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THE BURRITT FAMIL"Y I11 AMERICA WILLIAM BURRITT

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THE BURRITT FAMIL THE BURRITT FAMIL"Y i11 AMERICA De1cendant1 oJ WILLIAM BURRITT of STRATFORD, CONN. 1635 -1940 c:::::::::::J Conipiled by LE"'IS L. BURRITT -+4 Ju, I._ 'f +1.,,.{ ,..,,,, c., .. t,r. (. Moc.li•IC. ~ .... .L T,f'.,.,ruu .. ~ " ., •L -t" ~ 'l .C ....... .t. ,v... -e .. ,.,.,tt Stratford, Connecticut, 1660 lurritt "Gules, a lion rampant argent holding an esca11op of the same and accompanied in the base by three triangles or; a chief endented argent charged with three escallops or." Crest-A lion as in the arms. :.\lotto-Jc' endure pour durer. ., ' ' .: ,-l - , ,~... ~.,. .... ~\?'. -·,,,., .. ~ · ,i_K/'•~f,,' ,.~~,. ' ;l ..'. !·\ ...' ' . ') LEWIS L. BURRITT No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the stttn total of htttnan happiness, not only of the present, but of every subsequent age of hu­ manity. No one can detach himself fron1 this connection. There is no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark niche along· the disc of non-existence, to which he can retreat frotn his relations to others, where he ~an \\1ith­ draw the influence of his existence upon the moral destiny of the world; everywhere his presence or absence will he felt, - every­ where he will have companions who will be better or worse for his influence. Elihu Burritt "There be those of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises 111ight be reported; and some there be which have left no n1e1norial; who are perished, as though they had never been." 8 B U R R J T T F A ~1 I L Y Preface In these de111ocratic times it has become a habit of many people to deprecate any reference to, or thought of, and es­ pecially any appearance of pride in ancestry. This to s0111e extent is commendahle since a nrnn's true worth must be measured hy his personal character and achievement. A 111an is no less noble because his ancestors were slaves, nor is he less a knave if he is descended fron1 kings. However, to a thoughtful man, it must ever be a just source of pride to know that his fathers have been honorable, self respecting, law abiding citizens. That they have will­ ingly shouldered their share of public burdens and that they have adhered to high personal ideals. I, as c01npiler of this volume, make no clain1 to con1plete­ ness, but am glad to offer to those who are interested such 1naterial as I have gathered, howevc_r incomplete it must seetn. In the fourth and fifth generations there are, in many lines, lapses which I have been unable to bridge, 111any living tnembers of the fatnily have not been reached and others are not in possession of sufficient data to establish a connection. It is tny hope that, to such of these as n1ay wish to pursue the subject, these records will prove of value. Records of son1e allied fa111ilies have been appended, prin­ cipally such as show inter-marriage with two or more branches of the fatnily. I wish to acknowledge the very kind assistance of many 1ne1nbers of the fa1nily in furnishing their personal and fam­ ily records, and especially to i\l iss Vera Fenn, of Port Byron, N. Y., whose interest has been untiring; to Dr. Alice Burritt of Washington, D. C., who furnished n1e a cotnplete record of her branch of the fa1nily and who first showed n1e a copy of the coat-of-arn1s; to Nlaurice C. Burritt of Hilton, N. Y., for his splendid work on the Giles Burritt branch, and to the tnany others whose natnes cannot he here tnentioned. Of the Coat-of-Artus, Dr. Alice Burritt says, "I first found a description in a vVelsh history and later found the original B U R R I TT F A l\l I L Y 9 design in a history of Brittany." "l'he three scallop shells," she says, ''were bestowed by .. Pope Alexander IV, ( 1254- 1261) to those who had been on crusades to the Holy Land, or on long religious pilgrimages. · The 1notto, "Jc' endure pour <lurer" would seem to trans­ late literally, I through endurance endure. or perhaps, I en­ dure to hcco1ne lasting. Resourcefulness, perseverance and independence have been characteristic of those of the family that it has been 111y privilege to know well. They have been a race of sturdy pioneers, ever trail break­ ers, among· the first to 1nake their homes in thP- undeveloped countries. Vv e first hear of then1 in Brittany as the Barret de Naiaris fmnily, of the Ag-enais France, where 1nembers of the family 1nay still be found . .. A very interesting chapter appears in the Foster gene­ alogy, written by Mary Lord Foster a descendant of the Ithaca, N. Y., branch of the Burritt fa1nily. She says in· part: "An investigation proves conclusively that the na1ne was of. French odgin. vV e have shown how the French natnes were introduced into \t\'ales at the titne of the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Baret is recorded as one of these names . 'fhcse natnes becan1e hereditary in the eleventh centuries. At that titne the manufacture of caps becatne a leading oc­ cupation. The work on the Cardinal's caps, the caps of clerg-y of lesser degrees, for physicians and students required skilled worktnen; it was a distinctive trade. A picture of the barrette cap was painted on the sign board and so, in France, the tnakers of these caps becatne to be known as Barrette. n1ordaque, in his book on notnenclature, says that the etyn1ology of hereditary na111es is the satne in Eng­ land and Gernrnny as in France and Italy. The cap (barette) was still a leading business sign during the twelfth'. thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, frequently mentioned in England, but it no longer gave the nan1e Bar­ rette to those who did husiness under it. The family of Barrette, Barret, or kindred spellings still continued to he noted for their skill as artificers using their inventive g-enius in other ventures." BURRITT FAMILY She advances the theory that the name 111ay have been changed to Burritt at the time that the term barratry hecamc ·a sfnonr111 for certain forms of knavery which became widc­ ~t>read~,bottt this ti111e. The conjecture is a reasonable one since the family have always been jealous of the honor of the name. l\1y theory has been that the name, spelled Berret at the time of the beginning of the vV clsh residence, was changed to preserve the proper pronunciation, the ( e) being pro­ nounced like the English ( u ). The two theories, however, Jink together with the result that the name in \Vales became Burritt. Our ancestors did come from Brittany to \Vales about the time of \Villiam the Conqueror, (1066) and the fact that they were land holders in Wales would seem to indicate that they were among his knights at the battle of Hastings. This giving of conquered lands was \Villiams' method of repaying his soldiers. \Villian1 Burritt, his wife Elizabeth and their three chil­ dren were an1ong the very early settlers in A111erica, coming from Glamorganshire, Wales, some titne previous to 1635. \\'illiam Burritt was one of the founders of Stratford, Conn., where records are found as early as 1635 and where he died in 1651. It is thought that the family lived in other Connecticut towns before settling in Stratford. After the death of \Villia111, Elizabeth continued to live in Stratford until her death in 1781. She is reported to have been a keen business woman, buy­ ing and selling 111uch property, but always buying n1ore than she sold. She could neither read nor write but left her mark on the records of the County in many instances. Coat Armour Heraldry is so far a dead science, or, one 111ight say a dea<l Janguage, that few of us understand or attach any signifi­ cance to it. A family "coat of ar111s" interests us merely as a re)ic of olden times, as does an old piece of fa1ni1y silver or house furnishing. BURRITT FAMILY 11 To our early ancestors, it meant n1ore. It was a hadge of leadership, distinction and honor. Lord Lindsay says in his "Lives of the Lindsays", "Every British gentleman entitled to bear coat-armour, is noble whether titled or not. It is only in comparatively recent times that this has been forgotten and the term nobility ex­ clusively appropriated by the peerage." "Tinctures" or colors displayed seem to have heen a mat­ ter of taste while the "charges" have a significance, as for instance, the escallop shelJ is bourne by those who have taken part in the crusades. Helmets, before the time of Elizabeth, were of any form with no particular 111eaning, but later by their form, were made to show the rank of the bearer. Helmets of Baronets and Knights were of steel, the visor raised, 1 Hnd they are placed directly facing us. ''affrontee". Other forn1s show Royalty, Lords and esquires. The upp~r one third part of the shield is called the chief and where this is surmounted, it is supposed to have a pe­ culiar meaning. One old writer declares that "The chief is to be given to those that by their high merits have procured the chief place among men." l\1ost shields display some forn1 of wild animal, bird or 111ythical forn1 and these, some writers clain1, were in many instances, chosen to represent sotne circtttnstance in the life of, or son1e peculiar trait dis_tinguishing the bearer. "The Lyon," says Ferne, is the 111ost worthiest of all beastes; yea he standeth as the king a1nong beastes of the fielde.
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