Person:Edward Griswold (1)

'About 1635 (sic)^[3] Edward Greswold was deeply possessed with these two fancies:

1) That we must not communicate with sinners.

2) Nor use any human inventions in God's service.

'To avoid the first, he shut himself and children in his house, having no meat but what was put in a hole or window, suffering no man to come in to minister unto them, [not] even, when they lay sick and in great misery [both the plague and smallpox were in England in 1633; maybe Edward's "fancies" were a response to widespread disease and death, including the death of his wife]; insomuch that the Justice of the [P]eace in consideration of his case gave order to break open his house where they found him very sick on his bed and two of his children dead.

'And to avoid the other, he cut out the [table of?] contents and the titles of everything in his Bible, leaving nothing but the text itself.'^[1]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 #94, in French, Robert L.; Esther G. French; and Coralee (editor) Griswold. The Greswold Family: 12 generations in England. (Wethersfield, CT: Griswold Family Association of America, 1999)
   pages 31-35.

   'Edward12 GRESWOLD ... was christened 5 Aug 1594 in Tanworth-In-Arden, Warwickshire, England. ... About 20 years ago, Philpott gave more details about Edward whom he called "Edward the Madman." He wrote that the couple had eight children, who were stated to have died without issue. He went on to say that he had been unable to confirm that statement.. ... John, the heir of Edward, was shown in letters patent issued 3 Dec 1633 ... to have been born 5 Jan 1619. Other records at Marston show that he, age 21, and a brother Thomas, born about 1623, had died at that location before 1640. ... There are only two children named [John and Thomas] of the eight that Edward and Margaret are stated to have had. ... Two other unnamed children were said by Philpott to have been dead at the 1633 break-in.'
   This source goes on to speculate that Michael (born about 1620, immigrant to New England by 1640) was one of Edward and Margaret's other four children, supporting this speculation by stating 'Apparently, none of Edward's children were baptized. It was the practice of dissenters to use Bible names.'

2. ↑ #94, in French, Robert L.; Esther G. French; and Coralee (editor) Griswold. The Greswold Family: 12 generations in England. (Wethersfield, CT: Griswold Family Association of America, 1999)
   pages 31-32.

   'Edward died 20 Aug 1633 in Cubbington, Warwickshire, England.'

3. ↑ A footnote notes that this date (copied from Dugdale's Antiquities) is an approximation, since Edward died in 1633. Presumably these events occurred in 1633, possibly between the death of Edward's wife in June and his own death in August, since his wife is not mentioned.