The Dutt/Toot Family

The Dutt/Tuck family are Nancy's ancestors, her mother's paternal grandmother's people. Adam Toot, until recently the earliest proven ancestor of this line, appears in Halifax Co., Virginia, in the late 18^th century. Recently the connection of the Virginia Toots to the Dutt/Toot family of Württemberg and Pennsylvania have been established.

Our earliest known Dutt ancestors lived in village of Abstatt in the very late 16^th century. That village was a part of Grafschaft (Countship) Löwenstein, by then a fiefdom of the Duchy of Württemberg, and now a part of Germany. They then migrated to an area now in the Bas-Rhin department in France, where they lived in several different villages. By about 1725 they had moved to the village of Flacht, in Württemberg, and then to the nearby village of Weissach, also today in Germany. The map below traces this migration.

1.Abstatt, by 1597	4.Imbsheim, by 1661
2.Gries, by 1629	5.Flacht, by 1684
3.Obermodern, by 1658	6.Weissach, by 1719

Standardized spelling of surnames was not seen as a virtue until fairly recent times, and that is certainly clear with this family. The surname was recorded with many variations in 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th century church registers, including Dott, Dütt, and Dutt, with the last most common in the later years. The earliest records in Pennsylvania record the name as Dutt or Dütte. The family that settled in York and then Lancaster Counties gradually changed the spelling to Tutt and then settled on Toot, while other branches used the Dutt spelling.

The Dutt Family in Württemberg

Our story starts with David Dutt, the son of a shepherd who was born in Flacht in 1698, and his wife, Catharina Müller, who was born in Weissach in 1697. They married in her native village in 1719 and settled there. They had six sons, one of whom died within a year. David died in 1735 at the age of 36, leaving his wife with five sons ranging in age from four to fifteen. Four of them immigrated to Pennsylvania Colony about 1750. Only the next to youngest, Daniel, remained in Weissach and raised a family there.

Immigrating to Pennsylvania

For those who emigrated he journey to Pennsylvania was a daunting undertaking, taking half a year. The trip down the Rhine to a seaport in Holland would take four to six weeks. Over two dozen custom houses were encountered, with the ships detained for examination at each. A delay of five or six weeks at Rotterdam or Amsterdam was also common. All this time the passengers had to spend money, at dear prices, for their food and lodging. In most cases ships sailing from Holland had to stop at an English port, commonly Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. After a wait of up to two weeks to pass through the customs house and for favorable winds, the Atlantic crossing began. The passengers were packed densely, often without proper food and water, causing diseases such as dysentery, scurvy, typhoid and smallpox to be common. Storms tossing the small ships with strong gales lasting several days added to the misery. Many, especially children, died en route. Upon arrival at Philadelphia passengers were examined for contagious disease and quarantined if any were found. The men were led to City Hall to take an oath of allegiance to the British king and then returned to the ship. Those unable to pay their passage or raise money from friends were then offered for sale as indentured servants.¹

David settled first in York Co., where he married and started a large family. About 1775 they moved to Lancaster Co., in an area which became part of Dauphin Co. in 1785, where he prospered. Some of his descendants stayed in that area, while others, for reasons not known, migrated to southern Virginia.

We have not yet traced his brothers after they immigrated.

The Toot Family in Virginia

Adam Toot, the earliest Toot ancestor in Virginia, moved there from Pennsylvania in the early 1790's. He married Sarah King, supposedly the daughter of Edmund King. He was prominent in Halifax Co., then moved to Georgia. He was supposedly married three times. Elizabeth Woodson Thomas, who he married in 1773, has been claimed to be Sarah's mother. We have not done research to verify any of the facts of Sarah's ancestry.

Adam and Sarah had many descendants, most of whom remain in Virginia today. The principal exceptions are the descendants of their daughter Elizabeth and Dr. Davis Green Tuck, who moved to south central Kentucky in 1830. Their family is explored in our Tuck Section.

Some of his sister Catherine's children joined their uncle Adam in Virginia.

Reading More About Them

To read this family's stories you may choose to begin with David or his wife Catharina. Our you may prefer to read about those about whom we have the most interesting information. They include:

• David and Catharina's son David Dutt/Toot, one of three brothers who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Württemberg about 1750
• David's eldest daughter Catharine, several of whose children joined her younger brother Adam, in Halifax Co., on the southern border of Virginia
• Her daughter Sophia, who followed her uncle to Virginia, then promptly married and moved west with her husband, founding a properous farming family in Ohio and Missouri
• Clyde Culipher, first husband of Catherine's Adam's great-great-granddaughter Ruth, it seems couldn't keep himself out of trouble with the law
• David's son Adam Toot, apparently the founder of the Toot line in Virginia
• Adam's daughter Elizabeth, married Dr. Davis Green Tuck, patriarch of our branch of the Tuck line in Virginia and Kentucky.
• Adam's grandson John B. Britton, who became a doctor and was politically active, moving first to North Carolina then to Kansas.
• Adam's great-grandson William, a policeman who was fatally shot in a jail break setting off a multi-state man hunt.

If you prefer, you can look for specific people in the index on the left.

Maps, Charts and Military Service Index

The family is outlined in the Toot Descendants Chart, which offer links to each person's narrative.

Many of the places mentioned in the narratives about each person contain this icon, which is a link to display that place in Google Maps. For more information about these links see the Map Links section on our main page.

Many members of the Duut/Toot family served in the military in various wars. Those included in this site are listed in the Index of Military Service