*The Fitz/Fitts Family Line that we are descended from is shown below:
Robert Fitz/Fitts (d. circa 1555) -- ? [Older brother John (III) built Fitzford Manor, but our family line diverged from the estate]
Robert Fitz/Fitts (II) (c.1549-c.1578) -- ?
Walter Fitz/Fitts (II) (c.1575-1666) -- ?
Robert Fitz/Fitts (III)(c.1600-1665) -- Grace Lord [They left Tavistock, Devonshire, England & settled in Salisbury, MA in 1635]
Abraham Fitz/Fitts (c.1630-1692)(1) -- Sarah Thompson [Ipswich, Massachusetts]
Abraham Fitts (II) (c.1658-1714) -- Margaret Choat [Ipswich, Massachusetts]
Abraham Fitts (III) (c.1697-1763) -- Phoebe Fuller [Ipswich, Massachusetts]
Daniel Fitts (1726-1775) -- Christian/Christianna Smith [Ipswich, Massachusetts] [Daniel died while serving in the Revolutionary War]
Moses Fitts (1755-1815) -- Dorothy Belden [Hartford, Connecticut and Fulton County, New York] [Moses served in the Revolutionary War]
Sylvester Fitts (1790-1871) -- Nancy Wells [Huntington, Connecticut and East Windsor, Connecticut]
Edward Belden Fitts (c.1824-1864) -- Rosanna Cowden [Huntington, Connecticut]
William Cowden Fitts (1847-1923) -- Elizabeth A. Reynolds [Madison, South Dakota]
Alden Case Fitts (1882-1960) -- Mary Abby (Hoadley) Fitts (1889-1962) [Scottsbluff, Nebraska] [These are my great-grandparents]
View my Fitts Family Tree to see all of Alden's descendants.
Notes:
1. Some genealogy sources say that Abraham Fitts was born in England before his parents emigrated, and others say he was born in Massachusetts.
OTHER HISTORY
Some Notable Ancestors
- History of William Daily & Samuel Daily, by Jim Wilks* (William Daily was Mary Hoadley's grandfather and therefore my great-great-great-grandfather)
- History of Alexander Culbertson, by Jim Wilks (Alexander was the great-grandfather of William Daily's wife and therefore my grt.grt.grt.grt.grt.grt-grandfather)
My Parents & Grandparents
- Life and Legacy of Bette Fitts, by Joel Fitts
- Biography of Audrey Towater, by Joel Fitts
*Originally published at dailyboys.pbworks.com/FrontPage
Fitzford was an estate outside Tavistock, Devonshire, England, established by John Fitz (I) around 1430. A grand manor was built by his great grandson John Fitz (III) around 1500. The manor saw glory when Sir Francis Drake was a regular visitor as a family friend and the then owner, John Fitz (V), was himself knighted by Queen Elizabeth I (or King James I). However, Sir John apparently went mad, killed two men and committed suicide, leaving a young daughter, Mary (b.1596) as his only heir. A ward of the King, Mary was married to a series of noblemen who wanted to control the Fitzford estate and fortune. During the English Civil War (1642-1651), the manor was loyal to the King under Mary’s estranged fourth husband, but it was taken by the Parliamentarians. At that time the manor was wrecked and never fully rebuilt. Mary was widowed four times and did not have a surviving son. So at her death in 1671, Mary willed the estate to her cousin of the Courtenay family, disinheriting her own daughters and snubbing the many Fitz relatives nearby. Her father’s downfall, her loss of the family estate, and her four dead husbands evolved into local legend and the most famous ghost story in Devonshire, which has the ghost of Lady Mary (Fitz) Howard riding out from the ruins of the manor each night. Today, only a gatehouse remains of the former manor, and the estate has been absorbed by the town of Tavistock.
The senior Fitz Family line that continued to inherit the Fitzford Estate is shown below:
John Fitz (c.1400-c.1464) -- ? [Born in Tavistock, Devonshire, England; made fortune in London; established Fitzford Estate]
John Fitz (II) (c.1420-c.1485) -- ? [Some sources have John (II) as Walter’s older brother]
Walter Fitz (c.1460-c.1525) -- Mary Sampson
John Fitz (III) (?-1555) -- Agnes Grenville [Built the manor house; Our family is descended from his younger brother Robert*]
John Fitz (IV) (1529-1590) -- Mary Sydenham [Both buried with effigy monument in Tavistock’s Parish Church of St. Eustachius]
Sir John Fitz (V) (1556 or 1575-1605) -- Gertrude (or Bridget?) Courtenay
Lady Mary (Fitz) Howard (1596-1672) [The manor was wrecked in the 1640s during the English Civil War, never fully rebuilt]
No surviving sons; Mary disinherited her daughters in favor of her cousin Sir William Courtenay
HISTORY OF THE FITZ/FITTS FAMILY
“Fitz” means “son of”, which entered the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. For example, the son of William would be called Gerald Fitzwilliam and his son would be John Fitzgerald, and so on. Fitzroy was a last name given to the acknowledged illegitimate children of the King (“roy” means “king” in French). So, within the aristocracy the term “Fitz” came to be associated with illegitimacy, though it never had that specific connotation among the general population.
When surnames came into use in England in the 14th century, many of these “son of” references became fixed as surnames among the general population such as Fitzwilliam, Fitzgerald, Fitzsimmons, etc. At some point, “Fitz” by itself became established as a surname, meaning “son.” The first recorded Fitz was John Fitz, born about 1400 in Tavistock, Devonshire, England, which is now known as the ancestral home of the Fittses. (English spelling was not standardized until the mid 1600s so the name shows up as Fitz and Fitts even in records of England.)
John Fitz became a very successful lawyer in London and established a country home outside his hometown of Tavistock. His estate grew and became known as Fitzford. His great grandson John Fitz inherited Fitzford and built a grand manor house around the year 1500. But it is this John’s younger brother, Robert, from whom we are descended. (Three generations later, Fitzford would fall into the hands of another family due to the lack of a male Fitz heir in that line and the manor was wrecked in the 1640s during the English Civil War, never to be rebuilt.)