Elizabeth Tuttle

Elizabeth Tuttle also known by her married name Elizabeth Tuttle Edwards (1645–1691 or after) was a Puritan woman who lived in the New Haven Colony in what is now the state of Connecticut. She was brought up in a financially stable home and raised to be a Puritan "goodwife". Her dreams of running her own flouring household, like her mother, were ruined when she married Richard Edwards and was entangled in a sex scandal. The couple were married for 24 years and had six children. Rare for the time, Tuttle was divorced by her husband in 1691 for adultery.

Tuttle and her descendants were subjects in the field of Eugenics by Charles Benedict Davenport and Clarence Darrow, having been the ancestor of many great leaders and educators. Descendants include Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, presidents of noted universities, a founder of a law school, an American Civil War general. Pierpont Edwards and Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States, were said to have inherited defects of her character.

Early life Elizabeth Tuttle was born in 1645 and baptized in November 1645 in New Haven as the eighth of twelve children born to William and Elizabeth Tuttle. Their twelve children were John, Hannah, Thomas, Jonathan, David, Joseph, Sarah, Elizabeth, Simon, Benjamin, Mercy, and Nathaniel.

William, Elizabeth, and their first three children arrived in New England on June 7, 1635, on board the Planter. They traveled with William's brothers and their families and his mother Isabella. William and Elizabeth settled initially in Charlestown. William was not accepted by the church there, which was problematic because church membership was a prerequisite for owning property in Charlestown. In 1636, his wife Elizabeth was accepted at the church in Boston. William helped establish the community now known as New Haven. On June 4, 1639, William signed the first covenant of the new colony. He was a farmer, merchant, part owner of a trading vessel, and a land owner in New Haven and the neighboring North Haven and East Haven communities. Tuttle was involved in a sex scandal with the birth of her first child Mary, who was an "early baby", born seven months after their marriage. Within their first year of marriage, the couple was brought before the Hartford magistrates and were fined for having conceived a child out of wedlock. It was rumored that she not only had premarital sexual relations with Richard, but also with a man named Joseph Preston, the son of wealthy businessman. Richard denied being the father of the baby, but the magistrates found that he was the father and they were forced to remain married.

The Tuttle family Immigration to the British colonies Elizabeth Tuttle's family arrived in New England on June 7, 1635, on board the Planter. Those in the Tuttle party included Elizabeth Tuttle's grandmother Isabella Tuttle and her three sons and their families: the eldest son Richard Tuttle and his wife Anne and their three children, John Tuttle and his wife Joan and their four children as well as four children from Joan's previous marriage, and William Tuttle and his wife Elizabeth and their three young children. Once the Tuttle's arrived, Richard and John became prominent members of colonial society. Richard was elected constable in Boston in 1638. John Tuttle became a leading member in Ipswich, a colony about thirty miles outside of Boston. Seeing the successes of his brothers, William Tuttle tried to secure a strong foothold for his family. When he was unable to gain church membership, he moved his family to New Haven in 1639. This event broke his ties with his brothers. and was mentally unstable. She was said to have "had the nervous, sensitive and excitable temperament of a genius."

Tuttle's son Timothy graduated from Harvard College with bachelor's and master's degrees, which was considered remarkable at the time. For 59 years, he was the pastor of the church in East Windsor, Connecticut.

The Eugenics movement was largely discredited following the end of World War II.