WEC: "After his mother's death, he was taken and brought up by his uncle and aunt Barteaux, and went with them to Ohio, Grand River and London, Ontario, and finally to the first concession of Malahide, 1838, where they still live. Mr. Chute has been a good and useful man, both civic and religious, farmer, magistrate, etc."
Burial Information:"7. Grey granite on cement base, oval top; sun rising motifSee Source 341 for source detail
East - Charles CHUTE / died / July 18, 1900 / in his 86th year /
At rest /
his wife Tamar McCONNELL / died Dec. 23, 1920 / in her 96th year / CHUTE/
Source on information on Tamar McConnell's first or second husband, Peter Shoemaker:
Haggan Papers, Part I, Page 131, McConnell"Charles Ernest Chute was an active police magistrate for over 50 years. Tamar McConnell Chute came from Nova Scotia to Malahide Township in 1829 - her brother was the locally famous preacher, Shook McConnell. As an elderly lady, she gave a newspaper reporter an interesting account of the family's voyage from Nova Scotia to Ontario."
Rodney Cecil Chute, 12 DEC 2002, Family Data WorksheetThese two oral traditions have been passed down through the Chute family for centuries, and it is only recently that we have begun to take a serious look at them. As a result, much of this earliest history is now questioned, if not outright disregarded and disputed, by Chute genealogists on both sides of the Atlantic. While it is known that an Alexander Chewte did exist, and that he already was significant enough to have been granted armorial bearings, and that the date of 1268 is associated with him (his death), the rest of the oral tradition in these early times is extremely doubtful. For a longer explanation of the reasoning, see Baron Edouard and the Jutes.
Other 'oral tradition', which did not appear in the 1894 Chute Genealogies, refers to the existance of an earlier individual by the name of "Adam", although it is not certain where he was supposed to have appeared in the pedigree. [Note: This individual was located by Walter John Chute of Nova Scotia in 1970.
Genealogical research is a lengthy, time-consuming process of researching original records and documents ... and in some cases requires the necessity of reviewing fragile documents in person. At the moment, one interesting candidate has come to light, purely by accident. Frederick Stephen ("Steve") Chute uncovered this man, while surfing the Internet, looking for "Shutes" who might have been confused with "Chutes" at some time in history, and in doing so, discovered a "Robert de Chete" or "de Shete", located about 20-30 miles away from Taunton, in Devonshire. This Robert, one generation older than Alexander, had a wife, Roesia Coffin, and a father, Lucas. Naturally, the similarity between the names "Robert LeChute" and "Robert de Shete" caught everyone's attention - in a big way - and we are now in the process of backtracking the original source. At this point, the last known recorded source for the name was Devon Feet of Fines; Volume I, Richard I to Henry III 1196-1272 by The Reverend Oswald J. Reichel, published at Exeter by The Devon and Cornwall Record Society, in 1912. The record in this case was a marriage dowry. Francis Chute of Arundel, his interest piqued along with the rest of us, has begun the process of tracking it down further. It may be that our origins are in Devonshire, rather than Taunton.
But if Alexander did live, and eventually die, in Taunton, in 1268 (although in some other capacity than as a "lord of a manor"), he may have been alive in 1226, when Peter des Roches and William Brewer, the Bishop of Exeter, led a group of crusaders from England to the Holy Land. Their journey lasted five years; although the group was in Jerusalem when Sultan Kameel agreed to surrender the Holy City. If not a participant, he certainly would have been aware of it.
Historically, the King of England at this time was Henry III (1216-1272), who was only nine when his father, a ruler who was so unpopular he had been the inspiration for the writing, and signing, of the Magna Carta, died. Without a family history (yet) prior to Alexander, it's impossible to determine the precedents for the names of his sons, which very easily could have been his father, uncles or brothers. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the father of Henry III was John, and his sole brother named Richard.
Henry III was himself quite unpopular for his continued financial support of the papacy and his habit of granting important offices to foreigners. That financial support was excessive enough that eventually, the country's checkbook, as it were, was separated from the monarchy and placed under baronial control. Opposition to Henry was considerable enough, that some historians credit him for sowing the early seeds of British nationalism, so many people were united in opposition against his support of "foreigners". However, Alexander did live in a region that was under the control of the Church, through the Bishops of Winchester. It may have been that the hostility felt by many other barons throughout England was not felt as keenly in Taunton, which would have benefitted from Henry's acquiescence to the papacy. Considering this family's tremendous royalist traditions and leanings, even at their own expense (consider the American Revolution), we may have been strong and stubborn Royalists even then.
Roger Bacon wrote On Experimental Science, also in 1268.
Estimated birthdate. The surname was given in WEC as "Brumfield", although "Bromfield" is the currently accepted spelling. There is a wonderful rural legend associated with this union that bears repeating, for its entertainment value if nothing else. The legend has to do with the “Crawling Field”, and as it did not appear in William Chute’s work; our family records make no mention of the source. I found a variation of the story on a web site devoted to the parish and village of Bromfield. My grandfather George M. Chute, Jr., had to have heard it from somewhere, but didn’t think enough of the story to include it in his supplement. I can understand why.
“The parish and village of Bromfield lie immediately to the west of Ludlow. The village stands between the rivers Onny and Teme which eventually merge a little way downstream. In the fork formed by the two rivers stands the remains of a Benedictine Priory. What is left is mainly in the form of St. Mary's Church, the nave of which was originally the name of the priory, and there is still ample evidence of its Norman origins. In the church is a memorial to Henry Hickman who was born at nearby Lady Halton. It is believed by many that he was the first to experiment successfully with anaesthetics.
To the south of the village are some fields which bear the unusual name of 'crawl meadows'. Legend tells us that a certain maid of Bromfield fell in love with a landless knight. Her father disapproved and vowed that if she married this landless knight her marriage portion would only be as much land as she could crawl over between sunset and sunrise. Dressed in leather to protect her delicate skin, she managed to crawl a distance of four miles.”
Coincidentally, our next Chute in line, Cuthbert, suddenly appears in records having married into “landed gentry”. The designation did not appear after his father’s name. Was his wife Jane Bromfield the plucky “maid of Bromfield”?
"In the time of Edward II ..." (Reigned 1284 - 1327). This name stands out pretty dramatically from other Chute names. Again, without knowing a prior pedigree, we have no way of knowing if the name was taken from a relation or friend, Chiddock, Chideake or Chewte. If not, the most famous Cuthbert around at the time would have been St. Cuthbert, famed as a miracle worker, whose remains resided in Durham at that time (making it a well known pilgrimage site), and were reportedly famous for having been uncorrupted and un-decomposed when the casket was opened. The site was so well known that even William the Conqueror paid it a visit after his arrival. The Venerable Bede, who wrote so poorly of Hengest and Horsa, also wrote a well known biography of Cuthbert, and the various miracles reported as associated with Cuthbert might shed some light on why our Cuthbert was given the name if in fact, the saint was the inspiration for it: possibly a difficulty at birth from which he - or perhaps his mother - surprisingly recovered. Cuthbert may have been a patron saint of one of his parents, who was often invoked against serious illnesses.
Edward II, who became the 1st Prince of Wales in 1301, met a rather gruesome end during this period of time. His reign was a troubled one, and it was this King who went up against (and lost badly to) Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, Scotland in 1314. Edward II was deposed on 21 Jan 1327, "and murdered by a red-hot poker in his bowels."
