Tuttle Family Ancestors- By Sylvia Vivian Tuttle Howells

Everyone has a story and this is mine. My Fathers people are from England. Tuthill, The English spelling of the name) is spoken of as a grand old name. It is mentioned as one of America’s first families in all Genealogical records of those who first came to America and settled. In Ireland and later in Wales in the 700 they had 171 Kings. They have held positions of honor and trust for many centuries in England and America. There have been famous doctors, Ministers, Scientists, one planet being named after an Astronomer, teachers, farmers, men in Government including a Senator, bankers, genealogists, historians and printers. In England they were very wealthy and married royalty. Their coat of arms is beautiful, a lion and at the top a bird of peace. The lion meant they were of a ruling class.

     Mrs. Ralph A Vail who was a Tuthill of Michigan City Indiana P. O. Box 344 now deceased gave me my connecting link with those who came to America in 1630. She turned all of the data she had collected over a period of 50 years over to Professor A.M. Tuttle of Ohio State University. He has worked for 60 years on every Tuthill and Tuttle in America. He compiled a Genealogy on them.  I gave him $500 for it and thousands of United States census records to help.

     Our great ancestor John Tuthill who settled in Long Island New York was six feet tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was exceptionally good looking, had a good nose and a rare sense of humor.  He was loyal, steadfast and faithful. His father died when he was 6.  He was a small independent farmer.

     My grandmother’s grandfathers on my fathers side was John Osterhout. He was Dutch, one of 7 German and Dutch settlers at Andrustown, Herkimer county New York. John’s parents and grandparents were from Osterhout Holland coming to America and settled in New Amsterdam New York as early as 1620. Our great ancestor John and his family were the sole survivors of the Andrustown Massacre. The Indians attacked and he and his family reached the Fort in safety except for the eldest son who turned up after three days unharmed. This story is found in the Hatch Papers which I obtained from the Herkimer Historical Society of New York. The Osterhouts were a wealthy well educated people. John’s large home was used to establish the 1^st Dutch reformed church in this vicinity. I loved my dear little grandmother Osterhout and look forward to seeing her again in the Spirit world. My Mothers’s Mother’s Father was John Caldwell. He married 1^st Mary Duncan 2^nd Elizabeth Nickelson. My mother told me he was from Glasgow Scotland and farther back from Ireland. He was a teacher and shoe maker. In searching out my line I read that the Caldwells came originally from France, then to Scotland then to England. Mother says John Caldwell’s fathers sister was a lady in waiting to the Queen of England. There are Caldwells in every state in the Union. I found that a lady by the name of Ella Metsker a genealogist once living at Seven Oaks, New York, had a complete Genealogy of every Caldwell who came to America. I tried to trace this person but failed. There is a Caldwell Castle in Scotland. The Caldwells are of the line of Queen Elizabeth of England, Cromwell and William the Conquorer. They stood for Freedrom and education. They were of a religious nature and in several books on Genealogy I’ve read historians record that no family that ever migrated to America has done more to build this great nation. My great grandfather born 1805 in Pennsylvania settled in Ohio. I’ve searched for years but cannot trace him farther. My Mother’s father’s people, Morrisons came originally from the Isle of Lewis tracing back their life to the Royal House of Norway. They, like the Tuttles, Caldwells and Osterhouts earned the right to a coat of arms. My Great Grandfather’s son John my grandfather married Mariah Clark Caldwell. His father Thomas Morrison born 1799 came to America from Ireland. My grandfather John Morrison is found in the 1840 census records in the town of Jefferson Muskingum County Ohio with a large family. All in this family are now deceased. (1975). My mother living to the great age of 97 died in 1971. John’s father Thomas Morrison had a daughter Margaret who married Sedrick Shaffer. Some descendants live in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  Margaret Shaffer’s grandson’s wife Mrs. Leslie Chapman of California told me her husband had traced his family back to the Kings in Scotland.  I never found my Morrisons in Ireland.