Griswold, Norman Whitmore

Norman Whitmore Griswold (November 25, 1843 - December 1, 1904) was a California-based businessman, entrepreneur, speculator, and sometimes publisher. Griswold was born in Farmington, Connecticut. He worked in Boston as a clerk until the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), when in 1862 he enlisted as a private in the Union Army (Company K, 30th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry). He was injured in battle in New Orleans and discharged, but on January 9, 1864, he reenlisted, this time as a white officer (1st Lieutenant and Quartermaster) with the 75th United States Colored Troops. Still in New Orleans in 1865, he married Anna E. McChesney (1849 - 1937), who gave birth there to a son, Norman M. Griswold. Around 1880, Griswold followed the railroads west, settling in Alameda, California, where he was briefly employed with a local sash works. Within a few years, Griswold became involved with the Royal Soap Company of Alameda (est. 1879), of which he was listed as a company secretary under President John D. Yost. Yost was also a partner at Henry.S. Crocker Company, one of the largest publishers in California. The association with Yost brought Griswold into the orbit of H.S. Crocker's (1832 - 1904) more famous brother, the Central Pacific Railroad tycoon Charles Crocker (1822 - 1888). Griswold encouraged the Crockers to leverage the publishing might of H.S. Crocker to promote California tourism to destinations accessible by railroad, thereby increasing ridership and land values. Their main publication, a multi-page booklet entitled Beauties of California, was lavishly printed in chromolithography with dramatic illustrations of California wonders, including Yosemite and giant sequoias. Griswold went on to partner with Charles Crocker as President of the Sonoma County Land and Improvement Company, which founded the town of Kenwood. Griswold even built himself a castle there. Ultimately, the town was a commercial bust, though today, it is a beautiful wine-country community. In 1901, Griswold started a construction company in Honolulu, but this failed when Griswold, on a business trip to New York, died suddenly. His body was transferred to Oakland for burial.