Alexander V. Griswold

Griswold, Alexander Viets, D.D., born at Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1766. After being for some time rector at Bristol, Rhode Island, he was consecrated bishop of the "Eastern Diocese," in 1811. He was subsequently Bishop of Massachusetts. He died in 1843, and his memoirs were published by Dr. J. S. Stone. His well-known hymn:—

Holy Father, great Creator. Holy Trinity. Was written probably in 1835. It appeared in that year in his Family Prayers, in 4 st. of 6 1. and entitled "Hymn to the God of Christians." With some alterations by Bishop Coxe, it was given in Hymns for Church and Home, &c, Phila., 1860, No. 153. It was repeated in the Hymnal .... of the Protestant Episcopal Church , 1871, No. 145.

[Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)