Born in Windsor, Connecticut, Griswold grew up on a farm there, and moved to Brooklyn at fifteen where he was initially employed in a grocery store. He then became a salesman at a jewelry store on Maiden Lane in Manhattan and subsequently opened his own jewelry store. In 1851, he joined the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and formed a close relationship with its renowned leader Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. His first wife Henrietta died in October 1861 and he married her younger sister Louise on New Year's Day 1862. No record of enlistment into the Civil War has been found for Steohen however he was involved in the American flag raising at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865 after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender. In 1867 Stephen and Louise embarked on a trip to Europe on an English steamer from New York City. They arrived in Liverpool and toured England, including London where they saw Queen Victoria and her children. After several days in England, the Griswolds crossed the English channel and toured France and Switzerland. They crossed the Alps into Italy and traveled down to Naples, where they met up with a party of "pilgrims" leaving for the Holy Land on the steamer Quaker City, the first trans-Atlantic American cruise. A fellow passenger, Mark Twain, was on board with the task of sending articles back to the United States about the journey. These articles were later compiled into Innocents Abroad, his first best-seller which jump-started his career. Many passengers of the voyage became characters in Twain's book, and Mr. Griswold was not written about favorably by Twain. Stephen's wife Louise kept her own journal of the journey, and after returning was encouraged by friends to publish it as "A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land", a log of the places and people encountered. It was published in 1872 and Stephen submitted a copy to the Library of Congress. Stephen worked as a jeweler and was elected to the New York State Senate, representing the 3rd district in 1886-1887.
Born in Windsor, Connecticut, Griswold grew up on a farm there, and moved to Brooklyn at fifteen where he was initially employed in a grocery store. He then became a salesman at a jewelry store on Maiden Lane in Manhattan and subsequently opened his own jewelry store. In 1851, he joined the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and formed a close relationship with its renowned leader Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. His first wife Henrietta died in October 1861 and he married her younger sister Louise on New Year's Day 1862. No record of enlistment into the Civil War has been found for Steohen however he was involved in the American flag raising at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865 after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender. In 1867 Stephen and Louise embarked on a trip to Europe on an English steamer from New York City. They arrived in Liverpool and toured England, including London where they saw Queen Victoria and her children. After several days in England, the Griswolds crossed the English channel and toured France and Switzerland. They crossed the Alps into Italy and traveled down to Naples, where they met up with a party of "pilgrims" leaving for the Holy Land on the steamer Quaker City, the first trans-Atlantic American cruise. A fellow passenger, Mark Twain, was on board with the task of sending articles back to the United States about the journey. These articles were later compiled into Innocents Abroad, his first best-seller which jump-started his career. Many passengers of the voyage became characters in Twain's book, and Mr. Griswold was not written about favorably by Twain. Stephen's wife Louise kept her own journal of the journey, and after returning was encouraged by friends to publish it as "A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land", a log of the places and people encountered. It was published in 1872 and Stephen submitted a copy to the Library of Congress. Stephen worked as a jeweler and was elected to the New York State Senate, representing the 3rd district in 1886-1887.
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