| Notes |
- The first known Violett in the United States was William Violett of Kent Island, Maryland, living there in 1668. William had a son Edward who married Eleanor Saunders of Virginia
The Violettes of Virginia: by Martin Violette
This is the history of the Violette family which first Appeared in the colonies in the Northen Neck of Virginia-the lands between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers-in the early partr of the 18th century.
Virginia Violettes, or Violetts, Vyolets, Voylets, Villets-any of these spellings can be found-appear to be a Kentish family from around the Bromley-Beckenham area east-south-east of London, where a number of Violetts live today. Northern Virginia, and the Northern Neck, was an area settled in major part by immigrants from the West and South of England, and from Kent, and their surmames are still prominent in many localities there. Most of the families to whom the Violetts of the 18th and early 19th centuries are related, whether by marriage or business dealings, have Kentish surnames. For example, there is an Ashford Violett who derived his given name from a family related by marriage to ours, who in turn derived their surname in all likelihood from the city of Asford in Kent.
I should explain here why I use the spelling "Violette". Although the first head of the family in the colonies for whom I have found documentary evidence-Edward-signed his name Violet, most documents, tombstones, etc., from the 18th and early 19th century use Violett, and finally, while the "Frenchification" of the name appears to have taken place mostly in the latter part of the 19th century, there are still several reasons to use this form. Of Violet, Violett, and Violette, the most frequently occurring version in the U.S. census of 1990 is the last of the three. The editors of the papers of George Washington, it should be noted, also prefer this usage. But the most important reason to use "Violette" is that there is another Violette family, French in origin and Quebecois in its early North American representation, with the French spelling. This family, fortunately, has a well documented genealogy, so it is relatively easy ro keep them apart in genealogical and historic research (although there are some confusing overlaps, especially in Midwestern states of the U.S). But the added "e" in our family has caused a lot of confusion, and many "Virginia" Violettes erroneously believe themselves to be of French descent. My intention is to make it easy for genealogical researchers to find this resource side-by-side with resources side-by-side with resources pewrtaining to the French family.
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1668 - 1700 (32 years)
