Governor Matthew Griswold was born March 25, 1714, died April 28,
1799. He married, on Nov. 10, 1743, his second cousin, Ursula
Wolcott, daughter of Gov. Roger Wolcott. A very amusing story is
told of their courtship. Governor Griswold in early life wished to
marry a young lady in Durham, Conn. She was in love with a
physician, whom she hoped would propose to her, and in the mean time
was unwilling to give up her hold upon her assured lover. At last
the governor, tired of being held in an uncertainty, pressed her for
a definite answer. She pleaded that she wished for more time, when
he rose with dignity and answered her, "I will give you a lifetime."
This experience made him extremely shy, and when thrown with his
cousin Ursula he made no advance towards love-making. At last when
she was nineteen and he ten years older she began asking him on
every occasion, "What did you say, Cousin Matthew?" and he would
answer her quietly, "Nothing." At last she asked him impatiently,
"What did you say, Cousin Matthew?" and when he answered again
"Nothing," she replied sharply, "Well, it's time you did,"--and _he
did_.
Their daughter Ursula, the visitor at Mrs. Deming's, was born April
13, 1754, and was a great beauty. She married, in November 22, 1777,
her third cousin, Lynde McCurdy, of Norwich, Conn.