Matthew Griswold and Anne Wolcott

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86. Matthew Griswold (1620–1699)

Matthew Griswold was born in 1620 and died on January 1699. [1] He married Anne Wolcott in 1646 in Windsor, Connecticut. [1]

87. Anne Wolcott (say 1624–1700), daughter of Henry Wolcott

Anne, the daughter of Henry Wolcott, was born say 1624. She died in 1700. [2] She married Matthew Griswold on 16 October 1646 "so stated in all secondary sources, but no evidence." [3]

Mathhew and his brother Edward came to New England in 1639. [2]

Matthew was the first magistrate in Saybrook. He was a deputy from Saybrook and Lyme during the period 1649 to 1685. [1]

Matthew may have received a grant of land from George Fenwick, whose agent he was, in the southwest quarter of Lyme. He is said to have built a log cabin there—the first in Lyme. However, at first he left a black man to occupy it, prefering the safety of the fort in Saybrook at night. Later, he made his home there. [4]

In 1666 the General Court ordered Matthew Griswold and William Walter to submit a valuation of the property in Lyme. [4]

Children of Matthew Griswold and Anne Wolcott:

i. Elizabeth Griswold married first John Rogers. [5] She married second Peter, the son of Phineas and Mary (Priest) Pratt, on 5 August 1679 in Lyme. [5] Peter was born say 1643. [5]

ii. Matthew Griswold married Phebe Hyde in 1683. [6] Phebe was the daughter of Samuel and Jane (Lee) Hyde. [6]

Matthew and Phebe were the ancestors of Matthew and Roger Griswold, governors of Connecticut and William Woodbridge, governor of Michigan. [6]

iii. John Griswold

iv. Sarah Griswold married Thomas Colton.

v. Ann Griswold was born in April 1656 in Lyme, Connecticut. [1] She died on 13 April 1721 in Lyme. [1]. She married Abraham Bronsonon 2 September 1674. [1] Abraham was the son of John and Frances Hills. [1]

Ann was the ancestor of Morrison Waite, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Alexander Graham Bell. [2]

Endnotes:

1. Henry A. Hudson, Jr., "Hon. Henry Matson Waite — For the People," Connecticut Nutmegger 38 (2005), 192–3.

2. "The Woolcotts of Windsor, (Conn.),"Connecticut Nutmegger, vol. 11 (1978), 3–12.

3. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I–III," database with images, AmericanAncestors, pp. 2049–52.

4. Walter J. Noyes, "Early Settlers of Old Lyme," Connecticut Nutmegger, vol. 7 (1974), p. 3.

5. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I–III," database with images, AmericanAncestors, pp. 1516–7.

6. John W. Stedman, The Norwich Jubilee ... (Norwich: John W. Stedman, 1859), 206.

Revised 18-Dec-2019