robert Smith were blowing up stumps, clearing farmland the way everybody did it then. They sat down on a log to rest a moment. Beside them sat a pail holding 20 sticks of dynamite, a quantity of dynamite caps, and fuse. Both men were smoking, and the supposition is that a spark from one of their pipes fell into the pail. The explosion came a few minutes after they sat down.

Griffith had both legs blown off near the thigh and was otherwise mangled. He lived two to three hours. Smith lost a leg and an arm and died about five o’clock that afternoon. Both men regained consciousness before they died, and both told the same story. The funerals were held Saturday and Sunday.

Here is the article itself, word for word:

“Explosion Kills Two Men: Two Delano Farmers, Robert Smith and Emmett Griffith, Have Fatal Accident with dynamite. As a result of a premature explosion of 20 sticks of dynamite, the lives of two well known Delano farmers were snuffed out last Thursday. Emmett Griffith and Robert Smith were blowing up stumps and had set down on a log to rest a moment. Near them was a pail containing 20 sticks of dynamite, a quantity of dynamite caps and fuse. They both were smoking and the supposition is that a spark from one of their pipes fell into the pail and caused the explosion which occurred a few minutes after they had seated themselves. Griffith had both legs off near the thigh and otherwise mangled. He lived for only two or three hours after the accident. Smith had one leg and one arm blown off and suffered other severe injuries. He died about 5 o’clock that afternoon. Both men regained consciousness before they died and told the same story as to how the accident occurred. The funerals were held Saturday and Sunday. Griffith was 26 years old and leaves a widow and one child. Smith was 19 years old and single. The sympathy of the entire community is extended to the bereaved relatives.”

— Arenac County Independent, September 23, 1915 (transcription contributed by Penny Bliss, MIGenWeb Arenac County; the clipping in Coni’s research files is credited to researcher Penny Carney)

He was buried September 25, 1915, at Sims-Whitney Cemetery in Au Gres — the same Griffith family plot I wrote about here on the blog back in 2014: http://conidubois.com/2014/07/08/griffith-family-plot-sims-whitney-cemetery-also-known-as-point-lookout-cemetery/

Now here is what the newspaper didn’t know, or didn’t print. Ernest had married Lucy Genevieve Amo on March 29, 1909 — he was 19, she was 26. They’d already buried a baby boy, Murther, who died of cholera at five months in 1911. And five weeks before that dynamite went off, on August 19, 1915, Lucy gave birth to a daughter. That baby grew up to be my grandmother.

The paper said he left “a widow and one child.” My records say more than that. I report the paper’s words as written — and I keep my own count beside them. That’s the pledge: the record, honestly, even when the records argue with each other.

He was 26. A farmer. A husband. A father who never got to watch his youngest grow up. The clerk wrote “Dynamite Shot (accidental)” and moved on to the next certificate. I don’t move on. He’s mine.

🔍 LOGO HUNT: I hid my Ever Widening Circle logo somewhere in the family photo above — first one to spot it and tell me in the comments gets a shoutout in tomorrow’s Ancestor of the Day!

🗳️ YOU PICK ANCESTOR #3: Starting today, YOU vote who I feature next! Here are your three choices:

1. Lucy Genevieve Amo (1882–1947) — Ernest’s widow. She buried her dynamite-killed husband in September 1915… and was married again by the next August. Then married a third time. The dynamite widow with three husbands.
2. Clorenda Rose Short Barber Porter (1838–1912) — my 3rd great-grandmother. In July 1912 her husband, a Civil War veteran, died at 9 PM — and two hours later, shattered by the shock, she walked onto the porch, cried out, and fell dead in the farmhand’s arms. The coroner wrote her cause of death as “a shock occasioned by the death of her husband.” They were buried in a single grave.
3. Theodore James Barber (1835–1863) — he marched off with the Union’s 57th Pennsylvania at 28 and never came home from Chancellorsville.

Vote in the comments below (or in the Facebook group poll) — winner gets featured next, and I’ll read out the results in tomorrow’s post. Get your people voting!

Your turn: Has a sudden death ever rewritten your family tree in a single day? Tell me in the comments.

Tomorrow afternoon: another ancestor, another record. And remember — one Ancestor of the Day each week is YOUR ancestor. Brick wall? Send it through my contact form at https://conidubois.fyi/contact.

— Coni

Sources: State of Michigan Certificate of Death, Arenac County, Whitney Township (Sept 23, 1915 — Coni’s files) · “EXPLOSION KILLS TWO MEN,” Arenac County Independent, Sept 23, 1915 (transcription at MIGenWeb Arenac County https://migenweb.org/arenac/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/d-explosion-kills-griffith-smith-bliss.pdf, contributed by Penny Bliss; the clipping in Coni’s research files is credited to researcher Penny Carney) · Individual Report for Ernest Emmit Griffith, by Coni Dubois (1900 & 1910 U.S. Federal Census; Michigan Marriage Records; Michigan Deaths and Burials Index; Find A Grave #62841351) · Griffith Family Plot @ Sims-Whitney Cemetery http://conidubois.com/2014/07/08/griffith-family-plot-sims-whitney-cemetery-also-known-as-point-lookout-cemetery/ (this blog, 2014)

#AncestorOfTheDay #EverWideningCircle