 Griswold was born to Rufus and Deborah ( Wass ) Griswold on February 13 , 1815 , in Vermont , near Rutland , and raised a strict Calvinist in the hamlet of Benson . He was the twelfth of fourteen children and his father was a farmer and shoemaker . In 1822 , the family sold the Benson farm and moved to nearby Hubbardton . As a child , Griswold was complex , unpredictable , and reckless . He left home when he was 15 , calling himself a " solitary soul , wandering through the world , a homeless , joyless outcast " . 
