Alexander Viets Griswold was an American Episcopal clergyman, first and only bishop of the Eastern Diocese.
Background
Alexander Viets Griswold was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, the United States, the son of Elisha and Eunice (Viets) Griswold on April 22, 1766
On his father’s side he was a descendant of Edward Griswold, an emigrant from Kenilworth, England, who settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1639.
His mother’s grandfather, John Viets, was a wealthy physician who, coming probably from Germany before 1700, established himself in New York. Later he moved to Simsbury to venture and lose his fortune in the copper-mines there. An uncle, Roger Viets, had been sent to Yale to prepare for the Presbyterian ministry, but while at college he became an Episcopalian, and soon persuaded the rest of the family to follow his example.
Education
Alexander’s early years were spent on his father’s farm, but when he was ten years old, since he displayed more interest in books than in agriculture, his uncle, then rector of the Simsbury parish, took him into his own home. The impoverishment of his father who endeavored to remain neutral during the Revolution, the removal of his Loyalist uncle to Nova Scotia after the war, and his own early marriage to seventeen-year- old Elizabeth Mitchelson in 1785, prevented him from entering Yale as he had planned.
Career
Until Alexander Viets Griswold was twenty-eight years old he cultivated a small farm, and read law though without expectation of practising it.
Persuaded by his friends who believed his character and abilities fitted him for the ministry, in 1794 he offered himself as a candidate for orders.
For ten years (1794-1804) he served at the same time the churches in Plymouth, Harwinton, and Northfield, eking out his small salary by farming and teaching.
He was elected bishop of the Eastern Diocese May 31, 1810, and was consecrated at Trinity Church, New York, May 29, 1811.
He continued to serve as rector at Bristol until 1830 when he took charge of St. Peter’s Church, Salem, Massachusetts, the United States, and it was not until five years later that he devoted himself wholly to his episcopal work.
The Eastern Diocese comprised the churches in Massachusetts including Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
In 1838 he became presiding bishop.
In 1827-28 he published in the Episcopal Register of Vermont, a series of articles in defense of prayer-meetings, which later appeared in book form under the title Remarks on Social Prayer-meetings (1858).
In the same periodical, 1828-29, he also published articles on the improvement of the liturgy.
He also published Prayers Adapted to Various Occasions of Social Worship (1835), and Discourses on the Most Important Doctrines and Duties of the Christian Religion (1830), besides several single sermons and addresses.
Disturbed by the progress of the Oxford Movement, at the time of his death he had just finished The Reformation, A Brief Exposition of Some of the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome (1843).
Death came to him suddenly in Boston on the doorstep of the home of Bishop Manton Eastburn who in 1842 had been elected his assistant.
Religion
Although never a partisan, Alexander Viets Griswold was evangelical and Low Church in his sympathies.
Personality
Humble, unostentatious, and gentle, Alexander Viets Griswold was nevertheless firm in the exercise of authority when required, and resolute in matters involving principle.
Connections
Alexander Viets Griswold was married to Elizabeth Mitchelson in 1785. His first wife died September 10, 1817, and some ten years afterward he married Mrs. Amelia Smith. Of his fourteen children only one survived him.
