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llustration: “Endicott and the Red Cross,” by William Allen Wall, 1853. Credit: New Bedford Whaling Museum.
The event associated with the name Truecross took place during a military drill in 1634 in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Richard Davenport was the ensign [flag] bearer and John Endicott (also spelled Endecott) was his captain. At the start of a drill one November day Endicott grabbed the flag and cut out the red patron cross of St. George with his sword. Endicott’s defiant act against “popish relics of superstition” made clear his desire to sever customs and binds to “Episcopacy England.’
Read my story at Genealogybank Blog The Story behind an Ancestor’s Unusual Name: Truecross Davenport