Tippets
This surname was derived from the occupation of Tippet-making: a popular employment in Medieval days when the article of apparel (a covering for the shoulders, such as a cape or scarf) was much worn by both sexes in the highest ranks of life, even by royalty itself.
The family surname was spelled Tippit and Tippetts for several generations after being applied as a cognomen, and is often found in such forms in old documents. At one time the family in England had risen to a position of considerable prominence, as proven by the two Coats of Arms granted them; but for undiscovered reasons they lost their prestige and property and are nearly extinct in the male line. Several persons of the name came to the American Colonies and Canada, at an early day, and established families, the descendants being now very numerous and widely scattered. Many have reached a patriarchal age and few have died in middle life. The generations were remarkably prolific, and descendants multiplied like thistles.
Conspicuous as a trait of character was precision; the exactitude with which everything undertaken by them must be done. There is no “half way” nor "nine-tenths”, known to them; finished meant perfection. Their ideals were clearly defined and must be incarnated in the materialized forms. Good order, system, and tidiness were everywhere observable about their houses, farms, stores or workshops. They were cleanly of person; if their clothes had an honest patch on them it was a clean one. High-tempered, obdurate, revengeful, they could never quite forgive one who had done them wrong. And they could retaliate vehemently; even after long years of patient waiting they exulted when they got even with an enemy.
Fearless, determined, unrelenting; critically discriminating and apt to find fault; fond of argument, tireless in dispute; caustic, aggravating, tormenting, male or female, they would have the last word regardless of food or sleep, and wait for years for it. But they are tender hearted and compassionate to the needy; they would divide and sub-divide their last crust with the poor. They hated oppression and intrigue, and if contention was abroad their sympathies were always with the under-dog in the fight. High minded and outspoken constitutionally, they were never afraid to speak their mind.
When the savages pushed their bloody incursion into New Hampshire, members of this family were heroic defenders of their homes, and gave many a redskin a through ticket to the happy hunting grounds. The name of one of these has come down to us as Ephraim Tibbets, the Indian fighter of Dover. Several were carried captive into Canada.
During the war of the Revolution no less that 13 persons of this name saw service in the war of 1812. A whole platoon of them buckled on the armor and hastened to the seat of the conflict. During the rebellion the Southernsail drank the lifeblood of many of the name.
Physically, there has been a marked resemblance in all branches of the family; certain peculiar characteristics almost universally prevail, a Tibbetts eye, no other like it. In the white of this orb there was a tint of blue as I have never seen in any other. When one of them was excited to anger that eye was invested with a menacing, fiendish infernal expression that, when seen by one who had become the object of their displeasure, was not soon forgotten. Then there was, and is, something indescribably peculiar about the cheek of a genuine Tibbetts; not in respect to the brass, which was doubtless there, but in formation, in muscular expression. The most prominent elevation of this was not a line with the bridge of the nose, where it should have been, but away down by the end of it. When one smiled there was a movement right there on that Tibbetts cheek that passed description; as the old professors used to say: “Better felt than ‘spressed.”
And a standard Tibbetts nose! Upon this enormous facial appendage the old fellows were constantly entitled to a patent of nobility; it was a family sign manual of appalling prominence, wide at the end and spread out at the nostrils as if put on when hot. When a blast was blown upon this double-barreled horn it gave forth a "sartin sound", mellow ringing resounding, and far-reaching as a bugle. To hear a Tibbetts nose was to remember the sound of a lifetime. I am not jesting. This is a serious description. The old veterans were proud of such a nose; the larger the more pride. They cracked jokes about them and sometimes ornamented them with brilliant colors such as crimson or scarlet.
Fair complexions and blue eyes have prevailed in the Tibbetts family, dark eyes and swarthy tissues were transmitted by mothers. They were good storytellers and had good stories to tell. They are artful word painters, reveled in irony, and were seldom prodigal of truth. They possessed an inexhaustible fund of good humor that was irresistible when in full swing. They feasted on a plate of sharp jokes and would laugh till the floodgates of their tears became unfastened.
Reference: Sace. Valley Settlements and Families M.E.S. a 14 v