February 12, 1997 

Richard G. Tullis
101 Mt. Lyell Drive
San Rafael, California 94903
email: Richard.Tullis@gte.net

A.J. Campbell
30 Brown Street
Buckhaven, Fife
Scotland KY8 1JW

Dear Mr. Campbell:

Thank you for speaking with me on the telephone last week about the Fife Family History Society and for your suggestion that I contact David Dobson. His name was already familiar to me because I have seen three of your books among genealogical references in San Francisco: Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, Scottish-American Wills, and Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650-1775. I appreciate your offer to send materials about the Tullis-Russell Paper Company and, if possible, the name of someone in Fife that is interested in the Tullis/Tullos families in Scotland.

As you know, I am attempting to establish trans-Atlantic connections for the Tullis/Tullos migrations that emigrated to the American Colonies in the middle and late 1600's. The first settler was Cloud Tullos, a tanner and shoemaker, who was born in 1641 and arrived in Virginia, probably as an indentured servant, in about 1661. He was member of the Anglican Church in Virginia. Robert Tullis first appeared in 1704 as a Quaker in west New Jersey. He later moved to south New Jersey where he and his children, who became Presbyterians and Baptists, were farmers.

It is widely believed that the migrations were from Scotland and research in Scotland indicates that these families came from Fife. So far, however, there is no actual evidence to provide solid support for the trans-Atlantic connection between these families in the American Colonies and Scotland.

Mr. Dobson suggested that there may be shipping records from ports in eastern Scotland and England, Quaker records and apprenticeship records that might establish the Scottish connection. I have written him and asked for his assistance in locating any of the records of this kind that may exist.

I think it is also important that research be done on Fife parish records. I understand from our telephone conversation that the Fife Family History Society does not ordinarily research family history dating as far back as the 17th Century. However, if you can think of any member of the society or, perhaps someone connected with it, who is interested in this period and is skilled in the reading of old parish records, I would like very much to be put in touch with him or her. The immediate interest is to locate parish records during the 20-year period from 1641 to 1661 when Cloud Tullos was in Scotland.

I am a civil trial attorney in San Francisco and have not developed any skills in reading older handwritten documents from either Scotland or Virginia. However, in May Pat Tulloss from Birmingham, Alabama is planning a trip to Scotland to continue genealogical research of parish records which she began in Scotland several years ago. Pat Tulloss is a speech pathologist and has become an expert in deciphering handwritten Scottish and Virginia records. If someone in Fife could do some groundwork in advance of Pat's trip, it would probably be extremely useful.

I understand that there are still parish records that have not been copied into modern English. Pat would like to look at any uncopied records that may exist in those parishes in addition to any records that have been copied but have not been available to her in the United States.

As I promised in our telephone conversation, I am enclosing the materials which fall into three categories: The first two are information about the Tullis/Tullos migrations to the American Colonies. Research in this country has shown that there were two migrations, one to Virginia in about 1661 and a later migration to New Jersey in about 1700.

The third category consists of information gathered from Scottish records. The oldest material indicates that the Tullis/Tullos is a branch of the Tulloch family that in 1450 obtained a charter for the "lands of Hilcarney" (probably in or near Cupar) in Fife and its family members were also the keepers of the Muir Montrewmonth. By the mid-1600's, these families had settled in areas along the eastern coast of Fife, particularly St. Andrews, Leuchars, Ferry Port on Craig, Crail and Ansthuther and also began to move to Edinburgh. Scottish records indicate that earlier spellings included transitional spellings from Tulloch such as "de Tulach", "Toullocht" and "Tullo" which by the 16th Century had become "Tullois", "Tulloise", "Tullus", "Tulloiss" and "Tullos" and "Tulloss". "Tullis", now the most common spelling in both Scotland and the United States, was not widely used until the 17th Century.

The Virginia Migration: Enclosed is C.D. Cochran's article Tullos of Virginia (Part I) which documents the early Virginia migration. [Part I appeared in The Colonial Genealogist, Vol. VI, #4; Part II appeared in Vol. VII, #1.] This migration began with Cloud Tullos, the earliest known settler from this family to arrive in North America. Cloud Tullos sometimes appears in Virginia records as "Claudious" and his surname was frequently spelled "Tullus". He was born in 1641 and he is believed to have arrived in Virginia in 1661 and, in any event, no later than 1665 when he was granted a king's patent for land in Northumberland County, Virginia. Cloud's patent was granted for the transportation of two men who were to be bound landowners on adjoining or nearby lands.

Cochran believed that Cloud may have been married to Sarah Rodham and lists five children: Cloud, born in 1662; Richard, born in 1667; Susanna, born in 1672; Sarah; and John, born in 1682. Based upon traditional naming patterns, the naming of the first son may indicate that Cloud's father was also named Cloud.

I am enclosing two additional items of information that are not contained in Cochran's article. First, there is an entry in the Virginia Colony court records in 1665 involving a dispute over the ownership of a pig. It indicates that Cloud came to Virginia as an indentured servant:

Cloud Tullus, aged 24 years, sworn and
executed, sayeth that the deponent, about
5 years ago, (he being then Thomas Adams's
servant) did hold the sow that Captain
Rogers claimeth (he being a suckling pig)
whilst Thomas Adams did mark her, and the
deponent hath known her to be Thomas Adams'
sow ever since and further sayeth not.

Second, a court order dated 16 November 1698 indicates that Cloud was a tanner and shoemaker. The court decreed that William Grady, a 15-year old orphan, having chosen Cloud Tulllos as his guardian had bound himself to Cloud and his son, John, until he reached 21 years of age. The order was made with "Cloud and John giving good caution to teach the said William the trade of a Tanner and shoemaker as farr as they can dureing the said term to find him and allow him Convenient Dyett, washing and Lodging fitt or such an apprentice and teaching him or causing him to be taught to Read."

The New Jersey Migration: Little has been done on the early genealogy of this migration. I have therefore enclosed a genealogy which I have compiled for the first and second generations in New Jersey. Although the name of Robert's wife is unknown, research in New Jersey shows that he had at least four sons: Robert; Francis; William, born in 1715; and Moses, born about 1720. Again, using traditional naming patterns, the naming of the first son may indicate that Robert's father was also named Robert.

The leading members of this family are Robert's sons William and Moses. One of William's many grandsons, Garner H. Tullis, travelled from New Jersey to the Natchez District of Mississippi shortly after the Louisiana Purchase and, later, was the founder a prominent family in Louisiana. Robert's son Moses moved to Virginia (to what is now West Virginia) where he had 13 children. These children, including Michael, a Revolutionary War veteran who had 18 children, settled in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This migration has consistently spelled the name "Tullis" since arriving in North America.

Scottish Records: The enclosed Scottish records have been gathered from sources in the United States and are probably meager in comparison to what is available in Scotland. These records, however, do seem to show that the early origins of Tullis/Tullos in Fife are well-documented. There are popular references showing that Michael Tulloiss ("Tullo") and Francis Tullus (also spelled "Tullo", "Tullous" and "Tulloch") were in Fife in the mid-1500's. Michael and Francis, however, were descendants of a line that had been in Fife for many generations. (see enclosed Notes on Early Origins of Family).

By 1600 the Tullis/Tullos family had been in Fife for 150 years to 200 years. During this time and the years immediately afterward, it appears that a number of collateral lines had developed and that family descendants had moved to all parts of eastern Fife and pursued occupations of varied social status. For example, records in Fife show that: James Tulloise, a mariner in Crail, died in 1583; Johannes Tullus appeared on the graduation roll at St. Andrews University in 1577; Michael Tullose, a merchant in St. Andrews, died in 1586; James Tullos, minister in Auchtertuill, died in 1603; Janet Tullous married James Brooks, a wright, in 1618; James Tullos, a timberman in Anstruther Wester, died in 1624; John Tullis was a minister in Weyms in 1631; John Tullos, minister in Monimail, died in 1636; Alexander Tullis, hammerman in St. Andrews, died in 1688. See also Notes on Additional Tullis/Tullos Families.

I hope this information is of interest to you and Fife Family History Society. Again, Pat Tulloss and I would be very grateful for any information, thoughts or suggestions that may assist us in our search in Scotland.

Best wishes,

RICK TULLIS