Matthew Griswold (politician, 1714)

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Matthew Griswold (born March 25, 1714 in Lyme , Colony of Connecticut ; †  April 28, 1799 ibid) was an American politician and governor of the state of Connecticut between 1784 and 1786. He was also lieutenant governor and held the office of chief justice ( State top Richter) at court ( engl. Superior court ) during the American Revolution (1769-1784). He was a member of the Federalist Party .

Early years

Matthew Griswold was the eldest son of John Griswold, politician and landowner, and Hannah (Lee) Griswold. He was the fourth generation of his family to live in Connecticut. His family immigrated to America from England in 1639 . They were among the richest and most respected families in Lyme. Several Griswolds have held public office in Connecticut for generations.

Griswold studied law in his mid-twenties and then opened his own law firm in Lyme in 1742. He married Governor Roger Wolcott's daughter Ursula on November 10, 1743. The couple had seven children together. Her son Roger Griswold later also became governor of Connecticut.

The revolution

Griswold was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1748, where he also served between 1751 and 1759. He was then elected to the Council of Assistants and worked there from 1759 to 1769. Griswold and eight other council members became staunch opponents of the Stamp Act of 1765 when Governor Thomas Fitch was forced to swear an oath in support of it. Then a member of the Griswold was Sons of Liberty (Engl. Sons of Liberty ), who protested publicly against the Stamp Act.

Between 1769 and 1784 he was elected lieutenant governor of Connecticut each subsequent year . In this position he also served as Chief Justice at the Superior Court. During this time he was involved in education and served on a teaching improvement committee at Yale College . Yale then awarded him a Doctor of Laws in 1779 .

Griswold was a staunch supporter of the colonial cause during the American independence movement. He served on many committees that oversaw troop movements, military equipment, food, and defense. He particularly focused on defending American ships and Connecticut's shoreline.

Governor and later years

After the war ended, Griswold was elected governor of Connecticut by the General Assembly in 1784. In the previous regular election, he missed the majority of votes. He was re-elected in 1785, but lost to Samuel Huntington in 1786 . In 1788, as a delegate from Lyme, he became president of the Connecticut Convention, which ratified the new United States Constitution.

When Ursula Griswold died in 1788, Matthew Griswold withdrew from public life. From then on, he continued to manage his family estate, Black Hall, until his death on April 28, 1799.

His brother-in-law was Rev. Jonathan Parsons , father of General Samuel Holden Parsons . His sister Sarah Griswold was the mother of James Hillhouse .

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