Griffing, Josephine White (1814–1872)

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Griffing, Josephine White (1814–1872)

American reformer. Born Josephine Sophia White on Dec 18, 1814, in Hebron, Connecticut; died Feb 18, 1872, in Washington, DC; dau. of Joseph White, Jr. and Sophia (Waldo) White (sister of portrait painter Samuel Lovett Waldo); reared by stepmother Mary (Waldo) White (her mother's sister); m. Charles S.S. Griffing (machinist), Sept 16, 1835 (died 1880); children: Emma (b. 1841), Helen (b. 1849), and Josephine Cora (b. 1857); 2 others died in childhood.

Made home in Litchfield, OH, a station on the Underground Railroad; served as paid agent of Western Anti-Slavery Society (1851–55) and as president of Ohio Woman's Rights Association (beginning 1853); after Civil War, worked in Washington, DC, on behalf of freedmen; served as 1st vice-president of American Equal Rights Association and as corresponding secretary for National Woman Suffrage Association.

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Griffing, Josephine White (1814–1872)

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