Family name origins & meanings
- English (Devon) : topographic name for someone who lived ‘at the end of the cottages’, from Middle English, Old English ende ‘end’ + cot ‘cottage’. One locality so named is Endicott in Cadbury, Devon; another is now called Youngcott, in Milton Abbot.
- John Endecott (1588–1665) was a prominent figure in the early history of MA, being one of the founding fathers of Salem, MA, in 1638. He served as governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629–30), and worked harmoniously with his successor, John Winthrop, despite differences on points of religious doctrine. He served as governor again in 1644–45, 1649–50, 1651–54, and 1655–64, and as deputy governor in many of the intervening years. He is buried in the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.