WYATT -
WIAT - WYOT - GUYOT -
Adelle Bartlett-Harper, in her work on the
origins of the Wyatt family says that "Ancient English
manuscripts state that the first Wyatt to come to England is said
to have been Admiral Wyatt, or Guyot
as the name was spelt in Normandy. Guyot had charge of the Norman
fleet when William the Conqueror landed in 1066. He married one
of the Conquerors daughters and along with others was awarded
large estates, which were located in Yorkshire, near the ancient
town of Southange. Adam Wiat died at
Southange in the township of Kexburgh, near Darton, just
northeast of the town of Barnsley in Yorkshire. The name Guyot is
derived from the old German "wido", meaning wood. In
time the name Guyot was anglicised to Wiot, then Wiat and finally
to Wyatt, by Sir Francis Wyatt, while Governor of Virginia; this
being one of the five spellings he used during his term of office
1621-29, when signing official documents. Sir George Wiatt
1554-1623 wrote a history of the Wiatt family. According to him
the line of decent is:
1. Adam Wyote, (Wiat) 1320-1385 2. William Wyot 1350-1388
3. Robert Wyot 1383-1440 4. Geoffrey Wiat 1410-1460
5. Richard Wiat 1435-1475 6. Sir Henry Wiatt 1460-1537
Another claim to descent from Norman times is
made through the ancestry of Jane Haute the wife of Sir Thomas
Wyatt, (the younger), 1521-1554. Jane Hautes ancestor was
Piers Fitzhaut who came with William the Conqueror to England.
Extracts from Doomsday book 1086. (Yorkshire section) William
Wyatts Arms (1558 1632) Appear on a memorial in St. Albans
Church, Worcester. 1623.