Our Family Heritage by Minnie Speer Boone

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Our Family Heritage by Minnie Speer Boone, p. 102-105   (Published by the American Historical Company, Inc.  New York: 1956).

Old World Traditions

    The Wyatt family is of Norman-French origin.  The name Guyot in France became Wyot, Wiat, Wiatt, and Wyatt in England; in America Wyatt became the accepted spelling. There is an unbroken line of en generations from Adam Guyot who came into England with William the Conqueror in 1066 to Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor of Jamestown, Virginia, 1621-1627 and again in 1639-1641.  Allington Castle, Maidstone, Boxley Parish, Kent County, England, was the ancestral home of the Wyatts.  Here they entertained the great and near-great of their country; reigning monarchs, Oliver Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey, etc.  The Wyatt Coat of Arms, family records, and political achievements are carved on the massive genealogical monument erected within the parish church.

    A few Wyatt names which stand out in English history of this period were: Henry Wiatt 1467-1537 was influential in helping place Henry VII on the throne.   For this loyalty he was knighted and given a large estate.  His picture hangs in the Louvre.  His son, Sir Thomas Wyatt, 1503-1542, poet and statesman, married Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Lord Cobham (who had an unbroken line of descent from Charlemagne which included William the Conqueror and numerous kings).  His picture hangs in Windsor Castle.  His son, Sir Thomas Wyatt II 1520-1554, a zealous Protestant, led an ill-fated expedition against London in protest against the marriage of Queen Mary Tudor to Catholic Philip II of Spain.  He was convicted of treason and hanged April 11, 1554.  His estates and titles were confiscated but were restored in part to the family during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

In America

    Sir Francis Wyatt was governor of Virginia 1621-1627.   He organized the General Assembly which had been called in 1619.  This was the first legislative body in America.  Sir Francis caused its privileges to be embodied in a WRITTEN CONSTITUTION, the first of its kind in the new world.  He commanded the troops in person during the Indian Massacre of 1622.  He served as governor again in 1639-1641 at which time he was called back to England on account of the death of his father.  Being the oldest son he inherited Boxley Hall.  None of his immediate descendants remained in America.

    Rev. Haute Wyatt, 1594-1639, born in Boxley Hall.   Youngest brother of Sir Francis Wyatt whom he accompanied to America.  He served as Rector of the church at Jamestown 1621-1625 when he returned to England to become Rector of Boxley Parish, which position he held until his death.  Issue:

  1. Edward Wyatt, born in England 1619; died in America 1670; died in America 1670.  Married Jane Conquest in 1644.  Lived in Middle Plantation, later known as Williamsburg which was the caital of Virginia from 1699-1779.  Known issue: Conquest Wyatt, 1645-1720.  There is a rather complete record of this line which includes many prominent families of the South.

  2. George Wyatt, born in america 1622, died in Gloucester County, Va. 1705.   Lived with his brother Edward at Middle Plantation, "The Boxley of America" from 1645 to 1652.  Known issue:  I.  Henry Wyatt, born 1647.   II. Richard Wyatt, born 1650

  3. Thomas Wyatt, born 1625.  Died 1632.

  4. Anne Wyatt, born in England, 1631.  Was never in America.

  5. John Wyatt, born in england 1630, lived in Gloucester County, Va.   Died after 1686.  Known issue: I.  John Wyatt, 1663-1684.

  1. William Wyatt evidently came from Virginia in the early days of the settlement of the Albemarle section of North Carolina.  His definite family connections are hard to establish because he, along with the Calloways, Laurences, and others were moving to avoid political, social, or ecclesiastical ostracism on account of being rebels, dissenters, or in some way on the wrong side.  Then the old wooden courthouses of the Virginia counties of James City, Gloucester, Nansemond, etc., that might have contained records of his land transactions, public services, and so on were destroyed by fire.  Thus these leads and possible connections were hopelessly lost.

            He married Rebekah Eivens, granddaughter of Richard Eivens, immigrant from Barbados, W.I. (Berkeley Parish Register, albemarle Co., N.C.).  "On one of his first missions to Carolina in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, Rector of St. Johns Churh, Hampton Virginia recorded the above marriage along with many others, largely upon the testamonies of the participants in the ceremonies.  No location or date given."  William Wyatt died Jan. 1687/88, Issue

  1. Elizabeth Wyatt, born Oct. 16, 1676.

  2. John Wyatt, born April 26, 1679.

  3. Sarah Wyatt, born Nov. 15, 1681.

  4. Thomas Wyatt, born Nov. 6, 1684.

  5. Samuel Wyatt, born Dec. 2, 1687.

Hathaway's North Carolina Historical and genealogical Register, vol. 3. pp 210, 211.

    "Samuel Wyatt, Planter, deed to his brother, Thomas Wyatt both of Perquimans Pct.--a tract on Yawpim River adjoining land of brother John Wyatt, left me by my father, William Wyatt.  Deed dated April 6, 1714.   Witness:  John Wiatt."  Perquimans Deed Book A. p. 352.

 

Facts which support the theory that William Wyatt who married Rebekah Eivans was a descendant of Haute Wyat:

"Capt. William Wyatt, A Dissenter from the Anglican Church was driven out of Charles City County, Virginia.  Like so many other freedom-loving people he found a home in Northwestern North Carolina."  Vol. 23. 

"George, second son of Rev. Haute Wyatt, patented land in Williamsburg, Va. in 1642.  The Wyatts of North Carolina could have descended from him."  Vol. 16.

"Owing to the loss of records the Wyatt history is neither complete nor conclusive." Vol. 10.

"A letter from John Wyatt of Gloucester County, Va. to William Wiat, a cousin in Liverpool--written July 5, 1756--entrusted to Wm. Henry Wyatt, as messenger said, `All the reminder of your family in the remote branches are almost as you left them.'" Vol. 12.

Above extracts all taken from William and Mary Quarterly Magazines.   These Magazines contain many other such reference:

Crozier in his Virginia Heraldica states that all of the Wyatts in Virginia prior to 1700 were descended from the ancient family in Kent County, England and that all were related.