First found in Suffolk where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Dotty arrived in North America very early: Anne and Thomas Doughty who settled in Virginia in 1623; Francis Doughty settled in New England in 1630; Phillip Doughty arrived in Boston in 1774; another Anne Doughty settled in Virginia in 1736. Doughty's Falls were probably named after Thomas Doughty a settler from Berwick in 1657..

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