John Caswell Griffin (birthdate unknown) of Fincastle, Virginia, married Mary Hancock, daughter of Colonel George Hancock and Margaret Strother Hancock, in 1806. They had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Griffin and his wife died three months apart in 1826.
According to family tradition the miniature was painted by Thomas Campbell around 1840 from a portrait that has since disappeared. Griffin is shown as a young man, and the original may have been completed at the time of his wedding. The miniature is mounted with those of three of Griffin’s children.
