A Survey of Scovils or Scovills in England and America; Seven Hundred Years of History and Genealogy

By Homer Worthington Brainard.
Hartford: Privately Printed 1915

Preface

This volume owes its existence to the latte Frederick John Kingsbury of Waterbury, Connecticut. During a long life filled with activities of many kinds, he found time for productive historical study in many fields. The history of his native town of Waterbury was of great interest to him, and he contributed very generously to the three volumes of its History, edited by his friend, the Reverend Joseph Anderson. He also contributed largely with both research and money toward the history of his own family of Kingsbury. Next to his own , the family that was most closely connected to him in business affairs and family ties was that of Scovill, descendants of an original settler and proprietor of Waterbury. Mr Kinsgury intended to place a volume of Scovill history and genealogy beside that of Kingsbury, which was so largely the result of his interest and support. He himself collected materials and employed an assistant for that end. Advancing years and failing strength – but not diminished ardor and enthusiasm – warned him that he would not see the accomplishment of his desire. When his last will was read, it was found that he had especially expressed a desire to have the Scovill family history carried on to completion. This his heirs undertook to do , and engaged the undersigned as general editor of the book. For four years he has been actively engaged in its preparation.

During the years 1884-98, the Scovilles living in Trumbull County, Ohio, held family reunions, and formed an Association. Lucius Nelson Scovill (No. 294) was the leading spirit in collecting records and preparing a genealogy. This work never advanced beyond the manuscript stage. Some ten years later Barclay Allaire Scovil (son of No. 199) undertook to prepare a genealogy and in 1895-6 conducted an extensive correspondence with Scovilles in all parts of the United States and Canada. His work was known to, and encouraged by, Mr. Kingsbury. The unexpected extent of the work and his increasing engagements compelled Mr. Scovil to discontinue his correspondence, and this work also never advanced beyond the manuscript stage. The present editor has had at his disposal the manuscripts of both his fore-runners, and their work has correspondingly lightened his own. He regrets that the roll of descendants of John Scovell of Farmington, Waterbury, and Haddam is not complete, despite his earnest endeavor. He has not succeeded in discovering the living descendants of off Stephen (No.26) nor of Lemuel (No. 46), although it is known that they had children, and presumably later descendants. Further incompleteness is due to the lack of interest shown by Scovilles who failed to reply to requests for information, even after repeated letters had been sent. Although this lack of completeness is to be regretted, it has not been thought wise to delay publication by further attempts to gain what is lacking.

The chapters on the Scovilles of Wessex should prove to be most interesting reading to their descendants in America. The first chapter is the work of Mr. Charles Arthur Hoppin, a thorough investigator, who knows how to clothe his results in delightful literary form. The second chapter is the work of the editor upon materials collected by Mr. Hoppin. Although these materials do not concern the ancestors of John Scovell in the direct line, the are, nevertheless, of highest value as indicatons of the position and extent of the family of Scoville in England in the seventeenth and earlier centuries.

The variations in the spelling of the family surname are very numerous. The nuber of them shown in the chapters on the history of the family in England is surprising, and almost all fo them and some new ones appear in American documents. Because of this fact, the editor was confronted by a serious problem. Should he write the surname Scoville at all times, despite the fact that all the early bearers of the name, and some now living, used other ways of spelling it? He has solved the problem by spelling the name of each individual bearing it as that individual had written it himself. This solution has involved extra research, and the editor doubtless has made mistakes. He knows too, that in other parts of his work errors will be found. No work of this kind can be without errors, although the greatest care is exercised. He wishes to receive corrections of such errors as have escaped his notice, and especially to obtain records as are still needed to make the account of this family complete.

The book rests almost entirely upon written documents. Very little indeed of its contents has been previously printed. Of printed sources use has been made of the History of Waterbury, edited by the Rev. Joseph Anderson, 3 vols., and of many genealogies and town histories in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society at Hartford, Connecticut.

The editor wishes here to convey his thanks to all who have in any way assisted him. Miss Emma S. Tomlinson, who ably assisted Mr. Kingsbury at the outset, has rendered valuable aid. Nearly all the work of gathering information regarding the lines descending from Sergeant John Scovill of Waterbury, eldest son of the emigrant John, has been done by her. The editor is responsible for the work on the lines descending from the younger brothers of Sergeant John Scovill, namely, William, Edward, and Benjamin, all of Haddam, Connecticut.

Homer Worthington Brainard.
Hartford, Connecticut.
March, 1915

The Scovils or Scovills in England and America From 1194 to 1914

Chapter One

The Scovilles of Wessex
1194 to 1660
by Charles Arthur Hoppin


I This account of an honorable and ancient family, ancestral to the Scovilles of America, is based upon the original and exclusive investigations made in England by the writer; no part of it has been made known or published heretofore in connection with any other account of the family of Scoville; hence the responsibility therefor is the author's own.

William, Duke of Normandy, illegitimate son of Robert the Devil of Arletta (Herleva), the daughter of a tanner at Falaise, and a descendant of Rollo (Rolf Ganger), the Norwegian chieftain who captured and possessed himself of Normandy in the year 911, was born in the year 1027 at Falaise, a town near the city of Caen in Normandy, and by force of an assumed conquest of England in the year 1066 became the first Norman king of England, resided therein and began the era which wrought the greatest changes in the organization and life of its inhabitants in all the known history of their most remarkable nation.

A citizen of Escoville (now Ecoville), a hamlet close to Falaise, in the arrondissement of Caen, a man of Christian name and fame now unknown, did also go because of that conquest of England by "William the Conqueror" into England, there to remain and to gain unto himself and for all his descendants some share of the ultimate spoils of that Normon conquest of England. Escoville, like Falaise, is situated not far from the sea, and not far from the north of the Seine. today all over this district of Norman France the fame of Duke William is perpetuated in story and song, in stone and bronze, but nothing remains discoverable to tell us ought of the life or further identity of the said citizen of Escoville. That there was such a man, that he there lived, that he removed to England, and left descendants to this very day in 1914 is provable by evidence that cannot be found, likewise, concerning Duke William of 1066, the conqueror of England. Thousands are the descendants now alive of that citizen of Escoville. Not a man is alive to-day as a known direct descendant of the Duke and King William, and nearing his name. Had he remained the simple citizen of his native town, as William de Falaise, he now might have as many descendants bearing his name as has the man of Escoville.

Whether the citizen of Escoville, whom we may call quite fairly, for the moment, Jean de Escoville, took his journey into England as a soldier or officer with the professional military men, "soldiers of fortune," who crossed just south of the Pas de Calais in 1066, is a question unanswerable. The name of Escoville, as applied to a person, is not among the names of Duke William's knights, sires, tenants-in-chief, and companions cast on the bronze tablet, now affixed to the wall of the parish church of Dives in Normandy. Nor is the surname of Escoville (Scoville) among the names of many titled Norman's in England who, quite a number of years after 1066, assembled at Battle Abbey to hold some sort of a celebration of the Conquest, and who then and there became enrolled in what is called the "Battle Abbey Roll," as having been followers in one way or another of William the Conqueror. The earliest extant mention of the surname of Escoville (Scoville) in England occurs in the year 1194. Nevertheless, it may have come into England in 1066 in the army of the Duke, for the man named Scoville of 1194 is recorded not as a common citizen, tradesman, or farmer, but as a knight, a landlord, a gentleman, who held land in capite, --direct if the king, at the king's pleasure. This implies that the Scoville of 1194 was not the first Scoville in England. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather could all have been there before him. This would partly account for the fortunate social and material elevation in which he appears in the year 1194. Though the Domesday Book of 1086 contains evidence that the Abbey of St. Etienne at Caen, Normandy (founded by William the Conqueror), held land in Somersetshire, England, the Domesday survey does not contain the name of any Scoville as a landholder, or as a tenant. had the first Scoville in England so held, at that date, other than as a tenant of a small estate, we would expect to find some mention of him in the Domesday Book. The most modest ground to be taken is that the citizen of Escoville in France who went into England did so as among the many hundreds of commercial and agricultural Normans and Norman gentlemen who crossed into England, beginning in 1066 and so continuing for many years. Many of these adventurers greatly increased their worldly fortunes in England, even though they retained their names taken from their occupations.

Escvoille (Scoville) was first borne in England as a surname, not to denote its bearer's vocation in life, or any peculiarity of his person. It was borne to denote a much more important personal, social, and material origin for its bearer. Scoville is a territorial surname, Such a surname is considered by etymologists as denoting the possession of land by the first bearer of it, in a sufficient quantity and of a value high enough to warrant such an owner in taking the name of his property, or of the place in which his property was located, as his surname; and when the same name was also adopted by a son as early as the twelfth century, it is very good evidence that the landed possessions of the family were of goodly value. Thus the first Scoville of England came thereto from Escoville in Normandy as a man (or his father before him) who had, or had had, landed property of importance in Escoville. The only other means by which he could have borne the surname of Scoville in England would have been merely because he had come from Escoville and had come without a surname, regardless of his worldly station there or in England. The assumption recently made by an American genealogist that many men in England took the names of their lords or masters, after a custom occasional among the Negro slaves in the United States, is one that we cannot accept. Instances of such an adoption of a master's surname in feudal England are so uncommon as to render the theory practically impossible of proof, save in some isolated and extraordinary instance. There is o difficulty in determining, quite reasonably, that the first Scoville in England came from Escoville already bearing the name of that place as his surname, and so bearing it by right of his importance in that town, for as it is true that the Scovilles are found enjoying the high position of knighthood in England in 1194, and as it is true (as will be proven hereinafter) that the Scovilles continued for generations after that as lords of the soil, we may safely claim and believe that the citizen of Excoville, who removed to England between 1066 and 1150, had a surname to mark upon his baggage (which hundreds of other emigrants then did not have), - and, moreover, that that surname of de Escoville, and written in England de Scoville as records still show.

Many indeed were the untitled Normans who, upon acquiring some sort of a legal title to land in England, discarded whatever surname had been individually theirs in Normandy, or later in England before acquiring such holdings of real estate, and assumed as their new surname the name of the English property, farm, manor, or village in or over which they had obtained authority. As a rule that method was not adopted in England by the Normans holding positions of political, social, or military importance. These higher placed men clung to their Norman names, however large their estates in England. This fact is generally accepted as being a proof of their good rank and intelligence in both countries. the Scoville family must be included in the latter category, not merely by choice, but because such a inclusion, more fortunately, is unavoidable.

In further support or confirmation of the positions that we have taken, (i) that the first Scoville in England did not leave Normandy as a surnameless man (as did many of the poorer emigrants), and (ii) that the surname of de Scoville was not first applied in England as a surname, and applied to a man arriving therein simply because he happened to have come from Escoville in Normandy, we may quote form a Close Roll of the year of 1227 an entry which proves that the surname of de Scoville was extant in Normandy as early as in England (and doubtless earlier) and that it continued in Normandy for many years after it became a fixture in England. (The Close rolls are letters dictated by the king of England, or addressed in his name, to individuals, for special and particular purposed; they contain the commands of the sovereign upon all matters, little and great, to all manner of persons, great or small; and they were folded or closed up and sealed on the outside with the Great Seal of England, copies being retained.)

Public Record Office, London.
Close Rolls. 11 Henry III (year 1227). Translation: -
"For two merchants of Bordeaux.
"The king of the Bailiffs of the port of Southampton, greeting. Peter de Caduliac and Peter Ricardi, merchants of Bordeaux, have declared unto us that when a certain ship laden with their wines put into Harfleur in Normandy, Ernulf de Scoville, a merchant of Harfleur, robbed that ship and despoiled them of their wines. Therefore we command you that, when the said Ernulf shall come into your port, or if he be to be found there, as we have heard, with his ship laden with corn, you shall cause his body to be arrested, and the ship to be kept is safe custody with the corn and all the goods therein contained, until we shall send you further order thereupon. Witness the King at Westminster on the 10th day of April."

Piracy was so commonly indulged in by both the French and the English, along each other's coasts, that the above record of a Scoville should not now be deemed as the record of an occurrence very unusual before the sixteenth century.

One of the authorities upon the origin and meaning of British family names (Bardsley) a A Dictionary in English, Welsh and Scotch Surnames, agrees with all etymologists that the surname of Scoville (however written) was taken for the place-name of Escoville in Normandy, and brought into England by a citizen of that place. But Bardsley errs in adding - "There can be little doubt that Scobell and Scoble are variants" (of Scoville). Lowere in Patronymica Britannica ignores such variants. Our investigation confirms that belief of Lower that Scobell and Scoble are more porperly, variants and phonetic contractions of Scobbahill, surname found of eraly record in the southwest of England and derived from the place-name of Scobbahill (Scobbahull, Scobbehyll) in Cornwall, on the border of Devon, where was also a manor of "Scobell; and there instances are clearly accounted for as being isolated and ephemeral misconceptions of record-keepers.

The variants that we have found of the surname of De Escoville are de Scoville, de Scouville, de Scovill, de Scovile, de Schovill, de Scolvile, de Scovyll, de Scovilla, de Schovell, Schovile, Scowile, Scovyle, Scovile, Scovell, Scovel, Scovylle, Skovile, Skovell, Scovill, Scoville, and Scowle. The true, original and correct spelling of this family name is Scoville. The last in the list of variants, found recorded in the possessive sense as Scowles, is an English corruption extremely provincial. Scowles, as a variant of Scoville, had nothing to do with the facial expression of any man.

The Scoville name and blood having originated in Normandy, that province of France "not less interesting or worthy of remembrance than that of the greatest empires," the living bearers of that family name are referred to Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest of England, and to various books of charming travel in Normandy, as the writer has ot been occorded sufficient space in this book ofr an account of the old Normans of Escoville and its environment. Briefly, we may observe that the Scovilles are Excoville, lake many other Norman families of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, may have been able to trace back to the virile Norwegians of the tenth century who overran Normandy. Freeman states taht the people of Normandy in the eleventh century had become "the most turbulent and aggressive class in Europ." Some historians have axalted the Normans as having been the bearers into England in 1066 of the highest culture in the arts and the most enlightened Christianity of that time. Other writers have condemned the norman invaders of England as "twenty thousand thieves......greedy and ferocious dragons ........ who burned, harried, violated, tortured and killed until everything English was brought to the verge of ruin."_ Freeman does not spare them from much criticism; however, he, as a Saxon descendant, wrote as a pro-Saxon sympathizer the best history of the Conquest. The Encyclopedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, 1911) refers more favorable to the Normans.

As the Scovilles made their advent into England either with, or ere very long after, theembarkation of the Norman army from the port of Dives, the Scoville descendants may find pleasure in seeing at Dives near Escoville, or in reading here below, the inscription upon the column erected at Dives to commemorate the departure of the Normans for England in 1066 (translation): -

"The modes column which is place here will tell to our countrymen, to travelers and to seamen, that at the foot of this slope, at the mouth of the Dives, Kuke William assembled the fleet which transported his powerful army to the coast of England, after having tarried some time at St. Vallery. It will recall to mind that this army encamped during a month upon this shore before its embarkation. Dives was in the eleventh century one of the chief ports of the Duchy. it was the natural port of this vast plain which separates us from Falaise, the cradle of the Conqueror. It was the port of plains of Falaise and l'Hiemois the Duke may have shown his captians the eminence upon which this monument stands, for it is visible for fifteen leagues (forty-five miles) in every directoin. he may have said to them: -
"'Je vous donne rendezvous sur cette colline au pied de laquelle vous trouverez ma flotte.'"
(I will meet you on this hill, at the foot of which you will find my fleet.)


II
Lords of the soil, lords of the ville, lords of the petty law, the masters of men and of the mart, and knights of the sword, helmet, and armor, - such were the Scovilles of England during the period of the ascendency of the Normans over the Anglo-Saxons. This ascendency lasted through eight generations of Scovilles.

Wessex was the realm of Scoville manorial supremacy. Wessex was the chief theater of Scoville activity and development through five centuries. Into Wessex came the name of Scoville from normandy. Out of Wessex went the name and blood of Scoville to America.

Wessex was the kingdom of wht West Saxons, as Esses of the East Saxons, and Sussex of the South Saxons. Each secton had its own ruler prior to the year 828, in which Egbert compelled them all to be come his vassals, and thus became the first king of all England. Wessex was subdued and settled by bands Saxons who cmae from the continent under Cerdic in 495. In 520 the Saxons first met a decided check,if we may believe tradition, at the hands of King Arthur, at Badbury in Dorset, at which time and place Arthur's mighty sword "Excalibur" and his stout Welsh spearmen proved irresistible. The heathen Saxons, however, had come to stay and soon drove bck the Christian Britons to the fastnesses of Wales and Cornwall. Wessex comprised substantially what are now the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire with parts of Berkshire. In the reign of King Alfred, grandson of Egbert (871 to 901), it comprised the main portion of the Saxon dominion, all the eastern and northern portions of England being then in the possession of the Danes, although alfred by a final victory over them compelled them to be his vassals, thus keeping, somewhat imperfectly, his claim to be king of all England as his grandfather had been. The northern boundary of early Wessex was the rivers Thames, Isis, and Evern. Mid-Wessex is the Scoville country. Of the various kingdoms of the Saxon heptarchy Wessex was the fairest, richest, and at one time the most powerful of them all. The Scovilles were settled in Wessex before the old Saxon divisons of southern Egland were quite lost sight of in the political and geographical reconstruction and subdivision of England into counties. After theyear 1400 our narative is confined almost wholly to those "Dorsetian fields" which have become so popular in modern public interest and taste through the lyrice of william Barnes and the novels of Thomas Hardy._ Thousands of strangers yearly visit the beautiful hinterland of the dorset littoral of which Michael Drayton wrote: -

"As thou hast heere a hill, a vale there, there a flood
A mead here, threre a heath, and now and then a wood."

We shall reveal those Scovilles in a line of descent from 1194 to 16660 that is only slightly broken, and where broken, incomplete almost, - save for a Christian name of a Socville, - and still remianing so broken only because of gaps in the records that connot be filled now, but which nevertheless leave us deductions that are too logical to be avoided, and also afford circumstantial evidence that reveals moral certainties where the once recorded official proof has decayed.

"Ralph de Scoville" is the first Scoville now of known record in the world. He appears of unquestionable record first in 1194, then in 1215 and in 1227. It is now unlikely that an earlier mention of a Scoville is findable. It is even more unlikely that and earlier Scoville record ever will be found. The only important and reliable and official records of England, between 1066 and 1194, still existing are the Domesday Book and the Great Rolls of the Pipe. Neither of these contain the name of Scoville. The Domesday Book is not complete for all parts of England; and the Pipe Rolls are not in any way to be considered as containing a general list of the inhabitants, the Domesday Book likewise. The Pipe Rolls for the years 1170, 1175, 1176, 1177, contain the name of one "William Escorcheveille" (also written Escorceville). His surname is similar to Scoville; but the Pipe Rolls were so carefully written, as a national record of great importance, and so free from errors that we are unable to accept this name as having applied to a Scoville, without further evidence.

Ralph de Scoville had a son of record as a landholder in 1205 and as a knight in 1215; and Ralph is not of record after 1217. This suggests that he was born between 1130 and 1150. Ralph de Scoville. being of record in 1194, as a knight and landlord, was probably born in England. Therefore without any undue presumption it may be logically inferred that he was the son, grandson, or more remotely, the great-grandson of the first Scoville who came into England from Escoville, Normandy, not so very long after the year of the Conquest, 1066.

Important, indeed and illuminating is the brief record of Ralph de Scoville in the principal court of justice of England in the time of King Richard I, --Richard the Crusader who was ransomed from his captors and returned to England from the Holy Land in the same year of the record of Ralph. This court was the court of the King's Bench, the oldest court of record in England of which the records are preserved. Pervious to the establishment (only a few years before 1194) of this court of trial by jury the settlement of civil disputes and claims was by a resort to a personal combat, schoolboy fashion, between a plaintiff and defendant. Here is a translation of the court record which designates Ralph de Scoville as a knight, --not a knight by the mere virtue of possessing land to the value of £20, every owner of which amount was compelled to be knighted in 1278, or solely as a knight of the shire (member of parliament), but a true knight of England in both the civil and military meanings, or, in words more specific, a man owning a knight's fee of land or who had recieved the honor of knighthood from the king, by being touched upon the shoulder with a sword held in the hand of the king; hence we have judged, and may continue to judge, of the quality of the men of the Scoville family in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by this fact of knighthood. Ralph de Scoville may have been even a crusader-knight in the third crusade of 1189-1192 under Richard I.

Public Record Office, London.
Roll of the King's Court. 1194. Trinity term. Buckingham. Translation--
"Hammond Passelewe, one of the three Knights who ought to elect the twelve to make the great assize between Walter de La Haie and Hammond de Gernum excused his absence by Robert, son of William, pledging his faith against the coming of the Justices to those parts. But a day is given to the Knights who cam, to wit: Ralph de Scoville, and William Raviel, and Ralph Dairel."

Thus Ralph de Scoville was the first named of the three knights whose privilege it was to choose the jury of twelve for an important trial; and he came when he was expected, to the county seat or shire town of the county of Buckingham. He may have been residing in this country in 1194. He was, doubtless, lord of the manor of "Turveston" (modernly called Turweston), as will be evidenced shortly. that he held land in the country of Buckingham is attested by the above record, regardless of whether he resided therein altogether or not. That he had descendants or heirs in that county by the name Scoville will be established shortly, though his principal possessions appear to have been elsewhere. The court was one of which sessions were held in the various counties by the itinerant justices.

Subsequent records indicate that the land owned by Ralph de Scoville in the county of Buckingham became the inheritance of a Laurence de Scoville as early as 1218, --also that Ralph de Scoville had a son named Humphrey. Laurence and Humphrey were probably brothers. Humphrey is found as a landlord residing in Wiltshire on land granted to him by his father Ralph. The latter seems to have died about the year 1217. Laurence de Scoville brought a suit of novel disseisin against Humphrey in the year 1218, whereby Laurence acquired full title to any right of Humphrey in the manorial estate in Buckinghamshire upon such terms as the court decreed.

Public Record Office, London.
Close Rolls. 2 Henry III (year 1218). Translation:--
"The King to the sheriff of Buckingham, greeting: Know that we have appointed Martin de Pateshull, Ralph Hareng[ton] and Robert Amaury, our justices, to take the assize of novel disseisin_ which Laurentia de Scoville arraigned against Humphrey de Scoville before our Justices in eyre_ in your county as to the freehold of the said Laurentia in Turveston; and we have commanded the said justices to come together at Ailesbury on a fitting day (of which they will inform you by their letter) to take that assize, and to do therein what to justice belongs, according to the law and custom of our kingdom of England. And therefore we command you to cause that at the place by them appointed. Witness the Earl himself at Oxford on the 11th day of August."

Descendants and heirs of Laurence de Scoville continued to hold the manor of Turweston. However, we have found no evidence that the Scovilles remained in such possession as long as into the fifteenth century; hence this early branch of the family has no bearing upon the Scovilles of Mid-Wessex from whom, all indications point, issued the seventeenth-century branch of the Scovilles which became transplanted in New England.

Splendid proof of the manorial lordship of the Scovilles at Turweston is found in the Hundred Rolls of 1272. These national records of England prove (i) that the manor of or at Turweson consisted of five farms or hides, a hide being enough land to support a family, the whole five hides amounting to between four and five hundred acres, a very good estate; (ii) that one farm was in the personal occupancy of the Scoville lord of the manor, or lord of the ville, with the others in the occupancy of his tenants; (iii) that eight and one half virgates (small measures of land similar to house lots or gardens, and probably each including a cottage) were rented to villenins (tenants politically unfree), who were subject to the will of the lord of the manor; (iv) that one of the tenants was able to pay to the Scoville lord six shillings yearly (about twenty times more by present reckoning), as rent and for exemption from being called upon to labor for and at the call of his lordly master, (but this tenant, however, did have to pay merchet, a fine for being allowed by the lord of the manor to give his daughter in marriage); (v) that the Scoville lord of the manor owned the advowson of the parish church of Turweston and appointed the priest thereof; (vi) and that the lord held jurisdiction over his tenants in the court of his manor, of the determining of all matters of rental and for the adjudication of all matters of petty disputes among tenants, and for punishing offenses against the ordinances of the manor. The record of this Scoville feudal lordship reads:--

Public Record Office, London.
Hundred Rolls (year 1272) County of Buckingham. Turviston. Translation:--
"Umphrey de Scolvile is lord of Turviston, and has five hides of land in that place, one hide whereof is in demesne, with the advowson of the church and two acres of wood. Also he has in villeninage eight and one half virgates of land whereof Henry de Faringho holds one virgate, and pays yearly for his work and service six shillings, and does merchet."

This Humphrey de Scoville was not the aforesaid Humphrey, son of Ralph de Scovile, but, like the Baldwin de Scoville of the following record, was, there is no reason to doubt, a son of the said Laurence de Scoville. Laurence had conveyed to Humphrey before the year 1282, by a grant or as a bequest, either the whole or a part of the manor of Turweston; and this Humphrey was dead by the same year, leaving his younger brother Baldwin as his heir. The passing of this manor from the Scovilles began in 1282 when Baldwin de Scoville alienated on third of it, as per this record found in Placitorum Abbreviatia of the Curia Regis, viz.;--

Public Record Office, London.
Abbreviation of Pleas in the King's Court. Time of Edward I. Roluti 30, dorso. Translation--
"Quinzane of Easter in the tenth year (1282) Bucks, Hunts, Norfolk. Baldwin de Scovile, brother and heir of Humphrey de Scoville, give to Simon, son of William de Thorpe, the third part of the manor of Tharveston and the advowson of the church there, to have to him and his heirs."
Simon may have been either a brother-in-law, or son-in-law, of Baldwin de Scovile, as is implied by the word "gives" being unaccompanied by any reference to a compensation, and by the plea for the privilege of so giving have been entered in the King's Court, --the fundamental title to all manorial lordships being invested in the king, subject to his reclamation for treason or other serious offense against his pleasure, and not to be alienated without license from the Crown or a court. We are now done with Buckinghamshire, save for a reference to Turweston itself, as the place where the first known Scoville, Ralph de Scoville of 1194, first appears in recorded history. Thereafter we are to present two other records of him and to follow him and another of his immediate heirs into northern Mid-Wessex.
Turweston is a small parish situated at the extreme northwestern verge of the county of Buckingham on the boundary of Northamptonshire in the hundred of Buckingham, with Bittlesden on the north, Shalston and Westbury on the south, and Brackley and the river Ouse on the west. The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, by George Lipscomb, 1847, gives a very brief account of Turweston, without attempting to name but few of the ancient lords of it. He names the Scovilles, but in doing so errs in printing the name as "Stovill" (vol. 3, page 127): "The manor was holden, in the time of Edward the Confessor [before the Conquest], as the Manor of Wenes or Wenesus, the King's Chamberlain, who could sell it. It was transferred by the Conqueror, to William de Felgeres, who held Turweson, taxed as five hides. There was then land for eight ploughs, and five hides more. In the demesne were three carucates of land, and one plough, to which two more might have been added; and six villenins_, with four bordars_, had five ploughs. There were four servants; one mill, of seven shillings and six pence rent; and pasture for eight teams; altogether constantly valued at £4, except in the time of King Edward, it being then worth one hundred shillings."

"Before the reign of Edward I the manor had successively passed form the families of Fulgeres, Stovill, and Baynell; but being forfeited to the Crown was by Edward I bestowed upon the Convent of Westminster."

Lipscomb, the historian of Buckinghamshire, evidently did not see the Scoville documents that we have discovered; if he had and had translated them accurately, he would have observed that the second letter in the name was c, and not t, and that the manor of Turweston did not wholly pass form the possession of the Scovilles before Edward I (1272), but is of record as having been theirs in 1282. The presentments of the rectors to the parish church of Turweston did not commence until 1307 by the Convent of Westminster.

Lipscomb gives the list of rectors form 1170, among which he names: Ralph de St. German presented in 1234 by Sir Humphrey Stovil,_ Knt. and "Humphrey de Stovill,_ presented in 1271, by the lady Emma de Turweton." She may have been a Scoville daughter or widow remarried, for the advowson was given in 1282 by Baldwin de Scoville to his probable nephew, Simon de Thorpe. Lipscomb's reference to the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is worth quoting as parts of the building that were visible to early Scoville eyes remain; -

(The church) "consists of a nave, with two aisles; a chancel at the east end; and a very low tower, with a projecting turret, at its southeastern angle. The chancel is covered with thick, coarse slates; and in the tower are two small bells cast in 1626. At the east end is a handsome mullioned window, with three ranges of lights; in the lower three large cinquefoil-headed lights; above them six with trefoil heads. In this window are numerous fragments of coloured glass, collected form several other windows. There are four widows in the chancel, lancet shaped. At the east and west ends of the nave are lofty pointed arches; and in the floor many old figured tiles. Between the nave and aisles, on each side, are two semicircular arches, resting on a pillar and two strong piers. The font is low, circular, and has a narrow sculptured border of wreathed carving. In the north wall of the chancel, within the communion rails is a low bracket arch,_ with elaborately flowered cornice, pinnacles and finial. Inserted in a large slab in the floor near the north wall and within the rails, is the effigy of a Priest, in brass, but the inscription which was on a small plate at his feet has been removed. In the floor of the nave was a slab with figures of a male, between two females, one having a close muffled head-dress."

The second item concerning Ralph de Scoville reveals that sometime between 1199 and 1205 King John, for a sum many times larger by present reckoning than the amount named in the grant, conveyed to Ralph the right to hold in capite (as a tenant-in-chief of the king) and to sublet lands in Helpington (now Helperton in Melkesham Hundred, Wiltshire), and in Herling and Chelworth. The Find Rolls record the succession of heirs, the descent and gift of manorial property from father to son, etc.

Public Record Office, London
Roll of Fines. 7 June (year 1205), membrane 10. Wiltshire. Translation: -
"Ralph de Scoville gives the Lord the King 40 marks for having such seisin of his land of Helprington, Herling and Chelewurth, which his son Humphrey holds, as he had on the day on which the agreement was made between them concerning the same land. And a mandate was issued to the sheriff to take security from him for the payment of that 40 marks, and then to give him full seisin of the aforesaid land, which is in his bailiwick, as is aforesaid, without delay, and to direct the others who, etc. to cause him to have seisin of the lands in their bailiwicks."

The last eighteen words imply that Herling and Cheleworth were not in the county of Wiltshire; the words "the others who, etc." have reference to the sheriffs of the other shire or shires in which these two places were located. We do not identify the lands of or in Chelworth by any madern map or book or county history, further than that this name may mean Chadleworth in Berkshire. Herling seems to have been East Harling in the county of Norfolk, where we have found Scovilles of record in the year 1270, doubtless some descendants or heirs of Ralph de Scoville, with whom we need not be concerned further than to quote all that has been found of record as to them, as the name of Scoville did not long flourish in Norfolk: -

Public Record Office London.
Testa de Nevill (The records of the holders of a Knight's Fee of land, 120 acres or more). Time of Henry III and Edward I (years 1270 to 1275). Translation: -
"Norfolk. Fees of Earl Warren. Roger de Schovill hold of him half a Knight's fee in Estherling."
Ancient Deeds. Norfolk. A5557. Translation: -
"Grant by Simon son of William de Bradenham to Michael de Wineferthing, carpenter (carpentario) of land of Garbandesham, part abutting on the road to Lenardrec, part upon Thmersweye furlong, part on Ecclesgate furlong, part upon Thmersweye furlong, part on Ecclesgate furlong, part upon Ruwong, part upon Osolneswell, part at Chesewich and part upon the headland (forarium) of Chesewich. Witnesses, William de Maynegarin, Roger de Scovilla, Eudo de Multona and others." (Undated, but circa 1300.)
Hundred rolls. Year 1272. county of Norfolk. Translation: -
"Item, the heirs of Gilbert de Norfolk claim to have stray cattle in the town of Est Harling, and Maud de Scovile likewise."

The third and last existing record of Ralph de Scoville first revealed as the first known ancestor of the Scoville family, establishes three facts that are both important and splendid: (i) that his landed possessions lay in four separate counties of England, viz., Buckinghom, Wilts, Somerset, and Hants, he having been thus a manorial lord in at least the three shires first named and so approaching in status to a position somewhat baronial; (ii) that the estate he held at Brockley in Somersetshire descended direct to his son Humphrey de Scoville, and became the seat of this branch of his family for several generations; and (iii) that the said Ralph de Scoville was one of those manorial lords who joined with the great barons of England in forcing their King John to sign the Magna Charta, the great declaration of independence by Englishmen. When these English barons and their manor landlords manifested an opposition to the policies of King John, amounting more or less to what was then deemed treason, the king made reprisals upon their possessions; he confiscated their estates, and granted the same to other barons who were submissive to him. A letter from King Henry III, son to King John, to John' great captain and half-brother, William the Earl of Salisbury, evidences the grant to Hugh de Vivonia, a follower of King John, of land at Brockley, the title to which had been taken from Ralph de Scoville.

Public Record office, London.
Close rolls. 1 Henry III (year 1217). Translated abstract: -
"The King to William, Earl of Salisbury. Know that we have granted to our well-beloved and trusty Roger la Zuche all the lands of our enemies which are of his fee, and therefore we command you to cause the said Roger without delay, to have full seisin therefor in your bailiwick. Witness the Earl at Winchester on the 4th day of April. In the same way it was written to Hugh de Vivonia on behalf of the same Roger for giving him seision of the land which was Ralph De Scovill's in Brokele, which the same Ralph held of his fee. Witness the Earl at Winchester on the 4th day of April."

De la Zouche and de Vivonia were baronial landlords of Norman descent and the land at Brockley, held by Ralph de Scoville, was taken shortly before the death of King John_ and granted and confirmed to de Vivonia by Henry III about six months after the death of John. Humphrey de Scoville, son of Ralph, also had taken from him some portion of his lands in Wiltshire and Hants. This fact implies that he was suspected, at least, of being a supporter of the barons against King John. The first of the two following records of Humphrey shows that he was a knight in the service of the great lord Roger de la Zouche, and that in 1215, through some protestation on his won part, and perhaps through the favor of de la Zouche, secured the prompt restoration to himself of some of his land. Humphrey may not have taken the oath of allegiance demanded throughout England by King John early in the same year: -

Public Record Office, London.
Close Rolls. 17 John (year 1215). Translation: -
"Humphrey de Scoville, Knight of Roger de la Church (Zouche), has close letters of protection (sealed with the great seal of England) directed to G. de Neville, the Chamberlain and Thomas de Sanford, and we command that without delay they should cause to be returned to him what they took in his land of Helprinton. Witness myself (King John) at Rochester on the 14th day of October."

The date of this partial restoration is just four months after John was forced to sign the Magna Charta. That Humphrey de Scoville was more of a supporter of the barons than the foregoing record indicates is proven by another record showing that it was not until two years and eight days later, eight months after the death of King John, that further restoration of property to him and full rehabilitation in the good graces of the king occurred.

Pubic Record of Office, London.
Close Rolls. 1 Henry III (year 1217). Translation: -
"The King to the sheriffs of Southampton and Wiltshire, greeting: Know that Humphrey de Scouville has returned to our faith and service. Therefore we command you to cause him to have seisin without delay of all lands in your bailiwicks as the same Humphrey had thereof on the day when he departed form the service of the Lord King John or father. Witness the Earl (of Salisbury) himself at Stanwell on the 23rd day of June."

Humphrey de Scoville being thus proved to have been an adherent of the barons against King John, we may say, further, that it is not unlikely that he was one of the 2,000 knights who with the barons met the king at Oxford at Easter, 1215, and who when London came over to their side forced him to grant the reforms contained in Magna Charta, signed at Runnymede island in the Thames, June 15, 1215.

John no sooner had signed the Great Charter than he tried to repudiate it and hired bands of mercenaries on the continent to ravage England. In this he was assisted by Pope Innocent III, whose vassal John had become, and who threatened the barons with the then dreaded penalty of excommunication. The barons next offered the crown to Louis, son of Phillip of France. Louis landed with an army on May 26, 1216, and was soon master of the southern counties, capturing John's capital, Winchester. Deserted by nearly all the barons, John marched his own army towards Scotland, subdued the northern barons, and then tried to cut off the retreat of the army of the King of Scots (which came to Dover to do homage to Louis), when he (John) was suddenly taken ill and died at Newark in the north of England, Oct. 19, 1216. Louis finding that both the church and the barons preferred an English king to a foreign one, now retired to France, and the nine-year-old son of King John was crowned as King Henry III. This fact probably explains the apparent ease by which the Scovills obtained the restitution of the confiscated lands.

III
Brockley in Somersetshire was the possession of the Scovilles for nine generations beginning with Ralph de Scoville. Helperton in Wiltshire thirty miles east of Brockley is last found recorded as a Scoville possession in 1272. As early as 1254 as offshoot of the family took root in Dorset, the county adjoining on the south both Somerset and Wiltshire. It has not been found possible to determine whether the first Scoville to appear in Dorset went thereto from Brockley or Hilperton (Helprinton). As Ralph de Scoville originally owned both Brockley and Hilperton, and his male heirs separately succeeded to these estates, and as no early record appears of Scovilles in Wessex other than in these two branches at Brockley and Hilperton, we are at liberty to consider that one of the younger sons thereat established himself in Dorset and there began the branch of the family that proved the most prolific and that most enduring of any of the Scovilles of England. Before analyzing the Scoville records of Dorset, for the splendid revelations that we have been able to develop therefrom, it is essential to quote the remaining records as to Brockley and Helperton, and to erect from them the pedigree of eight generations.

Humphrey de Scoville, son of Ralph de Scoville of 1194, was summoned to court in 1227, but sent an excuse by a friend, William de Brockley, for not appearing, viz.: -

Public Record Office, London.
Somersetshire Please, civil and criminal, from the Rolls of the Itinerant Justices, 1227.
Essoins taken at Ivelcester Ilchester) in the county of Somerset in the tenth yar of the reign of King Henry son of King John; membrane 4. "Humphrey de Scovillle by William de Brockelegh upon the like" (a common summons).

The said Humphrey must have died before 1265 unless he lived to be about ninety years of age. If he so lived then the following item refers to him; if not, it refers to the Humphrey of the next generation who obtained a psssport and safe conduct before taking a journey of some months' duration.

Public Record Office, London.
Patent Rolls. 49 Henry III 9year 1265) m. 10: -
"Aug. 14. Gloucester. Simple protecton until Easter for Humphrey de Scoville."
The last item referring to the Humphrey de Scoville of Helperton, and to his heir and probable son of the same name, occurs in the Hundred Rolls, which are the results of an inquiry by a jury chosen in each parish of England, as to taxable property in each parish: -

Public Record office, London.
Hundred Rolls. Edward I (year 1272). Translation: -
"County of Wiltshire. Hundred of Hlekesham . . . . . Also Roger Mortimer holds on (knight's) fee in Hulpinton from the Lord the King in chief. And Roger de la Souche hold the said fee from the said (Mortimer) . . . . the heirs of Humphrey de Scovile hold the aforesaid form the aforesaid Roger Souch . . . . The Borough of Devizes came by twelve men. . . . Also William Paynel, Richard Esturny and Humphrey de Scoville ought to contribute likewise 20 shillings (about $80 in present value of money) to the same ward at the same time for their lands in Lutleton. The jurors present that this borough is in the hand of the Lord the King together with the castle of Devizes."

No further records have come to light that clearly can be discerned as having reference to Scovilles at Hilperton, and "Lutleton," adjacent to the borough of Devizes in the western part of Wiltshire, near to Somersetshire. Twelve separate documents of interest, and each quite definitely relating to Scovilles of the Brockley line, here follow in chronological order. They firmly establish several generations of the pedigree, a chart of which will conclude this chapter of our narration. These twelve records are self-explanatory, and hence may be quoted briefly. The original documents of the twelve, with two exceptions, are on file at the Public Record Office, London.

Patent Rolls (The records of grants, pardons, privileges and commands of the sovereign, of all kinds, to all manner of persons) 12 Edward I (year 1284) m. 6 d. Translation:-
“April 8. Carnarvon. William de Scovill acknowledges that he owes Thomas de Maydenhacch 10 marks; to be levied, in default of payment, of his lands and chattels in county Somerset.”
Feudal Aids (Records of taxes on property levied for the benefit of the Sovereign or the uses of the Crown) 1284-5. Hundred of Chynton [Chewton] Somerset:-
They [the jury] say that William de Scovyll holds the vill of Brocleye from Roger de la Susch, and Roger de la Susch holds the Barony of Wygemor for half a Knight’s fee, and the barony of Wygemor holds from the King in chief.”
Patent Rolls 13 Edward I (year 1285) m. 24 d.:-
April 24. Langley. Commission of oyer and terminer to R. de Heydon and and R. de Coleshull touching an appeal which Wymarca, late the wife of Richard Baldry, brings in the county of Wilts angainst William de Scoviel, William de Cumber and William de Shadewell for the death of her husband.”
Feudal Aids. 21 Edward I (year 1303) Hundred of Chriveton, Somerset:- William de Scovill holds one fee in Brockelegh from Alan de la Suche in chief” (One Knight’s fee is 120 acres, more or less.)
Patent Rolls 13 Edward II (year 1320) m. 6d.-
“June 8. Dunton. Commission of oyer and terminer to John Randolf, William de Bourne and John atte Fox on complaint by Walter Gocelyn and Isabella his wife that… Humphrey de Scoville and William his brother (and 14 others) broke the house of the said Isabella, whilst she was alone at Ken, county Somerset, took and carried away her goods by night and placed her across a horse, and against her will conducted her to Ocle by Newent in the forest of Dene and detained her in prison there.” By privy seal. [This was a case of forcible ejection, for reasons now unknown.]

Entries in the Papal Registers at Rome, Italy, realing to Great Britian and Ireland. Papal Letters.
Regesta, vo. xcv. 1330. 12 Kal. July f. 183 d. The Pope at Avignon (France). Translation:-
“To William Scovile of the diocese of Bath, the son of a priest: Depsensation, at the request of the King, whose clerck he is, to be ordained and hold a benefice.” [This diocese included Somersetshire, and William de Scovile was a curate.]
Regesta vol. xcviii. 1331 10 Kal. March. F. 422. The Pope at Avignon. Translation:-
“The office of a notary public is to be conferred on two persons nominated by the archbishop of Armagh [in Ireland]: on William Scoville of the diocese of Bath.”
Placita de Banco. (Court of the Common Pleas) 1 Edward III (year 1327) Trinity term. m. 112 d. Translation:-
Somerset. The sheriff was ordered- Since Margery, who was the wife of Thomas Fraunkeleyn o fBacwell (adjoining Brockley) in the court of the Lord Edward the late King, father of the present King, in the Octave of St. Michael in the 20th year of his reign by decision of the same Court, recovered her seisin against Humphrey de Scoville & Simunda, his wife, of the third part of 5½ acres of land, whith appurtenances, in Bacwell; and against Lucy who was the wife of Richard de Rodeneye of the third part of 1½ acres of land, with appurtenances, in the same vill, as of her dower. And execution of the same judgement, because the aforesaid fther, ect. abandoned the rule of the kingdom, (Eduward II deposed in 1327), still remains to be done, - that by good and legal men of his county he [the sheriff o fSomerset] should make known to the aforesaid Humphrey, Simunda, and Lucy that they should be here on this day, that is 15 days from the day of Holy Trinity, to show if they had anything on their behalf or could say why said thirds with appurtenances as aforesiad, if ect. And they did not come. And the Sheriff now gives information that he made known to the aforesaid Humphrey, Simunda and Lucy according to the tenor of that writ, ect. by John de Wyke & William Golderewe. Therefore, let execution be done, ect.
(This last document by the words “as of her dower” and “thirds” indiactes that Margery was the sister of Humphrey and Lucy.) Placita de Banco. Easter term, 2 Edward III (1328) m. 45. Translation:-
“Somerset. Walter de Waleys, clerk, presented himself on the 4th day against Humfrey de Scovill, Robert Bavent, William Huwet, Adam le Webber, William Odyham of Bacwell, Philip Lovell, chaplain, Henry Bendeville, Roger Gloston’, chaplain, Thomas Gloston’, chaplain, Nicholas de Whytyngtion, Roger Richeman of Bradefeldsedoune, Richard atte Yete, John the monks son By the more, Richard Ponnok, Richard son of Walter the Clerck, Philip Forel of Bacwell, Robert Nyweman & Richard son of Thomas the Bole on the plea why by violence and arms they took the goods and chattels of the said Walter, which tey found to the value of ₤100 at Flexbarthorne an dcarried them away, and did insult his men and servants in the same place, and beat, wounded, and ill-treated them, by which the same Walter lost the service of all the same men & servants aforesaid for a great while, and they inflicted other enormities on him, to the heavy loss of the same Walter and against the peace, ect. And they did not come. And the Sheriff gives information that the writ came too late. Wherefore as before that they be attached here in Octave of St. Michael, ect. and Whereupon, ect.”
The plaintiff was a priest, and priests were sometimes avaricious in those days, incurring the enmity of parishioners.

Feudal Aids. 19 Edward III (1346) :-
“Somerset. Hundred of Chyweton. From Humphrey de Scovill for one fee in Brockelegh, which William de Scoville formerly held there – 11 shillings.”
“Hundred of Wynterstok. From Humphrey de Scovill, Robert de Wykham and James atte Boze, for one fee in Claverham, which the heir of John le Sor formerly held there – 40s”
“Year 1428. From the heir of Viell for one knight’s fee in Claverham which Humphrey Scovill, robert de Wykeham and James atte Box formerly held – 6s 8d.”
Gloucestershire Charters. I 1363: -
“Alvrynotn. William de Shareswell and William de Gersyndon appoint John Lucy and William Genet their attornes to accept seisin in their name of all messuages, lands, ect. which Robert Scovile held in Alvrynton. Dated at Alvrynton the Saturday in the feast of te Nativity of St. John the Baptist. 37th Edward III (1363).”
Placita De Banco Roll. Easter term. 21 Richard II (1398) m. 90: - Somerset. Edward Seymour, Knight, seus Robert Hayward and others, the bailiffs of Humphrey Scovylle, for an illegal distress in Brokkely. This plea quotes a part of the pedigree of the said Humphrey de Scovylle in connection with his ancestors who held the lordship thereof, after the grant claimed to have been made to Robert de Acton.


The plaintiff, Edward Swymour, claimed common pasture in Brockley by a grant the first William de Scovylle, lord of Brockley, and he gives the ancestry of his wife in connection therewith, viz.:-

Scoville Coat of Arms It is worth noting that the public display by the armorial families of England of the coats-of-arms of their ancestors upon various kinds of private property, whereupon such a display is interpreted by the Government of England as consisiting of “use” of the arms, has declined very greatly of late years. It is now almost the rule to avoid such use of armorial bearings. Two factors that have led to this decline are good judgment in view of the democratic tendencies of recent times and the annual tax of two pounds tell shillings (thirteen dollars) for a liscence to “use” a coat-of-arms in England. The tax has been avoided by many families, not as a matter of economy, but for principle, on the groud that they should not be taxed upon personal property so intrinsically valueless as a coat-of-arms, their inherited right to the possession of which bearing is non-taxable. One of the heralds of the College of Arms of London was recently convicted in court and paid his fine for using his caot-of-arms without a liscence. The Herald’s Court, which formerly held sessions at the College of Arms, London, for the purpose of granting or confirming coats-of-arms to individuals, has been defunct for generations. The College itself, so far as concerns coats-of-arms, has ceased to be an institution, a part of the Government, as formerly. Its activities in those respect are now upon a comercial basis. Only three coats-of-arms need be considered as in any way belonging by any possiblity to the Scoville family in general, viz.:- (1)Schovel of Holland. Azure, a fesse of gold between three shoveler ducks of silver, with beaks and limbs of gold. (Armorial Generale, J. B. Rietstap, vol. 2, page 729.) This first bearing should not be considered as having any possible relation to John and Arthur Scoville, the founders of their family in New England, or to any of their ancestors in England. (2) “Scowles. Jasper Scowles of Charlton, parish of Wantage, Berkshire [England]. Gules, on a chevron between three escallops argent, as many mullets of the field. Crest a demilion, rampant, ermine, holding in his paw an escallop argent. Granted 10 Jul 1613.” (Fairbairn’s Book of Crests, vol. 1, page 497, and Encyclopedia Heraldica, William Berry, vol. 5 fo. 5 page 2.) This second bearing also should not be considered as having any possible relation to John and Arthur Scoville, the founders of their family in New England, or to any of their ancestors in England. (3) When the herald of the College of Arms, in the year 1623, made his visitation of Somersetshire to receive proofs from the gentlemen of that county of their right to bear coats-of-arms, evidence thereon was supplied to him then by descendants of that Nicholas Harvy who had married a Scoville daughter and heiress some generations before 1623. This evidence consisted of a pedigree, duly attested by the descendant and accepted by the herald. It was accompanied by a description of the arms borne by the family of Harvy. This bearing contained the coat-of-arms of Scoville quartered on the Harvy shield with the arms of the Harvys, and was so borne by right of the Harvy-Scoville marriage indicated in the pedigree submitted under oath to the herald. The Scoville arms therein are thus described: - “Or, a fesse gules between three mascles azure.” (The Visitation of the County of Somerset in the year 1623, page 47, published by the Harleian Society, and taken from Harleian MS. No. 1141.) This third bearing was the coat-of-arms of the Scovilles of Brockley, Somersetshire, last represented there in the direct male line by John “Scovile,” “third part of whose land did descend to Nicho. Harvy, and the other two parts to Elinor and Alice, the sisters of Elizabeth (Scoville) Harvy.” This pedigree may be accepted as indicating that this Scoville coat-of-arms was borne by Humphrey Scoville, father of the said John “Scovile.” As Humphrey seems to have had a son “of age” in 1416 or 1420, his birth may be placed circa 1360-1370. This coat-of-arms may have been originally granted to this Humphrey Scoville; if so, it can have no known direct bearing upon the early Scoville emigrants to New England, or to their living descendants. However it is none the less likely that this Scoville coat-of-arms was created before the time of this Humphrey Scoville, born circa 1360-1370. It is not unreasonable to consider that some form of this bearing was used by Sir Ralph de Scoville, a knight in the year 1194 and lord of the manors of Brockley, Turweston, ect. It is even possilbe that some feature of the device was used as a personal mark, or emblem, by the first Scoville who settled in England; but the further back we place the coat-of-arms prior to 1400, the less probable becomes its actual existance so anciently. When or by whom this bearing was first designed or adopted cannot be now determined, but it should be rememberd that the most important Scovilles in the affairs of England were those of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The arms are now of actual, origianal record only in connection with the Scovilles of Brockley. William de Scoville was attorney for the abbess of Shaftesbury in Dorset in the year 1214; and the Dorse branch of the family was surely established int hat county during the first half of the thirteenth century. Unless the coat-of-arms was used by him, or before him, or by his immediate successors, the Scovilles later of Dorset could not claim and the Scovilles now in America cannot claim the right to use the arms by virtue of direct descent from any Scoville of England to whom they were originally granted, or who at any time in England inherited and bore them; but as far as discoverable, becmae extinct long before the founding of New England, it is well that this coat-of-arms should be esteemed by those who now bear the name of Scoville, like any other item or fact of data upon the ancient Scovilles, as something to be preserved. This coat-of-arms is very old in English heraldry. It appears to have been borne at least five hundred years ago. If it is to be preserved, there is another fact of interest in that connection: living Scovilles of England are extremely few in number compared to the Scovilles now in the United States; and the latter now far outnumber all the bearers of their surname who ever lived contemporaneously, anywhere else in the world. There is no known crest and no motto belonging to the coat-of-arms of the Scoville family anciently of Brockley, Somersetshire. The only permissible representation of this bearing, in black and white, or in colors, is that of a simple shielf od gold, bearing the fesse of red, and three mascles of blue beneath. A ribbon bearing the name Scoville may be added beneath the sheild.* Before our investigators in England began, it was believed in some quarters that the Scobell (Scobbahill) family of England was a branch of the Scovilles; and the Scovill crest of a fleur-de-lis has been published in America as a part of the Scoville coat-of-arms. That was incorrect. Equally impossilbe was the applicaton of the motto of the Coville family, “Ad Finem Fidelis.” “Or “ is a French word, signifying gold, represented in English heraldry also by a yellow color. Heraldic writers assert that it represents the cardinal Christian and worldly virtues. “Mascle” (in French macle; in Latin Mascula retium, cassium, or rhombules evacuatos) is a figure of lozenge form, but always perforated or voided, so that the field appears through the opening. It differs from the shape of the fusil, in being shorter, with angles less obtuse. Some writers have imagined that mascles represented the meshes of a net. Coats, in his Dictionary of Heraldry, is of the opinion that the Lords of Rohan were the first who bore the mascles in their arms, and although descended from the ancient kings and princes of Brittany, adopted this bearing, because in the vicinity of Rohan, afterwards erected into a duchy, there was an abundace of small flints, which being cut in two, present the figure of a mascle on the inside of them; and that the carp in the fish ponds of that duchy have the same kind of mark upon their scales, the which, being very extrodinary and pecular to that country, the ancient lords of it, observing this wonderful natural appearance upon the stone and fish, took them as bearings in their arms to transmit them to posterity, giving them the name of mascles, from the Latin word macul, signifying spot or blemish, and from which some of their descendants took for a device or motto, these words, Sine macula macla, a mascle without a spot. Stopped at 1st paragraph page 42. _Ralph Waldo Emerson in English Traits _See The Wessex of Thomas Hardy, B. C. A. Windle. 1902 _Lest the reader take Escorcheveille as a primitive form of Scoville, it should be stated that Escorcheveille was written later Scarvill, Scarvell, Scoreville, Scorvell, and Scorceville, never Scoville. The two families were distinct. The following is worthy of note. Mrs. Melville A. Scovell of Kansas City has called my attention to a passage found by her in a volume in the British Museum, entitled "Vie du R. P. de Scouville" (Jesuit Missionary). The passage reads in part as follows: "Scouville ou Scoville ist une hameau de la commune de Mohiville et a tourjours fait partie de la paroisse de son chef lieu; jadis du district de Poilvache, il appartient aujourd'hui a l'arrondissment de Dinant, province de Namur. C'est de la que les Scouville tirent leur nom et leur extraction." (Translation) "Scouville or Scoville is a hamlet of the town of Mohiville and has always been a part of the parish of it's chief place. Formerly it was a part of the district of Poilvache, but it belongs to-day to the arrondissment of Dinant, province of Namur. It is from the name of this hamlet that the Scouvilles or Scovilles draw their name and origin." It is further stated in the volume here referred to that the name appears among the magistrates, who for centuries were exclusively men of high lineage. The places here named lie in southern Belgium, near the French border. This region has not usually been considered as a source of emigration to England in the twelfth century. But if this hamlet existed at that time, it is not impossible that a man deriving his name from this little place should have reached England and founded a family there. In Holland the name Schovel occurs, but the connection, if any, with this family of the Dinant region is unknown to me. -H.W.B. _Ralph Waldo Emerson in English Traits _See The Wessex of Thomas Hardy, B. C. A. Windle. 1902 _Novel dissisin means a wrongful or unlawful dispossession of land from a freeholder. _Justices in eyre means judges holding circuit courts from county to county. _Villeins, small tenants attached to a monor. _Cottagers. _Scoville. _Scoville. _Ancient kights and lords of manors were buried in the chancels beneath such arches. _King John died October 19, 1216 *A cut of these arms may be seen on the title page of this volume.