F. Burge Griswold (, Burge; after first marriage, Smith; after second marriage, Griswold;
pen names, F. Burge Smith, Mrs. S. B. Phelps, Fan-Fan; April 28, 1826 – November 11, 1900) was a 19th-century American author. She wrote
Sunday school tales and other semi-religious works, among which were ''Bishop and Nanette'' series, and ''Miriam's Reward''. Other popular writings were the ''Fan-Fan Stories'' and ''Asleep''. Griswold died in 1900.
Early life and family
Frances Irene Burge was born in
Wickford, Rhode Island
Wickford is a small village in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, which is named after Wickford in Essex, England. Wickford is located on the west side of Narragansett Bay, just about a 20-minute drive across two bridges f ...
, April 28, 1826. She was a daughter of Rev. Lemuel Burge and Elizabeth Frances Shaw. She grew up in the
St Paul's Narragansett Church, of which her father was for 20 years the
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
, having thrice been elected to that pastorate. Griswold descended, on her father's side, from the Mucklestons of Muckleston Manor,
Oswestry, and on her mother's side, from the Brentons of
Hammersmith, England. She was a descendant of
Roger Williams, Governor
Samuel Cranston
Samuel Cranston (1659–1727) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations during the first quarter of the 18th century. He held office from 1698 to 1727, being elected to office 30 times (twice in 1698), and served as ...
, and Governor
William Brenton
William Brenton (c. 1610–1674) was a colonial President, Deputy Governor, and Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and an early settler of Portsmouth and Newport in the Rhode Island colony. Austin and other hist ...
, and collaterally related to Admiral
Jahleel Brenton
Vice Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, 1st Baronet, KCB (22 August 1770 – 21 April 1844) was a British officer in the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Brenton was born in British America but his family ...
, of the
British Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
.
Career
Griswold began to publish her literary work in 1853, and, by 1893, had published 32 volumes, besides innumerable fugitive articles for newspapers and other periodicals. Perhaps the most widely known of her books are the ''Bishop and Nanette'' series, which, as a carefully prepared exposition of the Book of Common Prayer, were used in advanced classes of Episcopal
Sunday schools
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
; ''Sister Eleanor's Brood'', a story of the lights and shadows of a country clergyman's family life, in which the gentle, optimistic nature of the author works is used, and which is understood to figure, under a thin veil of fiction, the actual experience of her mother, and the third book, ''Asleep'', addressing bereavement. Griswold was an ardent Episcopalian, and the church was always important to her. Her Christmas and Easter poems represented her most finished poetic work.
Personal life
Griswold married twice. After the death of her first husband, Allen N. Smith, of
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she married, in 1885, one of her distant relatives, Judge Elias Griswold, of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
(or of Washington). Her last book, entitled ''Old Wickford, the Venice of America'', was published this year by The Young Churchman Company, of
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
.
Judge Griswold passed the latter days of his life in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the home through many years of Mrs. Griswold's family, where she continued to reside. Most of her books were written under the name of "F. Burge Smith", and some under "Mrs. S. B. Phelps", though her favored
pen name was "Fan-Fan". She died at Wickford, on Sunday, November 11, 1900.
Selected works
* ''Miriam's Reward''
* ''Elm tree tales'', 1856
* ''Nina : or, Life's caprices : a story founded upon fact'', 1861
* ''Asleep'', 1871
* ''Sister Eleanor's brood'', 1872
* ''The bishop and Nannette'', 1874
* ''Asleep; words of comfort to the bereaved'', 1876
* ''Old Wickford : the Venice of America'', 1900
References
Attribution
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Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Griswold, F. Burge
1826 births
1900 deaths
19th-century American writers
19th-century American women writers
19th-century American Episcopalians
19th-century pseudonymous writers
People from North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Pseudonymous women writers
Writers from Rhode Island
American religious writers
Women religious writers
American women non-fiction writers
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century
19th-century American short story writers
American children's writers