909km,MA9Shi§ A > . / (i A SKETCH OF THE ELIOT FAMILY BY " WAhTER diRMi;fe'\ ikLleT. "^ :> PRESS Jf LiviKGstxix.' Mirbi/E!»s-/cts.'26jcd^'yL}'v.spT ST. — ires 7/ SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS WORK. /T^f? William Richards Eliot. Wheelock Elliot. John P,)/ - Charles Eliot. '^ Henry Ware Eliot. / "^ -? 7 O* John Frederick Elliot. T'O, A / George F. Elliot. "^ r ^^' _^^ John Llewellyn Eliot. Henry A. Elliot. Charles Samuel Elliot. Elliot. ' Henry Rutherford / 2l» I03 Charles Addison Elliott. John D. Elliott. Clarence Powhattan Elliott. Amory Eliot. George Tracy Elliot. Percival Elliot. George Warren Elliot. Mrs. Jesse Elliot. Mrs. Thomas Dawes Eliot. Miss Louise Elliot. Fred'k Elliot Long. Robert Clifford Cornell. Sanford Sidney Smith. [Note. —Each male member of the fam-ly i*; known by the numeral which pncedi's his name. The numbers following r^i<:r to hjs ancestors in direct successipu, ^b^niAning wuhJiisc fAt\i^R. • •.(^xceot. ^n the cases of (No. i) to (No:*i%;3iviJvisi,i-e. jIp^iHes? the* pT^.s.'c jilTieral following refers to the mo^t S-ehiote 'ancestor and the lust number to the man's •!' »'• father.) Editor.! * • ' "i INTRODUCTORY. TN presenting this brief memoir to those of his kin who, '*' either from general interest or family pride in an hon- orable name, desire to preserve the written and traditional records of several centuries, the writer feels it a pleasure to record the motive of its inception. To Lucy Elliot, wife of Augustus F. Smith, Esq., of New York, a woman of rare talent as well as grace of mind and manner, is due whatever of credit there may be for the accuracy and com- pleteness of the facts and dates hereafter recited. A deep and lasting friendship having sprung up in girlhood for her cousin, John Henry Elliot (91), of Keene, N. H., then a student at Harvard, she inspired him with a love of family history, reproaching him for his ignorance of their remote ancestry ; moved by her earn- estness, he applied his leisure to collecting and collating facts and traditions with such success that in 1835 he issued a pamphlet giving extended information of his own direct line and much of collateral branches from 1 the first appearance m Puritan New England of the p' . genitor of the American stock. One of these pamphlets falling into the writer's hands in 1886, awaked in him a desire to extend it to embrace the names and records of every descendant born of the American line. While engaged in this work he developed facts con- cerning the parent stock in England quite remarkable and most unexpected. How far back into the shadows of the past a careful and systematic search will carry the line, it is impossible to say. As yet, that most valuable source of such information, the probate and land records, are untouched- The section of England where they re- sided, viz., Somerset, Cornwall and Devon, is reputed to be the richest in such records in the kingdom. This field of research, therefore, promises most interesting results to any one with leisure to investigate. So full and accurate have been the sources of infor- mation opened up to the writer among our American branches, that he challenges the reader to find an impor- tant error. He will always be pleased to correct any that may be found. His heartiest thanks are due for the aid rendered by Rev. John E. Elliott, of Bridgewater, Conn., and of dis- tinctly different family, near and remote, whose collection 2 of notes and pedigrees of every family of the name of Eliot, Elliot, Elliott and Eliott is the most remarkable of any family record extant. The many hundred letters received in connection with this search will ultimately be filed among the archives of the New England Geneal. and Biographical Society at Boston. At his leisure, after the completion of this volume of American Eliots, the writer will issue to all who hold a copy of it a supplement, giving similar facts and histo- rical data relative to the parent English stock, and he doubts not that it will prove of interest to all of the name. As far as possible throughout the work, the name has been spelled as the individual himself wrote it. In all doubtful cases El(l)iot. It is hoped that those living in Beverly and Salem, and who are descendants of the same man, will take it upon themselves to examine the records in those towns and discover the descendants of the one or two members whose posterity is not given on the key chart. By send- ing information to the writer he will do the principal part of the work in completing. The author hopes that whoever receives this volume will send him what they can to improve it for a second 3 edition. Suggestions, facts, clippings—anything of inter- est —will be duly acknowledged. He would feel doubly indebted if every male mem- ber of the family given on the chart would send him his likeness, and those of his Eliot ancestors, if only as a loan. It is intended to perpetuate them by copying in miniature ten to twenty on a page by photography, after which the originals will be returned if desired, or filed with all other originals in the archives of the Mass. Gen, and Biog. Society in Boston. I\arr)i|iccrii©r)s oj il)c eArr) eric err) 527 ELI0T '^^' It has been disappointing to find how little import- ance has been attached to the spelling of the family name. A few branches have adhered to one orthography consistently through several generations, but by far the larger number, including the writer's immediate ances- tor, have departed from it upon what appear to be en- tirely insufficient grounds. It is therefore desirable that in this volume should be given the proper spelling and the authority therefor. Beginning with the original emigrant to this country, viz., Hon. Andrew (i), of Beverly, we find in his will, which is still in perfect preservation and on file in the 5 Register's office in Salem, that the name is spelled many times throughout the body of the will " Eliott." It is signed in an infirm hand, thus : [Seal.] Andrew .^ Elliot. His mark. The diphthong and seal are by the testator himself, the latter being an impression from his ring ; but the words ''Andrew Elliot" and "His mark" are in the same hand as the body of the will. The penman of the will may have been some assistant to the testator when the latter held the office of Town Clerk. Why such a per- son, knowing Andrew Eliot well, should have written it " Eliott " in the will and " Elliot " in the signature, can only be surmised, or based upon the assumption that upon signing it for him he asked Eliot how he should spell the name, and wrote it "Andrew Elliot" by his direction. Upon this theory rests the only basis for the use of the ''^Elliot'' orthography. On the other hand, Andrew Eliot, who was for many years Town Clerk, and who "wrote a fair hand," inva- riably signed his name Eliott to all papers of conse- quence, notably in the Recantation paper signed by the twelve jurors after the Salem Witchcraft Trials. His grandsons on all sides have dropped the extra "t." In the writer's mind this would seem to settle the matter 6 beyond any possible doubt, and he reluctantly abandons the use of " Elliot " as followed by his father (and by his grandfather during the latter years of his life—he, with his brother, having abandoned their father David's practice of spelling his name Eliot for that of Elliot). The name is, unquestionably, Norman, and was origin- ally spelled Allot, corrupted into the Welsh Elyot, in a few instances abroad, but never in America. From the year 13 7.5, at least, has the E replaced the A. Both history and tradition prove* that among the Norman invaders of England who fought at Hast- ings was a Norman knight, William de Allot, who is the accredited ancestor of the Eliotts of Stobs and Elliots of Minto, in Scotland (Co. Roxburgh), distinguished col- laterals t of the Eliots of Cornwall, Somerset and Devon, in southwestern England. The family undoubtedly settled first in the latter county, the earliest records there show- ing the presence of gentry bearing the name. alike, viz : I The family originally bore arms "A baton, Or, on a field, Azure, with an arm and a sword for a crest, *Wace, Chronicles of the Conquest, pages 119 and 130; Hume's Description of the Landing of William the Conqueror; Royal Naval Biography, Vol. 10, page 147. " f General Biographical Dictionary," Alex. Chalmers." London: 1814, page no. in London, 1S07. Vol, I X Hollingshed's Chronicles. Reprinted p. 760; Speed's History of Great Britain, 1675. with the motto— Per Saxa per Ignes Fortiter et Recte," and modifications of this are born by most of the Scot- tish and a few of the English branches. Early in the Sixteenth century, however, the Devonshire and Cornwall families adopted other arms, and in the " Visitation of Devonshire," 1620, we find them thus : Arms—Argent, a fess gules between four cotises wavy azure, a mullet for difference. Crest. —An elephant's head, couped ar- gent. In the "Visitation of Cornwall," 1620, is a shield of 12 quarterings, viz : Arms i. — Elliot, argent, a fess gules be- 2. Cutland Arg., a tre- tween 4 cotises wavy, B ; ; 3. B., a tilting spear palewise between foil slipped vert ; 4 Pawlherman ; 6.