William Griffis died on February 5, 1928, in
Winter Park, Florida; after his death, his body was sent to
Schenectady, New York, for burial. He is buried at
Vale Cemetery along with his first wife, Katherine Lyra Stanton, his son
John and his second wife, Sarah Francis King, after the death of Katherine in 1898 along with several other family members.
Modernizer in Japan
In September 1870 Griffis was invited to
Japan by
Matsudaira Shungaku, for the purpose of organizing schools along modern lines. In 1871, he was Superintendent of Education in the province of Echizen.[3] In recompense, he was provided with a salary of $2,400, a house in
Fukui and a horse.
In 1872–74, Griffis taught chemistry[1] and physics at Kaisei Gakkō (the forerunner of
Tokyo Imperial University).[3] He prepared the New Japan Series of Reading and Spelling Books, 5 vols. (1872).[1] He also published primers for Japanese students of the
English language; and he and contributed to the Japanese press and to newspapers and magazines in the United States numerous papers of importance on Japanese affairs.
Griffis was joined by his sister, Margaret Clark Griffis, who became a teacher at the Tokyo Government Girls' School (later to become the
Peeresses' School). By the time they left Japan in 1874, Griffis had befriended many of Japan's future leaders.
Griffis was a member of the
Asiatic Society of Japan, the Asiatic Society of Korea, the Historical Society of the Imperial University of Tokyo, and the Meirokusha.[3]
Education and ministry
Returning to the United States, Griffis attended
Union Theological Seminary; and after finishing his studies in 1877, he was called to the ministry in a series of churches—at the First Reformed Church,
Schenectady,
New York (1877–1886); at the Shawmut Congregational Church,
Boston,
Massachusetts (1886–1893); and at the First Congregational Church,
Ithaca, New York (1893–1903). Concurrently, at
Union College in 1884, he earned a higher degree,
Doctor of Divinity (
D.D.). Rutgers awarded him an honorary degree,
Doctor of Humane Letters (
L.H.D.) in 1899.[3]
Writing and lectures
In 1903 he resigned from the active ministry to devote himself exclusively to writing and lecturing. His books on Japan and Japanese culture were complemented with extensive college and university lecture circuit itineraries. In addition to his own books and articles during this period, he also joined
Inazo Nitobe in crafting what became his most well-known book, Bushido: The Soul of Japan.
The prolific writer was also a prolific traveller, making eleven trips to Europe—primarily to visit the
Netherlands. In 1898, he was present at the enthronement of
Queen Wilhelmina;[1] and he attended the Congress of Diplomatic History. He was among the group of Bostonians who wanted to commemorate the
Pilgrims' roots in Holland; and the work was rewarded with the dedication of a memorial at
Delfshaven and the placement of five other bronze historical tablets in 1909.[3] He was one of four Americans elected to the Netherlands Society of Letters in
Leiden.[1]
In 1923 Griffis published "The Story of the Walloons: At Home in Lands of Exile and in America". In this work he reveals the long history and contributions of these Belgians. The last half of the book relates the story of New Belgium (Nova Belgica) in America, the first settlers of Manhattan being a group of Protestant Walloons who petitioned the Dutch West India Company to be sent to establish a colony in the New World. These Walloons were sent to Manhattan as well as to other smaller locations on the Delaware, Hudson and Connecticut Rivers. They sailed out of Leiden, Netherlands in 1624. Griffis draws parallels to the thoughts of government and freedom of the Walloons and the US Constitution of 1787, and how their ideas made a lasting contribution to this country, though at the time (1923) the Walloons were generally unknown and overshadowed by the Dutch and later, English. This remains true to a great degree even today.
In 1926, Griffis was invited to return to Japan; and on this trip, the Japanese government conferred a second decoration. He was presented with the
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, which represents the third highest of eight classes.[4] A private rail car was provided by the Japanese government, and he visited several cities in the course of this return trip.[3]
One of Griffis' two sons,
Stanton Griffis, would become U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Egypt, Spain and Argentina under
President Truman. Stanton Griffis was ambassador to Argentina while
Juan and
Eva Peron were in power and wrote of his experiences in a book titled Lying In State. The other son,
John, became a composer.
Griffis' life and publications are here organized chronologically.[4]
1843 - Born September 17 in Philadelphia, the fourth child of seven and second son to John Limeburner Griffis and Anna Maria (Hess) Griffis.
1850 - Observes the launching of the
USS Susquehanna in Philadelphia. The Susquehanna, the largest steamship yet commissioned by the US Navy, was to be Commodore
Matthew C. Perry's flagship on the 1853-1854 Naval Expedition to Japan.
1860 - Sees the Shogun's Mission, the first Japanese Embassy to the US, when it visits Philadelphia.
1863 - Serves in Pennsylvania's 44th Regiment in the Civil War.
1869 - Graduates with AB (Bachelor of Arts degree) from Rutgers College. In the summer, tours Europe with his sister, Margaret Clark Griffis, and family friend, Edward Warren Clark.
1870 - Sails for Japan to organize schools in
Echizen.
1871 - Named Superintendent of Education in Echizen.
1872 - Awarded AM (Master of Arts degree) from Rutgers College. Publishes, in
Yokohama, The New Japan Primer and The New Japan Pictorial Primer.
1872-74 - Serves as Professor of Physics at the
Imperial University, Tokyo. In 1872, Griffis's sister Margaret Clark Griffis joins him in Tokyo, and is appointed teacher, and then principal, of the first government school for girls (to become the Tokyo Female Normal School).
1873 - Publishes The Tokio Guide and The Yokohama Guide (Yokohama).
1874 - Griffis and Margaret Clark Griffis return to America.
1891 - Publishes Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations, and an edition of The Arabian Nights
1892 - Publishes Japan: In History, Folklore and Art
1893 - John Elliot Griffis (second son) born in Boston
1893-1903 - Serves as Pastor of the First Congregational Church,
Ithaca, NY
1894 - Publishes Brave Little Holland and What She Taught Us
1895 - Publishes The Religions of Japan From the Dawn of History to the Era of Meiji: Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism, and Townsend Harris, First American Envoy in Japan [an edition of Harris's journals]
1897 - Publishes The Romance of Discovery: A Thousand Years of Exploration and the Unveiling of Continents
1899 - Publishes America in the East: A Glance at Our History, Prospects, Problems and Duties in the Pacific Ocean; The Romance of Conquest: The Story of American Expansion Through Arms and Diplomacy
1899 - Awarded LHD by Rutgers College
1900 - Marries Sarah Frances King (1868–1959). Publishes The American in Holland: Sentimental Rambles in the Eleven Provinces of the Netherlands;The Pathfinders of the Revolution: A Story of the Great March into the Wilderness and Lake George Region of New York in 1779; and Verbeck of Japan: A Citizen of No Country.
1901 - Publishes In the Mikado's Service: A Story of Two Battle Summers in China.
1902 - Publishes A Maker of the New Orient: Samuel Robbins Brown, Pioneer Educator in China, America, and Japan, the Story of his Life and Work, and Mighty England - Our Old Home.
1903 - Resigns pastorate to write and lecture full-time. Publishes John Chambers: Servant of Christ and Master of Hearts, and his Ministry in Philadelphia;Sunny Memories of Three Pastorates; and Young People's History of Holland.
1904 - Publishes Dux Christus: An Outline Study of Japan.
1907 - Decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, Fourth Class, by the Emperor of Japan. Publishes The Japanese Nation in Evolution: Steps in the Progress of a Great People, and Christ, the Creator of the New Japan.
1908 - Publishes The Firefly's Lovers and Other Fairy Tales of Old Japan.
1909 - Publishes The Story of New Netherland: The Dutch in America.
1911 - Publishes China's Story in Myth, Legend, Art and Annals, and The Unmannerly Tiger and Other Korean Tales.
1912 - Publishes A Modern Pioneer in Korea: The Life Story of Henry G Appenzeller; Might England: the Story of the English People;The Call of Jesus to Joy;Belgium, the Land of Art.
1921 -- The Dutch of the Netherlands in the Making of America [reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, Montana, 2007.
ISBN978-0-548-61147-0 (paper)]
1922 -- Korean Fairy Tales
1922 -- Japanese Fairy Tales
1923 -- The Story of the Walloons, at Home, in the Lands of Exile and in America[7]
1924 -- Proverbs of Japan: A Little Picture of the Japanese Philosophy of Life as Mirrored in Their Proverbs
1926 -- The American Flag of Stripes and Stars: Mirror of the Nation's History, Symbol of Brotherhood and World Unity
^
abcdefgBrown, John Howard. (1904).
"Griffis, William Elliot,"The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Boston: The Biographical Society.
^Rutgers in the Civil War (Vol. 66 ed.). Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. 2014. p. 120.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Griffis, William Elliot. (1898). Charles Carlton Coffin: War Correspondent, Traveller, Author and Statesman. Boston: Estes and Lauriat.
Digitized, full-text copy of this book.
__________. (1890). Honda the Samurai: A Story of Modern Japan. Chicago: Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society.
Digitized, full text copy of this book.
__________. (1907). Japanese Nation in Evolution: Steps in the Progress of a Great People. New York: T. Y. Crowell & Company.
Digitized, full-text copy of this book.
"Book reviewThe Japanese Nation in Evolution. Steps in the Progress of a Great People. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. 40, No. 4, 256. 1908.
Rosenstone, R. (1988). Mirror in the Shrine: American encounters with Meiji Japan. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
ISBN0-674-57641-1.
Baarssen, G.H. Joost. (2014). America's True Mother Country? Images of the Dutch in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century. Münster, Berlin, Vienna, Zürich, London, LIT Verlag.
ISBN3-643-90492-4