Third of eight children, third son and twin of fourth son of Job Tyler 1619-1700 and Mary Horton 1619-1700. Husband of Mary Lovett married 28 Jan 1668 in Menden, Worcester, MA. Father of:
* Mary Tyler 1669-1733
* Daniel Tyler Sr. 1673-1734
* Martha Tyler 1676-1741
* John Tyler 1677-1754
* Hannah b abt 1679
* Johannah/Joanna Tyler 1681-1717
* James Tyler b 1683
* Hopestill Tyler Jr. 1685-1762
* Abigail Tyler 1687-1771
* Mehitable Tyler 1687-1771

Hopestill was a twin, the only twin to survive the day of their birth. He would move from Andover to Roxbury with the two youngest children, Martha and Daniel, when driven away from their forest home by Indians, yet returned within a few years with eight children and returned to the business of black smithing.

In 1692, Mary and her daughter, Joanna were among the women accused of witchcraft and confessed after torture, were arrested in August, January 13, 1693 were released for one hundred pounds guarantee, found guilty and finally released in February. Several Tyler men of Andover did their fair share of accusations as well. After all was said and done, Hopestill sold all their belongings and moved to Preston, CT where they lived until he died.

Found and shared by Findagrave volunteer Richard Chichester:

Hopestill Tyler was the village blacksmith and resided in the forest a mile east of the church. A part of the dwelling-house erected by him, including the stone chimney, still remains, the rest of the building having been burned and rebuilt. He was the son of Job and Mary Tyler of Andover, Mass., where he was born in 1645. The father, according to tradition, was from Shropshire, England, and first appears in Andover about 1640. Hopestill Tyler was made a freeman in Mendon, Mass., in 1673, was driven by the Indians to Roxbury, and at length returned to Andover. An old record says that he was apprenticed a blacksmith, and in 1687 his native town "granted him liberty to set up a shop in ye street near his house." Soon after this the witchcraft persecution began, and Mrs. Tyler and two daughters were imprisoned at Salem. They were acquitted, however, in 1693. Perhaps, in part, because of this persecution, in 1697 he sold his land and removed to Preston. The value of the smith's craft to the community in the early days is illustrated by the vote of Preston in 1693, offering fifty acres of land to a smith who should settle there, upon certain conditions, one of which was that "he doe ingage to supply the town with smith work five yere." That Mr. Tyler availed himself of this offer, when he removed to Preston four years later, does not clearly appear. He survived his wife, who died March 3, 1732, and died at Preston Jan. 20, 1733. Both were interred in the public cemetery at Preston City.

Mrs. Tyler was Mary Lovett, daughter of Daniel and Joanna (Blot) Lovett of Braintree, Mass. The marriage occurred at Andover January 20, 1668. Their children were: Mary, m. June 30, 1693, John Farnum; Hannah, m. Dec, 1697, Robert Busswell; Daniel, m. May 28, 1700, Anna, dau. of George and Sarah (Allyn) Geer; Martha, m. Apr. 3, 1700, Robert Geer; John, b. Feb. 19, 1678, settled in or near Boston; Joanna, b. Nov. 24, 1681; James, born Dec. 28, 1683, m. (1) Oct. 8, 1705, Hannah Safford, and (2) Sept. 2, 173-, Sarah Juel, resided in North Preston (now Griswold); Hopestill, b. 1684 or 1685, m. Anna Gates, Jan. 25, 1710, remained on the homestead in Preston; and Abigail, b. about 1687, m. Daniel Fitch. John Tyler, son of the above James, rendered conspicuous service in the Revolution and became a brigadier-general.
~The Bi-centennial Celebration: First Congregational Church of Preston, Connecticut, 1698-1898. Together with Statistics of the Church Taken from the Church Records; Conn Preston First Congregational Church; Richard H. Gidman; The Society, 1900.