General Notes

The First Duttons

[Dutton Coat of Arms] In the eleventh century, there were a number of people in Cheshire, England who could have called themselves De Dutton, the original family surname. That was because they all were de (from) Dutton which was originally known as Duntune, meaning town on a hill. However, it was Odard, who came to England in the train of William the Conqueror and was granted a third of the township in 10861, that first used it as his surname.

Odard probably wouldn't have been so fortunate if William the Counqueror hadn't been his great uncle and the Earl of Chester his uncle. It was the Earl, Hugh of Lupis that granted the land at Dutton to Odard. This is also why we know so much about Odard's ancestory. Both he and William were descended from Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy. Rollo, in turn, was descended from the King of Finland as described in Scandanavian sagas. The direct male Dutton line continued for some 600 years.

The Warburtons claim consanguinity with the ancient blood-royal of England, being descended from Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, through William, Earl of Eu, who married a niece of William the Conqueror. Richard, Duke of Normandy, (grand-son of Rollo) sur-named sans-peur, had Issue (besides his son Richard who succeeded him, his daughter Emma, Queen of England, and other children) two younger sons, Godfrey and William. To Godfrey, his father gave the earldoms of Eu and Brion. On His decease the latter earldom became the heritage of his posterity, branching out into the now extinct houses of the Earls of Clare and Pembroke, while William, the younger brother, succeeded him in the earldom of Eu. He had (besides others) his successor, Robert, father of William, who married a sister of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Avranches, (afterwards Earl of Chester) named Jeanne, and niece of William the Conqueror. There was Issue of this marriage (besides William's successor in the earldom of Eu and another child) six sons, named Nigel, Geffry, Odard or Huddard, Edard, Horswin and Wlofaith. These six brothers accompanied their uncle, Hugh Lupus, into England, in the train of William the Conqueror, their great-uncle; and on the establishment of the Norman power had various estates and honors conferred upon them. Nigel was created Baron of Halton and constable of Cheshire; Geffry was Lord of Stopfort; Odard, Lord of Dutton; Edard, Lord of Haselwell; Horswin, Lord of Shrigley; and Wlofaith, Lord of Halton. Odard, the third son, was the ancestor of the Duttons, now extinct in the male line; the Barons of Chedill, also extinct, and the Warburtons.
--Burke's Landed Gentry, p. 1508.

Odard, son of Yvron, viscount of Constantine, (whose name is written in most records of later date, Hodard or Hudard) was the Immediate ancestor of the ancient and numerous family of Dutton of Dutton.--Lysons' Magna Britannia, Vol. II.