by Karen Yvonne Hamilton, 2024

Ivadel GRIFFIN was born in Key West, Florida during November 1896 to Hannah Elizabeth KNOWLES and Arthur O GRIFFIN, a native from Nassau, Bahamas.

Ivadel had six brothers and one sister.  

According to Lucille Knowles Hargar, she and Ivadell were good buddies and partners in mischief. They skipped school and went to the beach area which was mostly uncleared land and according to old Key Westers, was wild country. They went for the purpose of indulging in the ripe fruit of the cactus, called ‘prickly pears’, which grew in the area. When they returned, they were afraid of being found since it was too early to be home from school. They found a large laundry basket and hid under it, but Aunt Hannah came in and while visiting with her neighbor sat down on the basket. Not only were they trapped, but Lucille said they were afraid the basket would cave in, and they’d be squashed. They did get a good switching on their legs for their little adventure.

Lucille said they got a lot of switching on their legs for following the ice truck, jumping up on the tailgate and stealing chips of ice. The iceman delivered ‘cakes’ or large squares of whatever size the lady of the house ordered. He had a truck with a wooden bed. The tailgate let down to reach the cakes of ice on the truck. The iceman used ice tongs and an ice pick to separate the size chunk of ice from the large slabs of ice. Children would often run behind the truck, reach up and hoist themselves up on the rear edge of the truck to reach the small chips or chunks of ice shavings.

She married Jesse Gilbert DUNCAN.

She died on March 25, 1979, in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the age of 82.

SOURCES: Ancestry .com, Research notes of Jane Garcia Rowland, Transcribed by Karen Yvonne Hamilton, 16 March 2022

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