Scoville GenealogyGenealogy of the name Scoville and related surnames.

The signature below of John Scovell, the first Scoville immigrant to America, is from an inventory done in 1695 at the time of Nichols Ackley's death, a common practice in the 17th century. This photo was taken by John C. Scovill at the Hartford Connecticut State Library about 1984. Fullsized images of the signatures can be found in our download area.

The first photo is a closeup of the signature and the second is the full document. Homer Worthington Brainard, author of A Survey of the Scovils or Scovills in England and America; Seven Hundred Years of History and Genealogy, printed in 1915, also saw this signature. He writes on page 136:

An autograph signature, "John Scovell," well formed and very legible, may be seen upon the original inventory of the estate of Nicholas Ackley of Haddam who died April 29, 1695. This shows that John Scovell was fairly well educated for the times.

Personally, I think the name is clearly not Scovell and is either Scoville or Scovill. It would be very interesting to see other examples of his writing, if they exist, to try and determine the correct spelling.

Please visit the Spelling Variations forum.