From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

From Paris, KY, William Griffin, Sr. was the son of George and Lucy Graves Griffin. The family is enumerated as living in Bourbon County, KY, in the 1880 U.S. Census. By the year 1900, the family of 12 was living in Hardin, Missouri.

William Griffin, Sr. moved to Minnesota where he was a waiter with the St. Paul Hotel Company, according to his WWI Draft Registration Card in Ancestry. He would become a railroad dining car waiter with the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (Ancestry). 

William Griffin, Sr. was the husband of Lorena Waters Griffin and the father of William Griffin (1914-1935) and James S. "Jimmy" Griffin (1917-2002). Jimmy Griffin was the first African American sergeant of the St. Paul, Minnesota, police force in 1955; captain in 1970; and after a discrimination lawsuit, deputy chief in 1972.

For more see Jimmy Griffin, a son of Rondo: a memoir, by J. S. Griffin and K. J. C. McDonald; "Mother of Jimmy Griffin dies in Los Angeles," St. Paul Recorder, 05/24/1957, p.4; "Hundreds attend last rites for William Griffin," St Paul Recorder, 07/19/1935, front page; "Four Black families have deep roots in Twin Cities," Minneapolis Star and Tribune, 05/19/1985, pp.1F & 4F.