The Trouble with Tuttles
The Tuttle branch of my line joins my tree with my great-great-great grandmother, Alma Tuttle (b. July 4, 1833, d. September 4, 1898). Alma Tuttle was the daughter of Jeremiah, son of Jeremiah, son of Uri, son of Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel, son of Jonathan, son of William Tuttle, c.1609 - c. 1673, and his wife Elizabeth (d. December 30, 1684) who is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. They emigrated to America on the ship "Planter" in April of 1635, and had 12 children. Their 4th child (3rd son), Jonathan, was my 9th great grandfather; their 5th child was named David, and he was just generally considered incompetent.
Their 8th child was a girl, whom they affectionately named for her mother, Elizabeth. This younger Elizabeth, born about 1645, married Richard Edwards on November 19, 1667, and it caused a bit of a stir in this quaint New England town when they divorced in 1691. Of course, to the gossips, the divorce itself must have seemed a little blasé compared to what came before: Shortly - too shortly - after their wedding, Elizabeth produced a child whom Richard Edwards flat out refused to acknowledge as his; one Joseph Preston was accused of the paternity. Elizabeth was also considered insane.
William and Elizabeth's 11th child was another girl, named Mercy (b April 27, 1650); she succumbed to the same affliction as her brother and her sister: she went insane and murdered her child in 1691, the same year her older sister divorced.
William and Elizabeth's 7th child was a daughter, named Sarah (b. Apr. 1642) Sarah was murdered by her brother, Benjamin, on Nov. 17, 1676. Benjamin was the 10th child of William and Elizabeth, born Oct. 29, 1648. Benjamin was exectuted for his crime on June 13, 1677.
Thus, of William and Elizabeth's 12 children, the first 4, John, Hannah, Thomas, and Jonathan lived out their lives largely unscathed, along with their 6th, Joseph, the 9th, Simon, and the 12th, Nathaniel. The 5th, David, the 7th, Sarah, the 8th, Elizabeth, the 10th, Benjamin, and the 11th, Mercy all endured - or were victims of - what can only be called "troubled times."