Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Griswold, Stanley

GRISWOLD, Stanley, senator, b. in Torringford, Conn., 14 Nov., 1763; d. in Shawneetown, Ill., 21 Aug., 1815. After working on his father's farm and attending a district-school, he entered Yale, where he graduated in 1786. He was then principal of a high-school for a year, studied divinity, and on 20 Jan., 1790, was installed as colleague pastor at New Milford, Conn., where his eloquence and social qualities made him popular. He early became an admirer of Thomas Jefferson, who was then regarded by most of the New England clergy as little less than an athiest, and in 1797 he was excluded from the association of ministers of which he was a member on account of alleged heterodoxy. His congregation, however, supported him, and he continued to preach in New Milford till 1802, when he resigned. In 1801 he delivered a sermon at a Democratic jubilee in Wallingford, Conn., avowing political sentiments so unusual for a New England clergyman the he became widely known. After preaching for a short time in Greenfield, Mass., he abandoned the pulpit, and in 1804 edited with spirit and ability a Democratic newspaper at Walpole, N.H. In 1805 he was appointed by President Jefferson secretary of Michigan territory, but shortly afterward resigned on account of some difficulty with the governor, Gen. William Hull, and removed to Ohio. In 1809-'10 he served in the U.S. senate, having been appointed to fill a vacancy, and was afterward U.S. judge for the Northwest territory, holding that office at the time of his death. He published the sermon alluded to above, with the title “Overcome Evil with Good” (Hartford, 1801 ; 2d ed. New Haven, 1845).