EDWARD DEVOTION

• Death Notes
  • Edward Devotion. Born ca 1621. Edward died at Brookline, MA, on 23 Jul 1685. Religion: he joined the church at Brookline 16 Mar 1645.
    
    2

• General Notes
  • Edward lived at that part of Boston called Muddy river, now Brookline, when he joined the church at Boston March 1645, then single. Freeman 1645
    *************************************KING FAMILY BOOK SAYS*****
    FRENCH ANCESTRY. "
    EDWARD DEVOTION, born (of French Huguenot parentage)
    about 1621, joined the church at Brookline, Mass., March 16,
    1645. Mary, his wife, and his son Edward, were baptized Feb.
    25, 1649. He settled at Roxbury, Mass., where he died in 1685.
    When Mr. Harvey J. King compiled his Genealogy of the King
    Family of Suffield he had, as he says, "long been endeavoring
    to discover the genesis, in its present form, of the name of the
    Devotion family, but without success. As Edward Devotion, its
    first representative in America, was of French descent, it was
    evident that his name, so distinctively English in its orthography,
    must have undergone some transformation after he came to New
    England either in the spelling or by a modification of some kind.
    Such transformations were of frequent occurrence, not only
    among the early Dutch settlers in America but also among the
    French Huguenot refugees as shown by the early histories of
    New England.
    Governor Edward Winslow, himself a passenger on the Mayflower,
    afterward Governor of Plymouth Colony, and its earliest
    historian, tells us of the Dutch, French and Walloon members of
    the church, how "their non-Anglican names were corrupted into
    English forms such as Cuthbertson for Godbertson, Delano for
    De la Noye," (Truax for Du Trieux, Bovie for Beaufils), etc.
    changed from Baudoin and Sigourney from Sigournais. "The
    Sigourney family bore the name of a locality in the province of
    Poitou, where not improbably they may have originated." (See
    Baird's "The Huguenot Emigration to America," Vol. i, p. 282)
    Pertinent in this connection is the fact that Edward Devotion
    was of French Huguenot origin and came from the vicinity of
    La Rochelle.
    Miss Emma C. King, of Xenia, Ohio, who in 1895 travelled
    from Paris to La Rochelle for the sole purpose of obtaining information
    relative to the ancestors of the Devotion family, kindly
    furnished to Mr. Harvey J. King as the result of her investigation,
    transcripts from the official records which seem to leave no
    room for doubt that the name of Edward Devotion, prior to his
    coming to New England, was written "de VAUTION," and was
    then changed only by Anglicizing the spelling, the pronunciation
    remaining unchanged.
    History informs us that more than 500,000 adherents of the "
    Reformed Religion" became refugees from France to escape
    the persecutions, or worse, to which all such were subjected
    during the greater part of the seventeenth century. Most of
    them settled in England, Holland and other European states,
    but we are told that many "departed for North America, and as
    early as 1625 several Huguenot families settled in New York
    City, then New Amsterdam. Others founded New Rochelle.
    Those who fled to Massachusetts were settled in Oxford, Worcester
    County, but soon after removed to Boston." (See American
    Cyclopedia, title "Huguenots." Also Baird's "The Huguenot
    Emigration to America.") Supplementing the foregoing data, and equally a matter of
    history, is the significant fact that Edward Devotion, a French
    Huguenot, and the founder of a New England family, settled in
    Brookline, which was then a part of Boston, in or prior to the
    year 1645, as is evidenced by the puhlic records and also those
    of the Church. While the statistics thus collected do not furnish
    the connecting link between the pedigrees of Edward Devotion
    and the de Vaution families referred to, the identity of the
    names seems to be fairly demonstrated and that they were of
    one and the same lineage is certainly rendered extremely probable.
    In this connection it is interesting to notice the fact that
    not only has the de Vaution family become extinct in France
    as above stated by M. Louis M. Meschinet de Richemond, but
    while there are now living many lineal descendants of Edward
    Devotion who bear the names of those who became the husbands
    of (laughters who inherited it, not one male descendant bearing
    his name is now living to perpetuate it and it must soon become
    extinct. The late John L. Devotion of Norwich, Conn., was the
    last male representative of the name. His widow and daughters
    now (1898) reside in the City of New York.
    As a well deserved tribute to the memory of six generations
    who inherited the name of Edward Devotion — a name which
    soon will only survive as a memory — it may fittingly be added
    that many of the sons who bore it were prominent in their day
    and generation in the legal profession, the judiciary and the
    pulpit, and of the (laughters several became the wives or mothers
    of men distinguished as statesmen, jurists and educators. Promi-
    ment among them were two daughters of Rev. Ebenezer
    Devotion (1714-1771), Martha who in 1761 became the wife of
    Samuel Huntingdon, afterwards Governor of Connecticut and
    President of the Continental Congress, and Hannah, who in 1764
    became the wife of Rev. Joseph Huntington and later the mother
    of Samuel Huntington, Governor of Ohio, and of Frances the
    wife of Rev. Dr. Griffin, President of Williams College.
    A complete genealogy of the Devotion family would be of
    much interest but none has been printed. The most comprehensive
    of any in print is contained in "Publication No. 14" of the
    Tirookline Publication Society, and was compiled by Mrs. Susan
    V. Griggs, of Rrookline, Mass. "
    THE OLD DEVOTION HOUSE."
    what has been in modern times known as the Babcock
    farm, but in Judge Sewall's day was the property of John
    Devotion."
    John Devotion was a prominent citizen in Muddy River, holding
    various offices, and his name appears upon the petition for a
    separate township.
    Ebenezer Devotion, a son of John, became a clergyman and
    removed to Suffield, Connecticut. After the death of John
    Devotion, the house was occupied by his son Edward and Mary
    his wife. Edward Devotion was a public spirited citizen, and
    reference to the old records of the town show that he held various
    offices of trust for many years.
    The house is a curious old relic of former times and the
    beautiful elms which shade it were no doubt set out by the hands
    of the ancient owner, whose devotion to the interests of his
    church and town suggests the idea that a similar characteristic
    in his ancestry may have earned for the family its very uncommon
    name.
    The town of Brookline has built upon adjoining land a fine
    primary and kindergarten school, known as "The Edward Devotion
    School" and it owns the old house. The town is soon to
    build a grammar school on the site, and "The Isaac Gardner
    Chapter, D. A. R." is to present a petition to the town to save
    the old house and to remove it to a position nearby.
    AMERICAN ANCESTRY.
    The following genealogical and statistical notes are also taken
    from the book of Mr. Harvey J. King, who compiled them from
    the official records at Brookline and Roxbury Mass., and Suffield,
    Connecticut. The portions relative to Edward and John Devotion
    appear in full also in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of
    the First Settlers of New England, and it is there added relative
    to John Devotion, 1659-1733: "He left a good estate and his
    son Ebenezer (Harvard College 1707; ordained June 28, 1710),
    minister of Suffield, Conn. ; born at Brookline ; was father of
    Ebenezer* Yale College 1/32. Also progenitor of many other
    graduates of that college."
    

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