CONTENTS: (Clickable hyperlinks if viewing online)

George TRUITT (and wives Frances GRAVES and Alice WATSON)

George TRUITT Jr. (and wife Eleanor MEREDITH)

James TRUITT (and wife Mary RILEY)

John TRUITT (and wife Elizabeth GRAY)

Samuel TRUITT (and wife Jennet PORTER)

Samuel TRUITT Jr. (and wife Mary COLLINS)

The TRUITT branch of our family descends from George TRUITT, who was born in England in about 1617 and who migrated to Virginia. George actually has two links to our family, because his Great-Grandson by his first wife married his Great-Great-Granddaughter by his second wife – a marriage of "Half Second Cousins Once Removed"! See the following:

George TRUITT (abt 1617 - Oct 1670) & Frances GRAVES (abt 1621 - 5 Aug 1691)

George TRUITT Jr. (abt 1647 - Nov 1721) & Eleanor MEREDITH (abt 1646 - Jun 1732)

Samuel TRUITT (abt 1686 - 9 Dec 1756) & Jennet PORTER (abt 1693 - )

Samuel TRUITT Jr. (abt 1725 - May 1801) & Mary COLLINS (28 Apr 1734 - 21 Jan 1836)

*(Mary COLLINS and husband Samuel TRUITT were "Half 2C1R", see continuation below)

George TRUITT (abt 1617 - Oct 1670) & Alice WATSON (abt 1629 - aft 1663)

James TRUITT (abt 1661 - 30 May 1718) & Mary RILEY (abt 1666 - aft 1696)

Mary TRUITT (abt 1685 - 1730) & Andrew COLLINS (abt 1685 - 1729)

Andrew COLLINS Jr. (abt 1712 - 1773) & Elizabeth (abt 1712 - )

Mary COLLINS (28 Apr 1734 - 21 Jan 1836) & Samuel TRUITT Jr. (abt 1725 - May 1801)

John TRUITT (2 Oct 1753 - 7 Nov 1821) & Elizabeth GRAY (abt 1757 - )

Nancy Martha TRUITT (Feb 1781 - Feb 1819) & Jacob ARNEY (18 Mar 1778 - 19 Oct 1848)

John ARNEY* (26 May 1816 - 22 Oct 1881) & Margaret Brown GRAFTON (1818 - 1854)

Jacob Sylvester ARNEY* (23 Mar 1839 - 13 Feb 1927) & Linia Ann BARNES (1840 - 1880)

Mary Ellen ARNEY (1861 - 1935) & Joshua Newton MACHLAN (1859 - 1936)

Linnie Ellen MACHLAN* (1884 - 1974) & Everett Elmer WALKER (1882 - 1948)

Elsie Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983) & Leo Newton COFFEY (1901 - 1998)

(Actually, there is some uncertainty about which of George's sons (George Jr., Henry, or James) led down to our family on the first path above. This one shows "George / George / Samuel / Samuel", and it does seem to be the best documented. However some researchers think it should be "George / Henry / George / Samuel", and others think it is "George / James / Samuel / Samuel". That's what happens when a family frequently reuses favorite names!)

In this examination of the TRUITT family, my primary source has been

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~wegroves/truitt-family-history.htm

This site is described as:

Truitt Family History: 1066 to 1995

Compiled by Dr. William E. Groves, Ph.D.

Chapel Hill, NC

Last updated June 28, 2001

This is a VERY lengthy discussion of the family, and their connections to the events of their times. Much of it is interesting reading for any history buff. I have extracted only a small part of it as it relates to specific ancestors.

Dr. Groves also maintains a genealogy at

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bgroves2&id=I1

and I have used that as an additional source of family connections.

TRUITT FAMILY BACKGROUND:

(All of the following is taken from Dr. Groves' "Truitt Family History 1066 to 1995".)

Derivation of the Truitt Surname

Over the years there have been many variations of the spelling of the name Truitt including Trewett, Trewhitt, Trewit, Truet, Truett, Trueitt, Truhyt, Truit, Truite, Trut, Tryut, Tyrwhitt, Trehitt, Treuit, Treuvit, Trewit, Truwhitt, Truehott, Trewhitt, and Truhitt. The spelling Trewhitt may be the true origin of the name, which means a place of "dry resinous wood", and a specific location associated with this name is that of High and Low Trewhitt, a Township in the Parish of Rothbury, County of Northumberland, England. High Trewhitt still can be found on a map of England. It is located northwest of Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the northeast coast of England.

Ancient Origins:

From family tradition it is believed that originally the Truitts were inhabitants of France and some of them were soldiers in the army of William the Conqueror when he came to England about 1066 AD. Mention also is made that some Truitts came to England at a much later date because of their religion, being members of the French Huguenots, and thus they left France when they were victims of persecution.

The first of the ancient "Truitt" family found upon record is Tructe or Truitte, a person of some rank in distinction, contemporary with King David I. Tructe, or his immediate forebears, came to Scotland from England with Edgar Aethling in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, 1066 AD, and established residence on two burton farms from which they eventually derived the name Burton. Surnames were rarely present before that time.

Society of Friends, the Quakers:

The Truitts were Quakers, and events that impacted the Quakers would have been extremely important to them. The family founder, George Truitt, was one of their earliest converts.

Quakerism arose in Great Britain out of the religious ferment of the mid-17th century. It represents the extreme left wing of the Puritan movement. George Fox, its founder, was the son of a Leicestershire weaver and of a mother whom he described as "of the stock of the martyrs." At the age of 19 Fox became disillusioned with the way in which professing Christians were failing to live up to the standards they preached and for four years he traveled from one group of sectarians to another in search of spiritual help. In 1647 his Journal says "When all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do then. Oh then I heard a voice which said 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition'."

The year 1643, when Fox left his home, was also the year of the Solemn League and Covenant, by which parliament undertook to introduce into England the full presbyterian system, with its doctrinal rigidity and exacting discipline. In revulsion against this, a strong body of opinion attached itself to the Independents who favored some degree of religious liberty. In 1648, many who responded to Fox's message were Independents. The groups of Seekers "met together, not formally to pray or preach, at appointed times and places, but waited together in silence, and as anything rose in any of their minds that they thought savoured of a Divine spring, so they sometimes spoke." The ready response of various groups in northwest England about 1652 made Quakerism a significant movement.

The rapid spread of Quakerism in the north of England was followed by a vigorous expansive movement throughout the rest of the British Isles and to North America. Between 1655 and 1662 about 60 Quaker missionaries arrived in the New World (including Virginia and Maryland), where they made converts and established meetings. Sporadic local persecution gave way to more systematic efforts following Cromwell's proclamation of February 1655, which noted the "rude and unchristian disturbance" of ministers practiced by "Quakers and others" and required they "forbear henceforth all such disorderly practices," directing magistrates to proceed against offenders.

The hostility of parliament found expression in the Quaker Act of 1662. Under this and other acts about 15,000 Quakers suffered various legal sentences, until widespread persecution was ended by the Toleration Act of 1689.

The holders of the Quaker faith were the first dissenters from the Established Church of England to attempt to gain a foothold in Virginia. However, the going was hard for them, as the government was not only unfriendly to non-conformists, but also actually passed laws for their prosecution. In spite of these difficulties, shortly after the middle of the seventeenth century Quakers were on the Eastern Shore in considerable numbers.

They were an earnest, proselytizing group, and their zeal led them into many conflicts with the authorities, both Church and State, and as early as 1654 the Quakers refused to pay the Church of England parish tithes. There may have been other earlier Quaker missionaries, but the County records prove that William Robinson was on the Eastern Shore in that capacity in 1658, when he was arrested and sent across the [Chesapeake] bay for trial. In addition, many local people who had harbored or entertained him were fined or otherwise punished.

In 1660 the Virginia Assembly passed a strict law against Quakers, describing them as "an unreasonable and turbulent sort of people, who daily gather together unlawful assemblies of people, teaching lies, false visions, prophecies, and doctrines tending to disturb the peace, disorganize Society, and destroy all law, government, and religion."

Though various experiments in church government had been made by the Seeker groups, and conferences or "general meetings" were arranged in both England and the New World, it was not until 1667-69 that any regular system of government was established in the Quaker community. During these years monthly meetings were established and grouped in County quarterly meetings, and these in turn were subordinate to a yearly meeting established in London. Fox wrote to America recommending that Quakers there do the same, and in 1671 he and 12 other Quakers crossed the Atlantic and spent nearly two years traveling among Quaker groups, establishing meetings for church affairs as well as "publishing truth" in evangelistic work. Yearly meetings were established in Maryland in 1672 and in Virginia in 1696.

With regard to any chance of finding Truitt tombstones, it is interesting to note that in 1729 the Quakers resolved against "the vanity and superstition of creating monuments and entombing the dead with singular notes or marks of distinction, which is but worldly pomp and grandeur, for no encomium nor pompous interment can add worth to the deceased". Therefore, they ordered that the erection of tombstones over the graves of Friends should stop, and that the tombstones already so placed should be removed.

Family Movements:

Early history indicates all Truitts in America descended from George (I) Truitt, who came to America from England about 1640. He is listed in Virginia Immigrants, Volume 5, State Land Office 20, in 1652. He initially settled in Northampton County, Virginia, but later moved to Accomack County. He was a Quaker and leading spirit among the people of that faith on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland. He was a prominent citizen of considerable means. George and his family were persecuted for their religious beliefs. So about the time of his death in 1670 and to escape persecution, some family members moved to an area of Somerset County, Maryland, which later became Worcester County (and still later Wicomico County) while others moved into southern Delaware, which later became Sussex County

Name: George TRUITT

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Birth: abt 1617 England

Death: Oct 1670 Accomac, VA

Other spouses: Alice WATSON

George TRUITT (abt 1617 - Oct 1670) & Frances GRAVES (abt 1621 - abt 1650)

George TRUITT Jr. (abt 1647 - Nov 1721) & Eleanor MEREDITH (abt 1646 - Jun 1732)

Samuel TRUITT (abt 1686 - 9 Dec 1756) & Jennet PORTER (abt 1693 - )

Samuel TRUITT Jr. (abt 1725 - May 1801) & Mary COLLINS (28 Apr 1734 - 21 Jan 1836)

John TRUITT (2 Oct 1753 - 7 Nov 1821) & Elizabeth GRAY (abt 1757 - )

Nancy Martha TRUITT (Feb 1781 - Feb 1819) & Jacob ARNEY (18 Mar 1778 - 19 Oct 1848)

John ARNEY* (26 May 1816 - 22 Oct 1881) & Margaret Brown GRAFTON (1818 - 1854)

Jacob Sylvester ARNEY* (23 Mar 1839 - 13 Feb 1927) & Linia Ann BARNES (1840 - 1880)

Mary Ellen ARNEY (24 Apr 1861 - 9 Sep 1935) & Joshua Newton MACHLAN (1859 - 1936)

Linnie Ellen MACHLAN* (1884 - 1974) & Everett Elmer WALKER (1882 - 1948)

Elsie Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983) & Leo Newton COFFEY (1901 - 1998)

In 1640 George Truitt immigrated to Accomack County, Virginia, from England. He was sponsored Christopher Kirke, who may also have been the captain of the ship on which he sailed. As of this date Virginia had about 8000 inhabitants while Maryland had about 1000 persons, and of this total of 9000 more than three-quarters were recently imported servants. In the early days travel was exclusively on foot or in canoes, as the first horse did not appear until 1642. Of course there were no roads until a later period. The hard-beaten paths through the shady pinewoods and along the shores of the creeks comprised the sole overland thoroughfares.

George was a Quaker, or became one shortly after he arrived in Virginia.

For the transport of four persons, on July 24 (1651) George (I) Truitt (spelled Truhett) was granted a patent for 200 acres of land in Northampton County, Virginia (tract N30). Known today as Old Plantation Neck, the Western Part, this land was on the bayside north of Fleet island. In 1628 this tract of 200 acres was first patented to Captain Thomas Graves, but it is not known when he first came to the Eastern Shore (although he was there in 1625). Neither of Graves' sons remained to claim the land and in 1651 a patent was granted to George Truitt. (George is believed to have married one of Graves’ daughters, Frances.)

During March of 1652, 116 people of Northampton County signed the following pledge: "Wee whose Names are subscribed; doe hereby Engage and promise to bee true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England as it is nowe Established without King or House of Lords." The name of George (I) Truitt is not among the signers (probably because he was a Quaker and thereby refused to pledge allegiance to the King).

In 1653 he was convicted of fornication, which probably occurred because his Quaker marriage was not recognized by Virginia, and therefore, according to the government, he was living with an unmarried woman. (See notes with wife Alice for additional details.)

It is thought that in the 1654/5 period George (I) Truitt paid for the transport of Alice Watson from England to America, and shortly thereafter they were married.

On March 24, 1655, George (I) Truitt (spelled Truett) received a patent for 300 acres in tract A29 at Nandua Creek for the transport of 6 persons.

(NOTE: These transported persons would be indentured servants, and George would have been entitled to some years of service from them, and often would receive a grant of land as added incentive. (Fred Coffey))

In 1660, for the transport of 10 persons, George (I) Truitt (spelled Trewett) on November 3 received a patent for 500 acres in tract A61 on the lower end of the neck on the south side of Nandua Creek. However, apparently that much land was not available and a later record reduced this to 350 acres.

SPECULATION AS TO CAUSE OF DEATH IN 1670: Due to an epidemic of smallpox during the next few years following 1666, the mortality was great. It is thought that a stricken seaman, the cause of whose illness was at first unknown, imported the germs of the fatal malady. Large numbers of whites died during the plague, and the disease became general among the Indians, who had been driven together upon reservations in remote sections of the peninsula. Panic-stricken, the Indians sought relief among the whites, thus spreading the disease with the most disastrous effects. At last the epidemic abated, having ravaged the land for several years, but not until the population had been seriously reduced and numbers of the best citizens had perished. As a Quaker, George Truitt was respected by the Indians and in their time of distress they may have sought him out for help, which may have led to his death perhaps from smallpox.

When George Truitt made his will in 1670 he specified that his sons Henry and George were to hold the legacies for all the other children because they were under 18. He names children in this order: Jane, Dorothy, James, Susannah, John and Elizabeth. Thus six of his children were under 18. Assuming this to be the order of birth, Jane would have been born about 1653-54, and James WAS born in 1659. The two youngest, John and Elizabeth, were "of age" in 1681 - could be age 18 or 21 - so both were born 1660 or soon thereafter.

Beginning in 1689, or maybe earlier, all of the surviving children of George Truitt moved into Somerset County, Maryland.

OTHER SOURCES:

Will of George Truitt:

Accomack Co, VA , dated 7/10/1670, probated 10/16/1670. To son Henry, land at Onancock; son James, 200 acres Muddy Creek and 50 acres of marsh; son George, (200 acres of) land adjoining James and 50 acres marsh; son John, (200 acres of) land at Muddy Creek and 50 acres of marsh; son Job, 100 acres called Peninsula or Turitt's Hill Choice and 50 acres adjoining John and 100 acres marsh. To the rest: household goods, etc. estate to be managed by sons George and Henry until all children reach 18 years of age.

On 3/24/1655 George Truett patented 300 acres at Nandua Creek in Northampton County for the transport of 6 persons, including Alice Watson.

On 1/26/1656 (OS), George Truett witnessed the will of Wackawamp, The Great Emperor of the Eastern Shore. (Memo: This will transcript can be found online, Google "Wackawamp".)

On 11/3/1660 he obtained a 500 ac land grant at Anancock in Northampton County, VA.

On 11/13/1660 George Truett and John Wise were cited to oversee the estate of Anthony Jenden. (Memo: Anthony Jenden was a negro, signed his will with an “X”. The will refers to “my friends John Wise and George Truitt”.)

George Truett and Alice Truett (her mark "R") witnessed a deed in Accomac co. He wrote his will on 7/10/1670, and it was enetered for probate on 10/16/1670 in Accomac County (Folio 168,Deeds and Wills 1664-1671, Accomac County, Virginia). [V. Skinner,11/11/96]

In 1663 Geo Truitt, age 46, was mentioned in a deposition (Houston: "Colonial Residents of Accomac").

There is some doubt about this wife of George TRUITT. Many sources claim the name was Frances PEDDINGTON (or PENNINGTON). The following source seems the best informed:

Truitt Family History: 1066 to 1995

Compiled by Dr. William E. Groves, Ph.D.

Chapel Hill, NC

Last updated June 28, 2001

“Current thinking is that in the early 1640s George married Frances Graves, orphan of Thomas Graves, deceased, whose guardian may have been Henry Pennington (spelled Pedenden) of Nuswattocks Creek.

“The first reference to Frances Graves I found was "At a Corte held in Accomacke the sixth day of May Anno 1639". Henry Pennington, as the attorney, guardian or perhaps even stepfather, reported "Received by me Henry Pennington the sum of one hundred pounds of tobacco and a cowe calf for the use of ffrancis Graves that is in full satisfaction for a parcel of land that Henry Wilson bought that did belong unto ffrancis Graves, the cowe calf and tobacco being paid by Alice Wilson, and received the twenty eighth day of December 1638". "I say received by me, Henry Pennington" [Northampton County Virginia, Book 1, p182].

“This is followed several years later by the fairly well known reference: "Att a Monthly cott held in Northampton the 28th Day of November Ano 1642" Argoll Yardley, Esquire, Captain William Stone, et al ... "A certificate granted unto ffras Graves, Orphant of Captain Thomas Graves, deceased" [Northampton County, Virginia, Book 2:113-116]. By this date Frances Graves would be 21 years of age, as I understand she would need to be, to receive property in hew own name as an unmarried woman. Captain William Stone, one of those present at the Court was the brother-in-law of Frances Graves, he having been married to her sister Verlinda some years earlier.

“In his book, Virginia's Eastern Shore, Whitelaw calls this tract of land N30. It is also under discussion in 1645 in "The deposition of Henry Peddenden (Pennington) taken in open Cot. This deponent said that ffrancis Trewett being sick at this deponent's house desired this deponent that her husband, George Trewett, might sell her land at the old Plantation, whereupon this deponent answered saying: Do you know what you desire? And she replied saying: Yes, father, the land is myne and he is my husband and I desire that he might do with it as he pleaseth for there is not any man hath to do with it but himselfe" [Northampton County, Virginia, Book 3:p3].

(MEMO: See notes with her father Thomas Graves for additional detail (and issues) related to Frances. As will be seen, some sources have claimed Francis/Frances was a SON of Thomas Graves, not a daughter. However DNA analysis now supports the “daughter” theory.)

Marriage: abt 1651 Accomac, VA

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Spouse (2^nd Wife): Alice WATSON

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Birth: abt 1629 England

Death: aft 1663 Accomac, VA

Father: John WATSON (1605-)

Mother: Elizabeth (~1607-)

George TRUITT (abt 1617 - Oct 1670) & Alice WATSON (abt 1629 - aft 1663)

James TRUITT* (abt 1661 - 30 May 1718) & Mary RILEY (abt 1666 - aft 1696)

Mary TRUITT (abt 1685 - 1730) & Andrew COLLINS (abt 1685 - 1729)

Andrew COLLINS Jr. (abt 1712 - 1773) & Elizabeth (abt 1712 - )

Mary COLLINS (28 Apr 1734 - 21 Jan 1836) & Samuel TRUITT Jr. (abt 1725 - May 1801)

John TRUITT (2 Oct 1753 - 7 Nov 1821) & Elizabeth GRAY (abt 1757 - )

Nancy Martha TRUITT (Feb 1781 - Feb 1819) & Jacob ARNEY (18 Mar 1778 - 19 Oct 1848)

John ARNEY* (26 May 1816 - 22 Oct 1881) & Margaret Brown GRAFTON (1818 - 1854)

Jacob Sylvester ARNEY* (23 Mar 1839 - 13 Feb 1927) & Linia Ann BARNES (1840 - 1880)

Mary Ellen ARNEY (24 Apr 1861 - 9 Sep 1935) & Joshua Newton MACHLAN (1859 -1936)

Linnie Ellen MACHLAN* (1884 - 1974) & Everett Elmer WALKER (1882 - 1948)

Elsie Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983) & Leo Newton COFFEY (1901 - 1998)

Name: George TRUITT Jr.

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Birth: abt 1647 Muddy Creek Plantation, Accomac, VA

Death: Nov 1721 Somerset later Worcester, MD

Father: George TRUITT (~1617-1670)

Mother: Frances GRAVES (~1621-~1650)

George TRUITT (abt 1617 - Oct 1670) & Frances GRAVES (abt 1621 - abt 1650)

George TRUITT Jr. (abt 1647 - Nov 1721) & Eleanor MEREDITH (abt 1646 - Jun 1732)