Francis Griswold

• General Notes
  • Francis and perhaps Mary (Tracy) Griswold
    
    Francis Griswold was born in England in 1629 (or 1635 by another source), the son of Edward Griswold and his first wife Margaret, emigrating in 1639 with his parents, first to Windsor, Connecticut and then to Saybrook. Perhaps he married in 1652 Mary Tracy, the daughter of Thomas Tracy and his wife Mary, widow of John Mason. (Note: This marriage info comes from Fifty Puritan Ancestors by E.T. Nash, but isn’t verifiable in colonial records.) Francis removed to Norwich with the Rev. James Fitch, becoming one of the first proprietors of Norwich in 1660; Deputy to General Court, 1661 through 1671; formed Court of Commission in 1662; Lieutenant of Norwich Train Band in October 1666; committee for the Stonington Indians in 1666. He died in Norwich, Connecticut in October 1671 “cut down apparently by some sudden attack of disease, leaving seven children varying in age from infant of days to eighteen years” and buried in Old Post-Gager Cemetery. Thomas Adgate and John Post, Sr. acted as guardians to the young children.
    
    Francis Griswold, was in Windsor in 1649 and he was one of the first settlers at Windham, erecting the first sawmill in town. By trade he was a blacksmith.
    
    Francis appears to have been a man of capacity and enterprise, and took an active part in the affairs of the plantation, serving as representative deputy to the General Court for eleven sessions, beginning October 1664 and ending in May of 1671. During this time frame his home lot was on West Town Street. He was a freeman 1657, was on the Committee for Stonington Indians in October 1666. and was called Lieutenant although no record of his commission has been found and in May 1668 received a colonial grant for 100 acres.
    
    Saybrook Land Records Book 1 Page 48 says: “Horses in the year 1660 Francis Griswold carried away two mares from Seabrook this 14th day of November 1660 one mare a Chestnut Collor 4 black hoofs two white foot locks a crop on the near ear 7 year old, the other mare two years old and upwards of a sorrie color with a star in the fore head and two slits on both sides the right ear”
    
    History of New London Connecticut from the first survey of the coast in 1612 to 1852 says: “A short digression respecting the early inhabitants of Lyme may not be inappropriate in this connection. Lyme was originally a part of Saybrook; the first grantees were the inhabitants of Saybrook town plot, and among the earliest proprietors names are found belonging to that company of Saybrook, which removed in 1659 and 1660, to Norwich: viz., Thomas Adgate; Thomas Bliss, (whose Lyme land was sold to Richard Smith;) Morgan Bowers; Francis Griswold, (an early proprietor on “Bride Plaine;”) John Holmsted; Simon and Christopher Huntington, (the latter sold to John Borden;) Captain John Masion; John Reynolds, (who sold Dec. 3d, 1659, to Wolston Brockway,) and Richard Wallis. These original proprietors of Lyme were all afterward of Norwich.”
    
    Francis2 Griswold (born about 1629) was the son of Edward1 Griswold and his first wife Margaret (_____) Griswold. He was one of the founders of Norwich who had moved there from Saybrook, Connecticut, with the other original settlers. He died in October 1671.[15] The given name of his wife, who came with him from Saybrook, was Sarah.[16] Her surname has not been ascertained. In spite of persistent claims to the contrary we do at least know that she was not the daughter of Thomas Tracy.[17] Francis and Sarah Griswold were the parents of nine children, the eldest of which was born in Saybrook in 1653.[18]  The youngest, Lydia, was born in Norwich in October 1671, the same month in which Francis died.
    
    Francis Griswold had held several public offices. He was Deputy for Norwich to the Connecticut General Court for eleven sessions, between 1664 and 1671, and was Lieutenant of the Norwich Train Band.[19] His social standing was therefore comparable to that of Major William Bradford, who likewise served in several offices of public trust.