The following information is from a letter written by Harriet Jane Moore (nee Bruce) written to my mother (Eunice Jane Rotella - nee Lent). Harriet and Eunice are grandchildren of Edwin LeRoy Endicott and Cora Belle Porter - mentioned in the book An Historical Record of the Descendants of Dr. John Indicott of Hartford, Conn. written by his grandson, J. C. McIntosh (Springfield, Mass, February 1888) by Clark W. Bryan & Co. Printers of Springfield, Mass.

The family can only be traced to the year 1327 A.D. and to a place of the same name in Devonshire, England, said to have been an estate in South Tawton. The evident meaning of the name is "end cot" or cottage; but one historian maintains that the original orthography of the name was Yondecote, meaning "yonder cottage." In ancient English and early American records the name appears in at least 17 different spellings, varying from Yendicott, Edecot, Edycott, Indicott to Endicott. Of these, the last name is most generally used in America.

Among the earliest definite records are those of Johannes de Yendecote in 1327; John Yendecote of Devonshire, about 1448 who was the father by his wife Alice of a son named Henry, who was the grandfather of Robert and John Ednciott as well as possibly Thomas Endacott, living in the 16th century; Richard Yendecote son of the aforementioned John was living in Devonshire between 1460 and 1483; and John Endecote or Endycott of Middlecott, Devonshire, probably about 1528 from whom Governor John Endicott of Massachusetts is believed to have descended.

This John Endecote of Endycott was the father of Henry, John, Richard and possibly others. Of these, Henry had at least three sons, namely, William, Henry and John. Of the last mentioned brothers, William died in 1630 leaving by his first wife an only son, Henry, who had six children: William, Henry, Edward, Elizabeth, Mary and Joan; while John Endocott, heir to the Middlecott estate had four sons: Thomas, Robert, William, and Richard, of whom teh first is thought to have been fathered by his wife Alice (possibly nee Westlake) of Governor John Endicott and of a younger son, Gregory. 

John Endecott, second son of the first John of Middlecott, had at least two sons, John and Henry, as well as probably another named William; and his brother Richard may also have left issue but no records have been found.

Governor John Endicott (originally recorded as Endacott) immigrated to America in 1628 and settled in Salem, Mass. By his first wife, Anne Gouer (or Gore) whom he brought with him from England, he is believed to have had no issue. Anne died in 1629 and in 1630 he married Elizabeth Gibson of Cambridge, England, by whom he was the father of at least two sons: John and Zerrubbabel. John married Elizabeth Houchins (or Hutchins) in 1653 and died in 1668 without issue. Zerubbable was a prominent physician at Salem, Mass., and was the father by his first wife Mary of: John, Samuel, Zerubbabel, Benjamin, Mary, Joseph, Sarah, Ezliabeth, Hanna and Mehitable. By his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Winthrop, he had no issue.

John Endecott was a physician and resided for a time in England where he was a surgeon in the British Navy. He died in 1694 leaving issue in America of two children: Robert Edwards and Anne, by his first wife Anne. The son Robert Edwards married Elizabeth Phillips in 1720 but had no children.

Samuel Endicott, second son of Zerubbabel, married Hannah Jelton in 1684 and to this union were born: John, Samuel Jr., Ruth and Hannah. Of these, Samuel Endicott Jr., married his cousin Anne in 1711. She died in 1723 having had 5 children: John, Sarah (died young), Samuel, Sarah and Robert of Danvers, Mass. By his second wife, the widow Margaret (nee Pratt) Foster, whom he married in 1724, he was the father of Margaret, Hannah, Anne, Elias, Joseph, Lydia, and Ruth.

Among the other early records of the bearers of the name in America are those of William Endicott, of Boston, a cooper, who had issue in 1691 by a wife named Mary, of a son John and in 1693 of another son named Bayworth; and those of Dr. John Indicott of Hartford and Wilbraham, Conn., who probably was a descendant of one of the above mentioned lines.

Due to a dissension, one part of the family changed their name to Indicott but years later when the cause of the trouble had been forgotten, the original spelling of the name was resumed.

Note: In the first sentence of the Indicott book mentioned above, his grandson stated the following:

I know nothing of the ancestry of Doctor John Indicott. I have seen no authentic record of his birth, and cannot tell the month or day of it, but it is certain he was born in the year 1749, and there are good reasons for thinking his birthplace was Hartford, Connecticut, and that he received his education in that city.

He was married at Hartford, Sunday evening, November 24, 1771 to Elizabeth Church who came from an old Hartford family of wealth and high social position. She was the daughter of Joseph Church and Elizabeth Potwine, who were married at Hartford, November 27, 1746, and to Joseph and Elizabeth there were born two children.

Elizabeth, the mother, died at East Longmeadow, June 19, 1825, seventy-six years old. Dr. John Indicott, died at Wilbraham on the morning of January 10, 1826, seventy-seven years old.

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