Griswold family

The Griswold family is an American political family from Connecticut and New York of English descent. The family's fortune originates from the 19th Century industrial and merchant pursuits.

Family origins


The Griswold family originates from Solihull, England, where they lived for centuries as greyhound breeders, which were a favorite of King Edward I of England.

The first members of the family to arrive in America were the brothers Edward and Matthew Griswold, landing initially at Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1639 and continuing on as part of the group of colonists settling Windsor, Connecticut. In 1646, Matthew married Anna Wolcott and moved to Old Saybrook, Connecticut and was later Deputy and Commissioner of Lyme, Connecticut, quickly amassing thousands of acres of land and become one of the richest men in the colony. Edward Griswold remained in Windsor and played pivotal roles in the early politics of the colony. Many of his descendants moved west to New York following the American Revolution and founded the New York branch of the family, of whom Congressman John Augustus Griswold is descended from.

Politics
Many members of the family were influential in state and national politics. During the colonial era, the Griswolds were one of a roughly half-dozen families which governed Connecticut state politics. In 1801, the Hartford Courant called "Griswold" one of the most "revered and ancient families" of Connecticut.

Industry
John Augustus Griswold of the New York branch of the family made a considerable fortune in the iron and steel industry, forming the Albany and Rensselaer Iron and Steel Works of Troy, New York. During the American Civil War, Griswold financed at his personal expense the USS Monitor and later engaged his iron business in the production of other Monitor class ironclad ships. Griswold later become president of the Troy and Lansingburgh Railroad, of the Troy and Cohoes Railroad and of the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas Railroad.

Matthew Griswold VII, grandson of governor Roger Griswold, founded the Griswold Manufacturing Company of Erie, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of the Griswold cast-iron products.

Samuel Griswold, a descendant of settler Edward Griswold, moved to Georgia and was notable for producing weapons for the Confederate Army.

China trade and shipping




Members of the Connecticut branch of the family moved to New York City in 1796 and engaged in trade. Brothers Nathaniel Lynde Griswold and George Griswold founded the N.L & G. Griswold Company to import sugar and rum from the Caribbean on clipper ships. They expanded to the China Trade, capturing a large share of the 19th century tea market. It was noted that "I do not suppose that there is a country store, however insignificant, in the entire United States that has not seen a large or small package of tea marked 'N.L & G.G.' George Griswold Jr operated clipper ships to China and amassed a great fortune; setting up residence on Fifth Avenue. John Griswold, brother of George Jr., was responsible for building the John N. A. Griswold House in Newport, Rhode Island.

Another member of the family, John Griswold, founded the Black X Line of packet clippers that shipped supplies between the United States and Great Britain. Robert Harper Griswold, a man whom Herman Melville called "a man of much reading .. elegant manner and great personal beauty," greatly expanded the line and amassed his own wealth. His wealth enabled him to buy what is now the home that now houses the Florence Griswold Museum, named after his daughter.

Noted as business-people

 * Samuel Griswold (1790–1867): American industrialist.
 * John Augustus Griswold (1818–1873): U.S. Representative from New York, Industrialist, and builder of the ironclad USS Monitor.
 * John N. A. Griswold (1822–1909): China trade merchant and industrialist. Commissioned the John N. A. Griswold House in Newport, Rhode Island.
 * William E. S. Griswold (1877-1964): CEO of W. & J. Sloane
 * John Sloane Griswold Sr. (1914-2005): Noted industrial design executive
 * Anita Griswold (1903-1976); real estate broker, wife of John C. Griswold

Noted as politicians and activists
Many Griswold family members were influential in politics in the states of Connecticut and New York.


 * Edward Griswold: (1607-1690): Founding father of Connecticut, early colonial politician.
 * Matthew Griswold (1714–1799): 17th Governor of Connecticut.
 * Roger Griswold (1762–1812): 22nd Governor of Connecticut, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, and U.S. Representative.
 * Gaylord Griswold: U.S. Representative from New York and drafter of the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
 * John Augustus Griswold (1818–1873): U.S. Representative from New York, Industrialist, and builder of the ironclad USS Monitor.
 * John Ashley Griswold (1822–1902): U.S. Representative from New York.
 * George Griswold (1794–1857): Lieutenant Governor of Michigan.
 * Simeon Griswold (1752–1843): Five time member of the Massachusetts State Legislature.
 * Chester Griswold: Member of the New York State Assembly, Supervisor of Nassau, New York.
 * William M. Griswold (1823– ): Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate.
 * William A. Griswold (1775–1846): Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.
 * William N. Griswold (1834–1921): Supervisor of Welfare for New York.
 * Matthew Griswold (1833–1919): U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania.

Art and culture

 * Florence Griswold (1850–1937): American artist and founder of the Old Lyme art colony.
 * Frank Gray Griswold (1854–1937): American sportsman and society leader of the Gilded Age.
 * Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851–1934): American author and leader in the aesthetic movement.
 * William M. Griswold: American art historian and noted director of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Science and Academia

 * John Augustus Griswold, Jr. (1912–1991): American ornithologist, Curator of Birds, Philadelphia Zoological Gardens.
 * Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906-1963): American historian and President of Yale University
 * Erwin Griswold (1904-1994): Solicitor General of the United States and Dean of Harvard Law School

Griswold family tree

 * Daniel Griswold (1656–1728) m. Mindwell Bissell (1663–1728)
 * Daniel Griswold (1684–1772) m. Sarah White (1694–1738)
 * Seth Griswold (1723–1810) m. Susanna Shurtleff (1732–1757)
 * Simeon Griswold (1752–1843) m. Ann Hutchinson (1755–1836)
 * Justin Griswold (1779–1841)
 * Chester Griswold (1781–1860) m. Abby Moulton
 * John Augustus Griswold (1818–1872) m. Elizabeth Hart


 * George Griswold (1692–1761) m. Hannah Lynde (1698–1734)
 * George Griswold (1726–1816) m. Elizabeth Lee (1735–1797)
 * George Griswold (1777–1859) m. (1) Eliza Woodhull (1784–1810); m. (2) Maria Matilda Cumming (1792–1880)
 * Maria Griswold (1804–1866) m. George Winthrop Gray (1799–1863)
 * George Griswold Gray (1830–1875) m. Susan Irvin (1842–1924)
 * Henry Winthrop Gray (1839–1906) m. Mary Mackall Travers (1847–1900) (daughter of William R. Travers)
 * Maria Griswold Gray (1868–1947) m. William Bay Coster (1868–1918)
 * Cornelia Woodhull Griswold (1807–1888) m. Joseph Woodward Haven (1803–1872)
 * George Griswold Haven Sr. (1837–1908) m. Emma Walton Martin (1840–1873)
 * George Griswold Haven Jr. (1866–1925) m. (1) Elizabeth Shaw Ingersoll (1860–1923); m. (2) Dorothy James
 * Leila Ingersoll Haven (1890–1974) m. Gilbert Edward Jones Jr. (1888–1925)
 * George Griswold Haven III (1892–1944) m. Elizabeth George (1896–1990)
 * Alice Haven (1895–1946) m. (1) George Schieffelin Trevor (1892–1951); (2) William Otis Waters (1889–1940)
 * Cornelia Haven (1860–1926) m. Stephen Peabody
 * Alice Griswold Haven (1863–1959) m. John Nelson Borland (1859–1929)
 * Alice "Ella" Borland (1887–1987) m. Orme Wilson Jr. (1885–1966)
 * Orme Wilson III (1920–1991) m. Julie Brown Colt
 * Joseph Woodward Haven (1864–1945) m. Henrietta Katherine Cram (1863–1934)
 * Katherine Sergeant Haven (1898–1974) m. (1) Johnston Livingston Redmond (1888–1933) (brother of Roland L. Redmond); m. (2) William Henry Osborn II (1895–1971) (grandson of William H. Osborn)
 * Sarah Helen Griswold (1815–1893) m. John Cleve Green (1800–1875)
 * Matilda Elizabeth Griswold (1817–1889) m. Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1817–1885)
 * Matilda Griswold Frelinghuysen (1846–1926) m. Henry Winthrop Gray (1839–1906)
 * Charlotte Louisa "Lucy" Frelinghuysen (1847–1930)
 * Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848–1924), m. Estelle Burnet Kinney (1868–1931)
 * Frederick Frelinghuysen (1903–1966)
 * Thomas Frelinghuysen (b. 1905) m. Roselyne de Viry (1920–2014) (daughter of Baron Humbert and Baroness Delphine Marie de Viry)
 * Theodore Frelinghuysen (b. 1907)
 * George Griswold Frelinghuysen II (1908–2002) m. Anne de Smolianinof
 * Estelle Condit Frelinghuysen (1911–1988) m. George Lovett Kingsland Morris (1905–1975)
 * George Griswold Frelinghuysen (1851–1936), m. Sara Linen Ballantine (granddaughter of Peter Ballantine)
 * Sarah Helen Frelinghuysen (1856–1939) m. (1) John J. Davis (1851–1902); m. (2) Charles Laurie McCawley (1865–1935)
 * Mathilda Elizabeth Frelinghuysen Davis (1876–1960), m. George Cabot Lodge (1873–1909)
 * Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902–1985) m. Emily Esther Sears
 * George Cabot Lodge II (b. 1927) m. (1) Nancy Kunhardt (daughter of Dorothy Kunhardt); m. (2) Susan Alexander Powers
 * Henry Sears Lodge (1930–2017)
 * John Davis Lodge (1903–1985) m. Francesca Braggiotti (1902–1998)
 * Lily Lodge (b. 1930)
 * Beatrice Anna Cabot Lodge m. Antonio de Oyarzabal (b. 1935)
 * Helena Constance Lodge (1905–1998) m. Baron Edouard de Streel (1896–1981)
 * Theodore Frelinghuysen (1860–1928) m. Alice Dudley Coats (1861–1889) (daughter of Sir James Coats, 1st Baronet)
 * George Griswold Jr. (1820–1884) m. Lydia Alley (1826–1908)
 * Mariana Griswold (1851–1934) m. Schuyler Van Rensselaer (1845–1884)
 * George Griswold Van Rensselaer (1875–1894)
 * Frank Gray Griswold (1854–1937) m. Josephine Houghteling Canfield (1864–1937) (mother of Cass Canfield)
 * George Griswold III (1857–1917) m. Emily Oliver Post (1860–1905)
 * George Griswold IV (1896–1964) m. Isabelle Batelle Bridgman (1896–1977)
 * John Noble Alsop Griswold (1822–1909) m. Jane Louisa Emmet (1832–1909)
 * Minnie Griswold (b. 1861) m. John Murray Forbes Jr. (1844–1921)
 * Richard Alsop Griswold (1863–1864)
 * John Noble "Jack" Griswold (1865–1895)
 * Florence Temple Griswold (1867–1937) m. Horatio Robert Odo Cross (1846–1915)
 * Graham Griswold Odo Cross (1898–1963)
 * George Griswold II (1870–1902)

Places

 * Griswold, Connecticut: named for Governor Roger Griswold.
 * Fort Griswold, Groton, Connecticut: Named for Governor Matthew Griswold.
 * Griswoldville, Georgia
 * The Griswold Inn, one of the oldest continuously run taverns in the United States.