Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

C^tfstoolti
But who was this George (4) Griswold, the father of Edward,
Matthew and Thomas, we know not with certainty. It has been assumed,
though, hitherto, without any good reasons given, that our Griswolds
belonged to the heraldic family of Greswold of the county of Warwick,
one of whom, Humphrey Greswold, deceased in 1746, unmarried, was the
first of this family who possessed Malvern Hall;' and the arms of that
family: Arg. a /esse Gu. between two greyhoiinds co7ira?it Sa., have been
extensively used a's of right belonging to Griswolds of America.
A statement has gained some credence, that our Griswold brothers
came from Lyme Regis, co. Dorset, probably for no better reason than
because this would afford a plausible explanation of the name of Lyme in
Connecticut. But careful search in the records of Lyme Regis, by the
Rector in 1874, failed to show that any person of the name ever lived
there ; while the affidavits of Edward and Matthew Griswold fully establish
the fact that their old home was at Kenilworth, co. Warwick. Now
"The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the Year 1619," published
by the Harleian Society, gives us thirteen generations of the Greswold
family, of which the first-named representative was John Greswold " of
Kenelworth," who married the daughter of William Hugford of Hulderley
Hall in Soli/mil ; and the seat of the head of the family seems to have
said :
"
I read it over repeatedly, and critically observed the paper, old and faded, and the writing of
style verifying its age," These two Griswold brothers are descendants of Edward Griswold, through
his son Francis.
' The late Col. Chester, to whom the question of the English origin of the Griswolds was referred
some years since, wrote from London :
"
I thought I had already explained about the Griswolds of
Malvern Hall. The first one who had Malvern Hall was Humphrey G. (son of Rev. Marshall G.,
descended from the family at Solihull, co. Warwick), who died unmarried in 1746. It then went to his
brother John, who died without issue in 1760, when that branch of the family, in the male line, became
extinct. Malvern then went to their sister Mary, wife of David Lewis Esq., then to their son Henry
Greswold Lewis, who died in 1829 without issue. Malvern then went to his ver)' distant kinsman
Edmund Meysey Wigley, who assumed the name of Greswold. He died, unmarried, in 1833, and
Malvern then went to his paternal uncle Henry Wigley, who also assumed the surname of Greswold,
but who never had a drop of Greswold blood in his veins." The present (18S6) possessor of Malvern
Hall is John Francis Williams Greswolde Esq., who assumed the name of Greswolde under the Will of
an aunt. Miss Greswolde—Walford's County Families. London, i886, p. mo.