The History of the Duttons
City on a Hill
Dutton is a town in Cheshire, England. The town name is from the old English
dun tun. Dun means hill or mountain. Tun became the word town in modern
English. Quite literally Dutton is "a city on a hill" (the word town being the
English equivalent of city until that word was imported from French in the
1300s).
The First Surname
Dutton is also the first surname in use in England. Odard (or Hodard) came to
England with his Uncle, William the Conqueror (ca. 1066). The town of Dutton
(and most of Cheshire) was captured and subdued violently. William gave Odard
the town of Dutton, which he held through the Earl of Chester. This means that
the Earl owed the King fealty in exchange for the lands, and Odard likewise
owed the Earl, although in this case it was likely that Odard's allegiance was
for the King alone.
Odard took the style "Lord of Dutton" and settled in the manner in 1086.
According to census records (called the Doomsday Book),
he initially owned the
town with two other Lords, although he had possession of the manor. These other
portions were bought by his descendants in 1341 and 1354, making the town an
undisputed possession of the Duttons.
Odard's only child, Hugh fitz Odard, inherited the land. Hugh also had one
child by Alice Pichard, who became known as Hugh de Dutton. This was the first
recorded use of a surname (other than Son of X, in some language). The next two
generations had heirs named Hugh. The fourth Hugh was granted jurisdiction over
the minstrels by the constable, and became the first labor organizer in
history.
Royal Blood
Odard, the first Dutton, was the nephew of William the Conqueror. Through this
relation, the Duttons are related to all the past and present kings and queens
of England since 1066. Odard was directly descended from Rollo, the first Duke
of Normandy. Rollo was Norse, and invaded the Norman coast in the late 800s. To
make peace, Charles the Simple offered Gisela to Odard as wife. They married in
898, and all of Rollo's children came through Gisela. Gisela (and through her,
the Duttons) was a direct descendant of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman
Emperor.
Prior to Rollo, there are two different theories on the origins of the Normans.
The given genealogy is that they are descended from the Norse Jarl (Earl) of
Möre, Rögnvald. The alternate theory has Rollo coming from Danish
stock. If Rollo is Norse, he is descended from Fornjot, King of Finland, and
progenitor of most of Western royalty, although it is difficult to separate
fact from legend before Halfden the Old (nine generations later than Fornjot).
Crest and Motto
The Dutton Family motto is "Servabo Fidem", which is Latin for, "I will keep
the faith." It is likely a reference to 2 Timothy 4:7.
The Dutton family crest
is divided into four quadrants of white or red. The red quadrants (upper right,
and bottom left) have a gold cross (stylized with a square at the intersection)
set on a diagonal angle. Below are two examples found online.
Local Branch
My local branch of Duttons are descended from one Jesse Dutton of Rochester,
New York. The Duttons migrated to Penfield (now a suburb of Rochester) some
time between 1798 and 1822. The matriarch of the family, Lydia Udall, died
there in 1850, but her husband, Jesse Dutton, is quite a mystery. There is a
record of him in Hartford, VT during the census of 1790 and the direct tax of
1798, but all record of him after that is lost to history at the moment.
Along with Lydia (and possibly father Jesse), two children, Jesse and Sarah,
came to Penfield. Jesse was married in 1822 to Mary "Polly" Penfield, niece of
Daniel Penfield, the town founder. All of the Duttons from Rochester descend
from this couple, five generations before me.
Although it is difficult to say for certain given the mystery surrounding the
Jesse Dutton of Hartford, VT, it is likely that the Rochester Duttons are
descended from Thomas Dutton of Middlesex Co., MA, since most of the New England
Duttons are his descendants.