Representative women of New England/Kate E. Griswold

by Mary H. Graves

KATE E. GRISWOLD, proprietor and publisher of Profitable Advertising, a monthly magazine issued in Boston, devoted to the interests of advertisers and publishers, is widely known as a successful journalist, the periodical of which she is the sponsor ranking, it is said, as foremost of its kind in the world. Miss Griswold was born about thirty-five years ago at West Hartford, Conn. Her father, John Belden Griswold, a native of Newington, Conn., was born in 1828, son of Josiah Wells and Mary A. (Belden) Griswold. Her mother, whose maiden name was Cornelia Arnold Jones, was born at East Hartford in 1830, daughter of Joseph Pantra Jones and his wife, Sarah Comstock.

After pursuing her studies, both elementary and classical, at some of the best public and private schools in Hartford, she turned naturally enough to journalism, entering the office of the Poultry World in that city. One of the practical occupations of her girlhood at home had been the raising of poultry, which she had made financially profitable. Her story, as in all cases of genuine success, is a story of hard work and a slow climb from humble beginnings. Her promotion to a responsible position in the office of the National Trotting Association came within a year, and again illustrates the special fitness of things, for she is an enthusiastic devotee of the horse.

At the end of her second year constant application to an ever-increasing burden of duties had worn her out, and for a time she was obliged to give up the struggle. Several years of retirement and rest, however, brought her again to the front with a renewed store of strength.

Flattering offers were at Miss Griswold's disposal, but she turned from them all to take up the management of the organ of a local charitable enterprise. To The Hartford City Mission Record, and to the cause in general which it represented, she devoted herself for the next four years. Toward the close of this period of charitable work she entered into several prize competitions for advertising designs, and was perhaps not wholly surprised at carrying off the honors in a number of cases. The attention thus attracted to the fact of a woman's success as an "ad" writer led to an offer from Boston.

A position as general ad writer and correspondent in the office of the C. F. David Advertising Agency, the original promoters of Profitable Advertising, soon demonstrated her fitness for the editor's chair. In the course of a year or two she became the proprietor as well as the editor of the publication.

The story of Miss Griswold's subsequent career is simply the record of a shining success obtained slowly by the exercise of those qualities that alone can ensure fortune. The path has been hard and the difficulties unusual. Up to three years ago the editor as well as the manager of Profitable Advertising, Miss Griswold was especially handicapped by the very general doubt as to the practicability of the undertaking. When she began to edit Profitable Advertising, the number of women who were making a living in the advertising field could be counted on the fingers of one hand. They are now numbered by scores, and it is not too much to say that the single example of Miss Griswold's grit and sagacity has had more to do with this than any other single cause.

Profitable Advertising is a periodical which stands for and reflects more than most publications the individuality of its owner and manager. In this respect Miss Griswold deserves honorable mention in the same class with such representative American publishers as the Bennetts of the Herald, Dana of the Sun, and Horace Greeley of the Tribune. Her publication has within the past three years attained high-water mark, and, as already intimated above, is recognized by the leading authorities of two continents as the model and standard of its class.

It is needless to add in words a personal tribute to such a record. Miss Griswold numbers many friends in the publishing and advertising fields at large. She is a young woman whose powers have not yet touched their prime.

The ancestry of Miss Griswold has been traced back through various lines to conspicuous early colonists of her native State, she being also a "Mayflower" descendant, a double one, so to speak, deriving through both father and mother from William Bradford, Governor of "Plymouth Plantation."

Her father, John Belden Griswold, was born in 1828, son of Josiah Wells and Mary Ann (Belden) Griswold and a descendant in the eighth generation of Michael¹ Griswold, of Wethersfield. The line is: Michael¹; Jacob,² born in 1660; Major Josiah,³ born in 1700; Josiah,⁴ 1728; Solomon,⁵ 1751; Josiah,⁶ 1775; Josiah Wells,⁷ 1794; John Belden,⁸ Kate E. being of the ninth generation.

Mr. Griswold's paternal grandmother, the wife of Josiah,⁶ was Abigail Wells, daughter of Robert and Abigail (Hurlbut) Wells and grand-daughter of Lieutenant Robert and Abigail (Bumham) Wells, the Wells ancestry beginning with Thomas Wells (or Welles), one of the original proprietors of Hartford and Wethersfield, many years a magistrate and for two years Governor of the colony. Mrs. Abigail Burnham Wells was a daughter of the Rev. William Burnham (William,² Thomas³) and his wife Hannah, daughter of Samuel³ Wolcott. of Windsor. Samuel³ was grandson of Henry¹ Wolcott, the founder of the distinguished family of this surname, prolific of governors.

Mary A. Belden, wife of Josiah Wells Griswold and grandmother of Kate E., was a daughter of John and Asenath (Darrow) Belden and grand-daughter of John Kellogg Belden and his wife Mercy, who was sister to Noah Webster, the lexicographer.

Bradford descent through the Websters is thus shown: Governor William¹ Bradford married for his second wife Mrs. Alice Carpenter Southworth. Their son William² married, first, Alice Richards. Mercy³ Bradford, born of this union, married Samuel Steele in 1680, and resided in Hartford. Their son, Eliphalet⁴ Steele, married Catherine Marshfield, and was the father of Mercy⁵ Steele, born at West Hartford in 1727, who married Noah Webster, Sr., the couple last named being the parents of Mercy, born at West Hartford in 1749, and of her younger brother, Noah Webster, of dictionary fame.

Mercy Webster was of the sixth generation of the family founded by John¹ Webster, one of the original proprietors of Hartford, Conn., and two years Governor. The line from John¹ Webster was continued through Robert,² John,³ Daniel,⁴ to Noah,⁵ born 1722, who married Mercy Steele, as noted above.

Miss Griswold's maternal grandparents were Joseph Pantra and Sarah (Comstock) Jones, the grandfather, born in 1785, son of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Jones and great-grandson of Nathaniel Jones and his wife, Rebekah Pantra, who was a descendant of William¹ Pantra, of Hartford. Elizabeth Williams was a daughter of Timothy⁴ Williams, great-grand-son of William¹ Williams, of Hartford. Her mother, whose maiden name was Ruth Pitkin, was the daughter of Ozias Pitkin and grand-daughter of William¹ Pitkin, founder of the prominent Hartford family of this surname, and brother of Martha Pitkin, who married Simon Wolcott, and was the mother of the first Roger Wolcott in New England. Another ancestor belonging to one of the first families of Hartford was Ozias¹ Goodwin, whose daughter Hannah was the wife of William Pitkin and mother of Ozias Pitkin.

Mrs. Sarah Comstock Jones was a daughter of Perez and Abigail N. (Raymond) Comstock and grand-daughter of Nathaniel⁵ Comstock and his wife, Sarah Bradford, born in the North Parish of New London (now Montville) in 1744, who was of the fifth generation of Plymouth Colony stock. The line was: Governor William¹ Bradford; William² and his second wife, widow Wiswall; Joseph³ and his second wife. Mary, widow of Captain Daniel Fitch; John⁴ and wife, Esther Sherwood; Sarah.⁵

Abigail, wife of Perez Comstock and mother of Sarah, was a daughter of Dr. Christopher⁵ Raymond (Joshua,^{4 3 2} Richard¹) and his wife Eleanor. The latter was a daughter of Daniel² Fitch and great-granddaughter of the Rev. James Fitch, of Saybrook and Norwich, Conn. Her grandfather, Captain Daniel⁴ Fitch, was son of the Rev. James by his second wife, Priscilla, therefore a grandson of the latter's father, Major John Mason, sometimes styled the "Myles Standish of the Connecticut Colony."

Joshua⁴ Raymond, son of Joshua,² married Elizabeth Christophers, and was the father of Dr. Christopher Raymond, born in 1729. Joshua' Raymond, grandfather of Dr. Christopher, married Mercy Sands, daughter of James Sands, of Block Island.