Friends, I received this yesterday, and I thought I would pass it along. It contains the text of the book I mentioned as having some information of an Irish origin. I read the book at the Denver Public Library some years ago, and I would have to go back and try to find it in order to get the title and authors name. I will do this as soon as I am able, but probably not until after the first of the year. I'll let everyone know when I do. Until then, read this, and let me know what you think. (p.s.: due to its length, I am sending it in 2 parts) Happy Holidays, Bob Tuttle AnEadaigh@aol.com "...among the Puritan fathers who left their comfortable English homes, for a wild, trackless, American wilderness, to enjoy the inestimable privilege of Religious Liberty; and who by the aid of Divine Providence became the founders of a mighty Republic, that has made itself one of the greatest Powers among the nations of the earth. Not quite two centuries and a half have passed away, since the first emigrants landed on the sterile shores of New England, and none could then have anticipated the glorious future of their descendants. And yet that heroic band of worthies were of the class of men from which great nations rise : Of the pure Anglo-Saxon race, of the school of Hampden and Milton, they had indeed a noble ancestry; for, in the beautiful language of William Stoughton in his Election sermon, 1668, God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice reed into the wilderness." The suggestion has been made, that I should at this time give you a history of the Tuthill family. It was doubtless supposed that such an undertaking was within my power, the supposition perhaps arising from the fact that for a number of years I have been collecting all the accessible information within my reach, relating to the subject, with the intention of eventually completing a veritable History. This I have found an arduous task, and, I regret to add, not altogether successful, for while it is true that an immense mass of crude and undigested material hag been obtained, it is mostly in disjointed fragments, with some connecting link wanting to make a harmonious whole. But even if such History was fully and successfully completed, it would be impossible within the limited time allowed for an ordinary address, to give a detailed account of the family and its connections; so I shall confine myself to a brief and concise statement of its origin, and a mere sketch of the several branches in England and Ireland, with a few observations relating to some of the early settlers in this country; believing that a glance of this kind over the history of former generations, dull as antiquarian lore is generally supposed to be, will be found somewhat interesting, at least to this assembly. TOTHILL, or TUTHILL, as the name of a place, is found in various localities in England, some of the places thus named being so ancient that even the derivation of the word has not been fully ascertained, and the most learned antiquarians differ widely as to its original meaning or signification. Tot or Tut, says Blomefield, " is the name of a rivulet, and gives name to many places, thus Tottenhill and Tutbury in Staffordshire; Tutwell in Warwickshire; Tottington in Norfolk, &c.upon which Lysons remarks, "the meaning of Tot, Tut, or Tote, which I suppose to be descriptive, is no where I think satisfactorily defined; it occurs in the Dames of many places besides those above mentioned, as Toteham in Essex ; Totham, or Toteham, now Tottenham, in Middlesex; Tothele, or Totehall, now Tottenham Court, in the parish of Pancras; Totteridge, &c." Bedwell derives Totenham from the words toten and ham, the first of which he says "signifies to project with a long end or corner like a horn;" while Baxter says that the words Toteham and Totenham are from the Saxon Deodholm and Deodanholm; Deod in old Saxon meaning both populus and publicus, the Gothic Thioda signifying populus, whence a King was called Thioda, or publicus; the ancient German word Thiota, and the modern diet are identical, and mean both populus and conventus; and so the British Tut or Tute, and the Irish Tuat. Tothills occur in many parts of England, in the several forms of Tot, Tut, Toot, Tote, &c.; one of them, Tuthill, near Thetford, in Norfolk County, has been so called from the time of the memorable battle between King Edward the Martyr, and the Danes, in 871, and is supposed to have been raised by the Danes over the bodies of their countrymen who were slain in the battle. Peter Cunningham, in describing Tothill Fields, London, says, "the origin of Tothill in this instance appears to be that given in an ancient lease, which particularizes a close, called the Toothill, other wise the Beacon field. There is a place of the same name near Coernarvon Castle, also called the Beacon Hill. It is probable that the close called the Toothill was the highest level in the immediate vicinity of Westminster, an t therefore suitable for a beacon." This place (Tothill Fields, Westminster) is frequently mentioned by the old writers. Lamborde says, "by reason of its largness and drye ground, it bath served for the most part to decide the Wages of Batteil in, for such as have proceeded by ordinary award in law. Our Bokes, 41 Edward IV. (1367.) 9 Henry IV. (1403), and 21 Henry VI. (1443), may give example abundantly. "It seems to have been used for various purposes, as will be seen from the following extracts relating to it-the name, it will be observed, is variously spelled. Hovedon says, "a chaplain to Jeffrey the archebyshop of Yorke, called Raulf Wigtofte, which in the tyme of Richard 1. (1189 to 1195) had provyded at Rome a Gyrdle and a Ringe cunningly intoxicated, wherewith he ment to have dispatched Symon, the Deane of York and others ; but his messenger was intercepted, and his Girdle and Ringe burned at this Place before the People." Stow says, " In 1248 Henry Ill. devised the expediency of granting a fifteen days annual fair, to the Abbot of Westminster, to be held at Tuthill or Tothill (now Tothill Fields), strictly commanding that during that time all trade should cease within the City." In the " Dictionarium Anglia Topographicum et Historicum," it is recorded that " In the time of King Edward I. (1272 to 1307), the Ryver of Thamise swelled so farre over his Boundes, that it overflowed at Tothyll, as Matthew of Westminster reporteth." "In 1371 a Fellow was taken practisinge with a dead Mari's Heade, and brought to the Barre at the Kings Benche, wheare after Abjuration of his Arte, his trinckets were taken from him, carried to Tothyl, and burned before his face." It appears to have been possessed as a Manor in the reign of Henry 111, by John Maunsel, who rose to the dignity of Lord Chancellor of England. Here he entertained the King and his Court (1246), the company being so numerous that they were accommodated in large tents, his own house being too small. In 1441, says the Chronicle of London, was a " fighting at the Tothill, between two thefes, a pelour and a defendant, and the pelour hadde the field and victory of the defendant within three strokes." & Stow, with his usual minuteness of description, gives an account of a " Wager of Battell " fought there on the 18th of June, 1571, calling it Tuthill Fields. Whitelocke says, "The Trained Bands of London, Westminster, &c., on the 25 Aug., 1651, drew out into Tuttle Fields, in all about 14,000. The Speaker and divers members of the Parliament went there to see them." This "ancient close "adjoins Westminster Abbey, and was once within the limits of the sanctuary of that house, and comprised that portion of land between Tothill Street, Pimlico, and the river Thames; this a somewhat uncertain. boundary. but it is the best that can be given, for, as Jeremy Bentham said, writing in 1778: "If a place could exist, of which it might be said that it was in no neighborhood, it would be Tothill Fields."