ABSTRACT
The Welsh immigrant clockmaker Humphrey Griffith skirted the ban on the emigration of skilled workers. Leaving via Dublin in 1817, he resumed his trade in Ohio, where he became a leading artisan and citizen. In the summer of 1836 he retired from business with a competency, which he increased by judicious investments. He avoided bold speculations, and scrupulously shunned contracting a debt. He felt great interest in the growth of the city, and was always prominent in every scheme of substantial improvement. In early days Griffith was an active member of the Common Council, and also served for a term or more as city treasurer. His leading characteristics were punctuality in all things, great or little, and an investigating mind. /He was a great reader and thinker, and developed more than ordinary mechanical ingenuity. He was modest and sensitive, always truthful and perfectly reliable.
