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

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been men of enlarged views, devoted to public affairs ; and
in a similar
atmosphere she grew up and passed her life. How remarkable her
environment was will be easily seen by a glance at the paper on her
" Family Circle" included in this monograph. She took a woman's part in
the old French War, in which her father was Major General in command
of the Connecticut forces in the expedition against Cape Breton ;
and
in
the Revolutionary War, through her brothers Erastus and Oliver, and her
husband's nephew Samuel Holden Parsons, who were Generals. She was
surrounded by these and other members of her family, men of distin-
guished talents, who were in the highest military and civil positions of the
time ;
and
her opportunities for knowledge of all public affairs, were such
as few women in this country have ever possessed. Her life gave the full
results of her birth and training. Most of the traditions of her youth
have long passed away. Little is known about the personal appearance
of Ursula, except that she was a tall, commanding woman, but the fact
that she transmitted so much of the rich beauty of the Wolcott family to
her children gives us to infer that she had herself her full share.
Conspicuous as Governor Griswold became in pubhc life, and accus-
tomed as he was from early days to express his opinions on important
subjects, he was yet naturally diffident and shy. He had some time
desired to marry a lady in Durham, Conn., of a family since distinguished
in Western New York. She, however, preferred to marry a physician,
and kept Matthew Griswold in waiting, ready to. accept him in case the
doctor did not come forward. With some intimation of this state of
affairs, and aroused by it, Matthew Griswold at last pressed the lady for a
decision. She answered hesitatingly that she "wished for more time."
" Madam," said he, rising with decision, " I give you your lifetime" and
withdrew. She took her lifetime, and never married. Naturally diffident
as he was, and rendered by this discomfiture still more self-distrustful, he
might have never approached a lady again. His second cousin Ursula
Wolcott and he had exchanged visits at the houses of their parents from
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