Michael John Griffith, the father of Maude Ellen (Griffith) Countryman was the youngest child of Benjamin Griffith and Mary (Hites) Griffith. Mary Hites descended from John Hites, who immigrated to America with the army of General Marquis de Lafayette, arriving at Newport, Rhode Island on 10 Jun 1780.

Following the Revolutionary War, John Hites settled with his wife Catherine (Brouwer) Hites at Millersburg in Holmes County, Ohio.