This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Massey, Tittsworth Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ihB.2ACI/3728.1.1.1.1 Message Board Post: Well, hello, cousin Titsworth-Massie! Actually, this is my husband's family and the name Tittsworth is spelled with the "double-t" in old family bibles going back at least 150 years. Lyn Massey, who is our other Tittsworth-Massey cousin, has traced the line back to the earliest Dutch settlers of New York during the colonial period when the name was Tietsvoort. I've only been able to go back to the early 19th century in the Massey family and so far in our line it is always spelled with the "ey" in census records. Our Thomas Tittsworth was born April 15, 1801 (in either WV or TN), and died on May 31, 1863. He was married twice, and my husband's branch of the family comes from his 2nd marriage in 1829 to Martha Morgan. They had 8 children, all of whom I believe were born in TN, but many of whom moved away as the result of the Civil War. Lyn Massey descends from Thomas and Martha's son, John Morgan Tittsworth, who fought for the Confederacy and lived out his life in TX after the war. My husband's line descends from Thomas and Martha's son, Elisha Concord Tittsworth, who was in the Union Army and married and settled in MD after the war. My husband's ancestors are Caucasian as far as I have been able to determine from census records. However, in my research of the Massey family I came across records of a free African-American Massey family with roots in Kent County, Maryland, that go back to colonial days. I have also read that there were two Massey brothers who were among Lord Baltimore's original group of settlers on land in MD granted by the king of England to Lord Baltimore. When Lord Baltimore's group returned to England, those Massey brothers stayed behind in America and eventually moved south to VA. I have found no links between either of these Massey lines and my husband's line. My husband's Massey roots appear to be linked with Quaker settlement in the Philadelphia PA area and this line has only been in MD since the late 19th century. I have not been able to follow my husband's ancestry any further back than his ggggfather, Thomas Massey, who was born between 1780 and 1790 and lived in Philadelphia at the time of the 1830 census. Good luck in your research, Cousin. Shirley Massey