Levi T . Griffin Levi Thomas Griffin ( May 23 , 1837 – March 17 , 1906 ) was a politician from the U . S . state of Michigan . Early life . Griffin , born in Clinton , Oneida County , New York , was named for his maternal grandfather , Levi Thomas of Utica , New York . He moved with his parents to Rochester , Michigan in the fall of 1847 . He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School at Ann Arbor in 1857 . While studying for the bar in Detroit , he was employed as a court deputy in the Federal District Court through the assistance of a fellow University of Michigan alumni , William A . Moore , who was then Assistant United States District Attorney . Griffin was admitted to the bar in May 1858 and in November moved to Grand Rapids , where he begin to practice in the office of prominent Western Michigan lawyer Lucius Patterson . After a fire destroyed the offices in April 1860 , along with most of the records of Kent County , Griffin returned to Detroit where he was employed in the law offices of Moore until January 1862 , when they formed a partnership named " Moore and Griffin " . Military life . Griffin was commissioned by Governor Austin Blair , as Supernumerary Second Lieutenant in Company C of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry , and was mustered into service on August 13 , 1862 . He was promoted to full Second Lieutenant on December 18 and assigned to duty as Brigade Inspector . On February 1 , 1863 , he was promoted to First Lieutenant , and then on April 15 as regimental Adjutant . On February 24 , 1864 , he was commissioned as Captain , and on September 15 was assigned as Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Second Cavalry Division . On December 25 , he became Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi , with Major General James H . Wilson commanding . He was mustered out of service on July 1 , 1865 and was subsequently brevet ted major of United States Volunteers by President Andrew Johnson on March 13 , 1866 for gallant and meritorious service during the American Civil War . Post - war . After the war , Griffin returned to practice law in Detroit in his partnership with William A . Moore . On September 1 , 1875 , formed a new partnership with Donald M . Dickinson under the name " Griffin and Dickinson " . In 1883 , he formed a new partnership , " Griffin & Warner " , with Carlos E . Warner , who had become a partner with Moore after Griffin left . In 1888 , the firm became " Griffin , Warner , Hunt & Berry " . In 1890 , when Berry retired and Hunt was elected assistant prosecuting attorney for Detroit , the firm ' s name returned to " Griffin & Warner " . The firm was dissolved January 1 , 1896 . Griffin was the Fletcher professor of law in the University of Michigan Law School 1886 - 1897 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court in 1887 . In November 1893 , Griffin was elected a Democrat from Michigan ' s 1st congressional district to the Fifty - third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Logan Chipman , serving from December 4 , 1893 to March 3 , 1895 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for re - election in 1894 , losing to Republican John Blaisdell Corliss . Levi Griffin resumed the practice of his profession and became pension agent in 1896 and 1897 . He died in Detroit and was interred in Woodmere Cemetery . Religion . In 1873 , he converted from Presbyterian to Episcopalian , being confirmed in St . John ' s Episcopal Church . He was married October 8 , 1867 , to Mary Cabot Wickware of Detroit . They raised three children : William , Laura Moore , and Mary McClaren Griffin .