Portrait is from January 1809
Inspired by others, I am also set up a post where others can contact Abraham to consolidate messages to him in one place. There is a lot more to learn about Abraham below:
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Character Name: Abraham Ezekiel Griffen (he/him) Birthday (age): February 12, 1781 (30)
Height: 6'0”
Weight: 200 lbs, athletic build
Hair: Dark brown
Eyes: Dark brown
Orientation: Straight, heteroflexible
Residences (Some pictures in the Homes channel):
- Hatfield House - Hatfield, Hertfordshire, north of London, is the traditional seat for the Marquess of Salisbury. Upon being recognized as the Marquess of Salisbury, Abraham’s father moved the family to a more appropriate dwelling for his station. Abraham has never been to Hatfield House
- Griffen House: - The Griffen family London townhome is in Kensington just west of Mayfair, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Due to a horrid argument with his father, Abraham does not live here when he is in London.
- Tintagel Garden, Berkeley Square, Mayfair - townhome inherited from his late wife, Lord Captain Katharine Sunderlin. When in London, Abraham and his son Alexander live here.
- Country estate - Cranborne Manor, Cranborne, Dorset - southwest of London, just west of Portsmouth and north of ChristChurch and Poole. Isle of Wight is nearby. Abraham's sister Emelia is currently living here.
- Country estate - Great Durnford Manor, Salisbury, Wiltshire - about 20 miles north of Cranborne Manor, inherited from his late wife, Lord Captain Katharine Sunderlin. Near Stonehenge. When he wants to be in the country by near London, Abraham and his son live here.
- Country Retreat - Tintagel Castle, Tintagel, Cornwall. When Abraham wants to be alone, he will retreat this country estate.
Biography (tis a LONG tale):
Abraham is the third child, second son of the Marquess Trevor Griffen and the Marchioness Dorothea Digby-Griffen, behind his older brother Quintin and sister Letitia. While his parents were madly in love when they courted, the temperament of House Griffen began to change after the birth of their oldest child Quintin. By the time Abraham was born, Father was obsessed with power, rank and privilege and began to train his three children to be the same as him. While older brother Quintin and older sister Letitia took to Father’s lesson on ruthless and careless social climbing, Abraham did not, preferring to be more like his Mother – calm, caring and responsible. When Abraham was 5, his Mother proposed to his Father that she take over management family lands and welfare of the people who lived on those lands thus freeing the Marquess to be involved in “more important business”. Abraham’s Father accepted the proposal and proceeded to begin his campaign to be raise his station as a peer from Baron with either Quintin or Letitia as his heir, whomever rose to the highest rank in the peerage.
Seeing that Abraham was of a more caring and responsible nature, Lady Griffen took him under her wing and began his education into caring for people of different stations as they roamed family lands and the villages that were a part of family lands. Lady Griffen insisted that Abraham and later his two younger sisters learn how to live as villagers do – gardening, farming, livestock care, hunting, cooking, carpentry, blacksmithing, herbal medicines and the like. Abraham particularly liked and excelled at hunting, cooking, carpentry, smithing and gardening. While his younger life was different than many of his acquaintances of a similar age, he actually enjoyed his experiences. Later in life he noted that these skills helped to keep him calm and centered during times of stress and strife – as a Captain, he was often seen assisting in repair of his ship and shopping for food and cooking for his crew.
{For the middle part of Abraham's biography, please refer to this link. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPbFufyHMN-4QM-jOvJGH6lNXGzBDFN2HaxJFhEZCao/edit?usp=sharing]
Currently, Abraham is living day to day with his responsibilities as a a father, a landowner, a business owner and a ship's Captain. Alexander is always with him as well as their two lynx companions Esmeralda and Stella. Allie never leaves his father's side. Abraham is letting the sea heal him and takes Allie with him on trade voyages. It is unclear what will happen to Abraham and his son as they heal. Right now it is enough to make from one day to the next. While a romantic, right now Abraham's mind, heart and spirit are far from any romantic liaisons. (OOC and OOG, doesn't mean one shouldn't try, the man is very wealthy and landed.)
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About Abraham Griffen....
Abraham is a fairly good looking man with dark hair and eyes. His build is that of a long time sailor and expert fighter and swordsman – broad of shoulders, thick of wrist, callouses on rough hands, yet having a long and lean athletic body form. Abraham is an adequate horseman, but prefers to hunt on foot being a very good shot with bow (which he prefers), rifle and pistol. He says he prefers hunting on foot because he doesn't want to scare game away with horses or other steeds, and he wants to be on a more even standing with prey…..which has sometimes not been a good idea. Ask him about boar hunting. When given the luxury to be in England, Abraham prefers living at Cranborne Manor in Dorset, taking care of the family responsibilities as well as doing the tasks he learned in his youth from the villagers. He will also stay at the Kensington House when based in London but has yet to visit the rather extravagant mansion of the Marquess of Salisbury traditional seat in Hertfordshire.
Abraham is the de facto Lord of Cranborne Manor and the surrounding lands and villages when he is not sailing. His Father was recently appointed the Marquess of Salisbury and moved the family to the traditional seat in Hertfordshire, leaving Abraham to manage Cranborne. Abraham is well known and liked by the villagers. He makes sure that they have what they need to be prosperous in the village industries (Dorset is known for fabrics from fine silks to sail cloth, with one village specializing in bone lace and another making socks, stockings and fine hose) which includes seeing to the villagers’ well-being. UPDATE: Abraham has passed management of Cranborne Manor over to his sister Emelia. Abraham will be managing Great Durnford Manor and Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. as his own properties.
He is also a sort of black sheep in the family, not interested in rising in politics, status or power, making him a great disappointment to his Father and older siblings, but not his Mother. Service to and for others, especially those in trouble, is the main motivation for how he lives his life. Abraham loves being the Captain of an armed merchant ship and carries cargo mostly to Nordic, European and Mediterranean ports because of his responsibilities at Cranborne. He is willing to sail further abroad. He has sailed to the West Indies and is very curious about African, Indian and Asian ports of call.
He is a quiet, courteous, introspective man who is sometimes haunted by the ghosts of friends he lost in battle. He does keep to himself, but will easily become a friend or help someone without out inhibition. He has a quick, warm smile with smile lines that show he does smile a great deal or has in the past. If you like long conversations on a variety of topics both serious and light hearted, don’t mind getting a little dirty (he will have you help harvest from the garden) and would like a hearty home-cooked meal (sometimes Abraham cooks which will involve his visitors or a local chef will cook.) with wine and port afterwards, please make arrangements to visit and expect to spend at least 4 hours at Cranborne. Abraham will welcome the company.
Family connections
Family:
- Wife: Captain Lord Katharine Sunderlin, Baron Halifax (deceased)
- Son: Alexander Sunderlin (3)
Parents:
- Father: Lord Trevor Griffen, Marquess of Salisbury
- Mother: Lady Dorothea Digby-Griffen, Marchioness of Salisbury
Siblings in order of age:
- Earl Quintin Griffen (37) and his wife (TBD) Countess Griffen
- Lady Letitia Griffen – Fox (33) and her husband (TBD)
- Lady Euphemia Griffen (20)
- Lady Emelia Griffen (18)
PC relatives:
- Lady Hazel Otielle Wynnewood – Cousin – Eldest daughter of Henriette Digby-Wynnewood (Dorothea’s sister) and husband (TBD) @(Rachel) Hazel Wynnewood
- Lady Ellianna Moonshire - Cousin (PC)
- Lord Carrington Starling - Cousin (PC)
Timeline:
Timeline:
- 1781: Born 12 February at Cranborne Manor
- 1786: Began education with the Marchioness Griffen about taking care of family lands, the people who worked the lands and the skills needed by villagers.
- 1794: Attended Eton College – started as political science major, changed to Naval sciences major
- 1796: Entered Royal Navy as Midshipman
- 1800: Promoted to junior Lieutenant, began attending the Admiral’s Weekend Academy, meets Charlotte Grant.
- 1803: Promoted to Senior Lieutenant, transferred to HMS Bellerophon, Met Junior Lieutenants Nigel Richond and Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice – became fast friends. Began 2 year cruise away from London.
- 1804: Promoted to Senior First Lieutenant on the HMS Bellerophon.
- 1805: Mid February – returned to London for refit of HMS Bellerophon. Accepted escort duties for Lady Charlotte Grant’s First Season through August.
- 1805: Mid August – HMS Bellerophon leave London with small group of warships to join Lord Nelson’s fleet at Gibraltar.
- 1805: October 21 – Battle of Trafalgar – Nigel killed, Edmund and Abraham badly wounded, Edmund and Abraham estranged.
- 1805: January – HMS Bellerophon returns to London. Edmund honorably discharged from Royal Navy due to injuries. At Gibraltar, Abraham is promoted to Junior Captain and placed in command of the frigate HMS Naiad.
- 1806: Late January – Abraham begins a 3.5 year series of cruises that keep him away from London. The HMS Naiad becomes a scourge on the seas for pirates, corsairs and French opponents.
- 1808: 20 June – Blockade of Barcelona. A reconnaissance team commanded by First Officer Katharine Sunderlin ambushed while on intelligence gathering mission. Entire team was lost. Sailors bodies found. Sunderlin presumed dead, but body was not found.
- 1809: 20 June – finally tired of constantly fighting because of his success with the HMS Naiad, Abraham requests and is granted an honorable discharge from the Royal Navy. He returns to England and goes to Cranborne Manor to rest and heal.
- 1809: September - accepts Captaincy of a planned armed merchant brig with the Robinette Merchants.
- 1810: January – the Kestrel is launched from a Portsmouth shipyard. Abraham begins a series of trade cruises to ports in the Mediterranean,
- 1810: November – on a whim, Abraham makes a trade voyage at the behest of Lord Nicholas to procure a “camel” from Alexandria, Egypt. It did not go well….Camel 1, Kestrel 0
- 1811: January 18 – Abraham attends an afternoon tea put on by Marquess Lady Emmeline Petty-Fitzmaurice, coming back to Society for the first time in years
- 1811: April 1 - Began courting long time love Katharine Sunderlin
- 1811: June 20 - Handfasted with Katharine Sunderlin on Midsummer's Night at Harlaxton Castle
- 1811: October 1 - notified of Katharine's death
- 1811: November 1 - notified of location of son, Alexander Sunderlin, in letter from Captain J.R. Blackmore.
- 1811: November 7 - reunited with son in Gibraltar.
- 1811: November 21 to present - return to Britain, Abraham and Alexander in mourning at Great Durnford Manor. Plan for his year of mourning is to sail as much as possible with Alexander always going with him.
Pets?
Abraham’s “pet” is an Iberian Lynx. Her name is Esmeralda, and he hand raised her from an orphan kitten found when he was delivering supplies to Spanish rebels in the mountains of Portugal. She accompanies him almost everywhere when he is at Cranborne and sometimes on ship. When Abraham is not at Cranborne, she has free run of the family lands, but comes home at night to sleep. She keeps the rabbits and other small mammals out of the gardens and crops. Like many cats, Esme is an amazing judge of character (she LOVES Charlotte Grant, his sister Effie - men need to work harder to get her to like them.). She is also Abraham’s hunting partner. She is friendly (yes she purrs), but sometimes gets too excited while playing. Abraham has a special thick leather gloves he wears when playing with Esme.
Current Connections:
Miss Hazel Wynnewood (Family) Abraham’s favorite cousin on his mother’s side. He respects her for the work she puts into her theatre and loves her because of how straight forward and blunt she is with him. He can relax around her and say things he normally doesn’t say to others. @(Rachel) Hazel Wynnewood
Lady Ellianna Moonshire (Family) Abraham's cousin on his mother's side. Discovered by mother just prior to the Queen's debut for the Spring 1811 season.
Lord Carrington Starling (Family) Abraham's newly discovered cousin on his mother's side.
Future connections
- Abraham is somewhat shy and will not put himself forward without great encouragement, especially with the recent death of his wife, Captain Katharine Sunderlin, R.N., HMS Nightingale, 56. He is still in mourning and will be for a year, perhaps longer.
- Family and extended family
- Friends with whom he can be honest about how he feels and know how to keep a secret.
- Sailors/Traders/Royal Navy veterans or currently serving
- Craftspeople - wood, metal, leather
- Gardening and hunting - especially who like to bring the hunt and farm to the kitchen and then to the table, conviviality with good friends, good food and good wine.
- Romantic Interests. (NOTE: he is still mourning and will be for a year or longer, but he will be polite in interactions. What he needs right now are friends and playmates for Allie)
- Musicians (Abe plays guitar and sings)
Conversation starters
- Frienemy/Rival – in business (note - Dorset, where the country estate is located, has a thriving fabric industry from silks to sailcloth, to stockings and bonelace) or in courting.
- Well, this is awkward… - Abraham is not the best at navigating social propriety….and doesn’t really care.
- I ruined their __. Guilt Abraham feels will depend on what __ was.
- Travel mishap. Well, he will transport passengers….
- Oblivious crush – Abraham has spent a lot of his formative years in the Navy. He cannot read subtle cues
from others.
- First dance/First kiss – see all hints above.
- The Devil’s Errand Person – if you and he become fast friends, he will go out of his way to help you on
almost anything.
Conversation Starters / Topics to write my character about:
- You want to know what fighting on the ocean is like
- You want to know my views on religion.
- You want to know how I trained Esmeralda
- You want to know what practical skills Mother had us learn from villagers and why.
- You want to know why I am estranged from my father and older siblings.
- You have heard a rumor about me and want to know the truth of it.
- You just think Abraham is a strange duck and want to know about anything remotely related to Abraham.
If you wish to connect with Abraham, please comment below or DM.
Updated 12/23/21
Absolutely lovely write up! 💙