wife of Francis Griswold

Not the same as 2nd wife of William Bradford

(unknown)

• Birth: Abt 1634
• Parents: unknown
• Husband: Lt. Francis Griswold, son of Edward
• Death: by 1675 in Norwich, New London, CT

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Historical note: The first English settlers of Connecticut arrived between 1633 and 1635. As this individual is likely not a Native American, she is not likely to have been born in Connecticut in 1632.

Children of Francis Griswold, 1st 4 born Saybrook CT, rest in Norwich, New London, CT

1. Mary b: 26 AUG 1656
2. Sarah b: 28 MAR 1654
3. Joseph b: 04 JUN 1655
4. Anna b: 11 DEC 1658
5. Deborah b: MAY 1661
6. Lydia b: JUN 1663
7. Samuel b: 16 SEP 1664
8. Margaret b: OCT 1668
9. Lydia b: 16 OCT 1671

Disputed identity

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Mary Tracy was not his wife. This has been found to be entirely untrue. Thomas Tracy had no daughter Mary.

No longer accepted as the 2nd wife of William Bradford, see Major William Bradford's second wife

The July 2001 issue of the NEHGR gives her name as Sarah, based on a court record referring to the Widdow Sarah Griswell, and denies that she is the daughter of Thomas Tracey. The point of the article is to suggest that Sarah married second Major William Bradford, the son of Governor Bradford. William had three wives - first Alice Richards (d. Dec 1671), second traditionally "widow Wiswell" by whom he had a son in 1675 and third Mary Wood [Holmes], whose first child was born in 1677. The Massachusetts Wiswell family is quite small, and there is no one who could have been this missing widow.

Bradford's will refers to land that Joseph's mother had up in Norwich, which fits with land held by Francis Griswold. (The only others with holdings at that time who died before 1673 were William Backus and John Mason, neither of which had a widow who could have remarried.) In addition, two of Francis' daughters were married in Plymouth, which makes little sense for a family from Norwich, unless their mother had moved to Plymouth with her new husband.

How might they have met? William's brother John was settled in Norwich -- he could have played matchmaker for his newly widowed brother and lovely widowed neighbor.

Perhaps daughter of Thomas Holcomb

Notes

3 Dec 2013

Mary Griswold, the mother of Thomas Griswold married to Hester Drake, was married to George Griswold and is the daughter of Thomas Holcomb and Elizabeth Ferguson.

Sincerely,

Rod Spurbeck

perhaps Mary Tracy

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.)

Griswold says that many writers claim that Francis' wife was a TRACY; a fact he disputes based on the lack of any record of a Mary TRACY. Whoever his spouse, the Saybrook records "Children of Francis Grisell - Saraw b. 28 Mar 1653; Joseph b. 4 June 1655, d.the latter end of July, the same year; Mary b. 26 August 1656; Hanna b. 11 December 1658". The Norwich records cite the births of Deborah, Lydia (includes her death), Samuel, Margaret and Lydia II and the marriages of Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Deborah, Margaret and Samuel. These records refer to Francis as Lieutenant Griswold and indicate that he died Oct 1671 of "apparent disease" leaving seven children including an 18 day old infant. Thomas Adgate and John Post, Sr. were appointed guardians.

The Griswold family, England-America : Edward of Windsor, Connecticut, Matthew of Lyme, Connecticut, Michael of Wethersfield, Connecticut by Griswold, Glenn E. Page 21 < Archive.Org >

Links

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gwenbj&id...
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~haddockfamily/bra...
• Webber, David Jay. "Major William Bradford's Second Wife: Was she the Widow of Francis Griswold?" New England Historical and Genealogical Register 155: 247