F. Burge Griswold (, Burge; after first marriage, Smith; after second marriage, Griswold;
pen name
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
s, 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
]
A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes.
Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
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 New England town, town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, which is named after Wickford in Essex, England. Wickford is located on the western side of Narragansett B ...
, 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, having thrice been elected to that pastorate. Griswold descended, on her father's side, from the Mucklestons of Muckleston Manor,
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...
, and on her mother's side, from the Brentons of
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
It ...
, England. She was a descendant of
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...
, Governor
Samuel Cranston, and Governor
William Brenton
William Brenton (c. 1610–1674) was a colonial British statesman who served as colonial President, Deputy Governor, and Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and an early settler of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Portsmo ...
, and collaterally related to Admiral
Jahleel Brenton, of the
British Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
.
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, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes.
Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are used to provide ...
; ''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
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...
, she married, in 1885, one of her distant relatives, Judge Elias Griswold, of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
(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 is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
.
Judge Griswold passed the latter days of his life in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, 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
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
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
American 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