This article presents proof that Maj. William Wyatt is a qualifying ancestor for the Society of Colonial Wars, proof of his lineage to the Mullins family, and evidence of his descent from the English nobleman and politician Sir Henry Wyatt (1460-1537).
Qualifying Service For The Society Of Colonial Wars
Major William Wyatt served as Sheriff of New Kent County in 1671, documented in Virginia land patents [1]. Other sources note his service as Sheriff in the same year [2,3].
On May 8, 1673, Major William Wyatt swore out a warrant for Anthony Arnold, who was subsequently arrested [4]. This event may indicate that Major Wyatt was Sheriff of New Kent in 1673 as well.
Major William Wyatt served as Justice in New Kent in 1680 and 1688, and Justice in King & Queen County in 1692 [5].
Patented Land
William Wyatt first patented land on April 27, 1653, “400 acs. Gloster Co., upon S.E. side of Mettapony Riv.” for the transport of 8 persons including himself [6], indicating that he likely first arrived in Virginia in 1653. He patented another 400 acres for the transport of 8 additional persons on December 20, 1653 [7]. He appears 27 times in Cavaliers and Pioneers between 1653 and 1683, in Gloucester County then New Kent County, either on his own patents or mentioned on the borders of others’ land. On April 17, 1669, he consolidated his patents in New Kent County into one patent of 2240 acres [8]. Farmer [9] carefully details Major Wyatt’s patents and the location of his land in New Kent County. Wyatt’s last recorded patent was 850 acres in New Kent on April 26, 1680 [10], and the last mention of him in land records was on a deed on May 20, 1683 [11]. He served as Justice of King & Queen County in 1692 [12], but did not appear on the Quit Rent Rolls of that county in 1704, so was presumably deceased by that date.
Several sources state that Major William Wyatt had 3 sons [13,14,15]:
- William Wyatt Jr. born ca. 1649-1652,
- Richard Wyatt born ca. 1655, and
- John Wyatt Sr. born ca. 1657.
No will survives for Major William Wyatt. His son, “Mr. Willm Wyatt, Junr.” patented 500 acres in New Kent Co. on 20 Jun 1670 [16]. This is the first and last appearance of William Wyatt Jr. in available records. Given Major Wyatt’s birth year of 1632, it appears that William Jr. patented the land before age 21, which men were able to do in Virginia, and were more likely to do if they came from wealthy families who did not need their young sons’ labor on the family farm [17]. Thus, like his father, William Jr. began his independent adult farming life relatively early. He did not appear on the 1704 Quit Rent Rolls, King & Queen County, and was presumably deceased by that year.
The evidence that John and Richard Wyatt were brothers, and were sons of Major William Wyatt, is based on a deed from 1683, and on the King & Queen County Quit Rent Rolls of 1704. Below you’ll find further evidence that Major William Wyatt was a direct ancestor of Richard Wyatt (1720-1803) of Plain Dealing, based on the relationship of each of these men to Sir Francis Wyatt, first Governor of Virginia. These men were all members of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent, descendants of Sir Henry Wyatt (1460-1537), and his son Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), the English Renaissance poet.
On September 30, 1683, “John & Richard Wyatt” patented 650 acres in New Kent County, previously “granted [to] Maj. Wm. Wyatt 24 May 1664 [18]. This is a relatively large plot of land (one square mile), and it seems at least plausible that Major William Wyatt provided this land to his young sons John and Richard. The fact that John and Richard are entered together on the patent is consistent with their being brothers.
King & Queen County was established from New Kent County in 1691. The King and Queen County Quit Rent Rolls of 1704 show that John Wyatt paid quit rent on 530 acres and Richard Wyatt paid quit rent on 1843 acres [19]. Neither William Wyatt nor William Wyatt Jr. was listed on the 1704 Quit Rent rolls.
One source [20] states definitively “the large landed estate of Major William Wyatt passed at his death to his sons, who were Richard Wyatt, John Wyatt and William Wyatt Jr.,” and that on the 1704 King & Queen County Quit Rent Roll, “Richard Wyatt, son and heir of Major William Wyatt, was charged with 1843 acres of land.” Harris also points out in the same paragraph that the total land on which John and Richard Wyatt paid quit rent in 1704 is about equal to the acreage owned by Major William Wyatt during his lifetime, further evidence that this land was inherited from Major Wyatt by his sons John and Richard.
Farmer’s [21] analysis of the location of the Wyatt land in King and Queen County led him to the conclusion that the 1704 Quit Rents show that John and Richard Wyatt lived on land which had been owned by Major William Wyatt, providing further evidence that John and Richard inherited this land from their father.
Even in the absence of this confirmation of the location of the land, it can be reasonably assumed that the disposition of this large estate (over 2,300 acres, almost 4 square miles) would be that it should pass to Major Wyatt’s offspring and that therefore John and Richard Wyatt were in fact his sons.
John and Richard Wyatt appear together in one additional record: In 1701/2 – John Wyatt and Richard Wyatt are each listed on the militia list for King & Queen County, each with the rank of lieutenant [22].
John Wyatt Sr. last appears in Virginia records on May 2, 1705, when he patented 700 acres on Dragon Swamp, King and Queen County, previously granted to William Jones, Jr., now deserted, for the transport of 14 persons [23].
Documentation Of Birth, Marriage, And Death Places/Dates
Major Wyatt was presumably near age 21 or older when he first patented land in Gloucester County on April 27, 1653, though he might have been a year or two younger.
As noted previously, Major Wyatt’s last documented appearance was as Justice in 1692, and he did not appear on the Quit Rent Rolls for King & Queen County in 1704, placing his death between 1692 and 1704.
The Ancestry Of The Wyatt’s In America
There is evidence that Major William Wyatt was a close relative of Sir Francis Wyatt, the first Governor of Virginia. And there is independent evidence that Major Wyatt’s great-grandson Richard Wyatt was also a member of the same family. The evidence detailed below provides further support for the conclusion that Major William Wyatt was a member of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent, and was a direct descendant of Sir Henry Wyatt and the Renaissance poet Sir Thomas Wyatt.
The Ancestry Of Major William Wyatt
Sir Francis Wyatt, first Governor of Virginia and Rev. Hawte of Jamestown were brothers, and were members of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent, descendants of Sir Henry Wyatt (1460-1537), and of his son, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), the Renaissance poet. There are two historical records that provide evidence that Major William Wyatt was a close relative of Sir Francis Wyatt and of Rev. Hawte Wyatt as follows.
Record #1
In 1655, Major Wyatt was a witness to an acknowledgment made by an Indian, Pindabake, protector of the young king of Chiscoyack, regarding a plot of land that had been given to Mr. Edward Wyatt on the Pianketank River in Gloucester County [25]. This Edward Wyatt was probably the son of Rev. Hawte Wyatt and the nephew of Sir Francis Wyat [26]. The author states,
“[Maj. Wyatt] was probably a near kinsman of Edward Wyatt” [27]. A second author reached the same conclusion, that Major Wyatt was “evidently a kinsman of Edward Wyat” [28].
Record #2
In 1683, Major William Wyatt was the first signer of a contentious petition from the residents of St. Stephen’s Parish, New Kent County, requesting that the Lt. Governor of Virginia (and acting Governor) Sir Henry Chicheley allow the parishioners to dismiss their current vestry and elect a new vestry [29]. A copy of the original petition [30] is on record, with William Wyatt’s signature. A notation on this record states,
“The first signer, William Wyatt, was of the inner circle of the “Council Group” in Virginia. The Rev. Hawte Wyatt of Jamestown, Sir Francis Wyatt the Governor, Sir Dudley Wyatt of York his immediate family…”
The parishioners of St. Stephen’s Parish felt that Major Wyatt should be the first signer of the 1683 petition because of Major Wyatt’s close relationship with the leadership of Virginia, and because of the contentious nature of the petition.
The notation cited above [31] makes reference to two facts that are no longer mentioned in any other currently available source:
- The existence of a “Council Group” in Virginia in 1683.
- The fact that Sir Dudley Wyatt was a close relative of Sir Francis Wyatt.
Current research has not found any other mention of a “Council Group” in available sources, very little information about Sir Dudley Wyatt, and no information about the relationship between Sir Dudley Wyatt and Sir Francis Wyatt. The fact that the historian cites the now-obscure “Council Group” and the little-known Sir Dudley Wyatt increases the chance that the writer had access to additional information to support the close relationship among Major William Wyatt, the inner circle, and Sir Francis Wyatt. However, this conclusion is only conjecture. Details of the life and lineage of Sir Dudley Wyatt are lost at the time of this writing.
Possible parentage of Major William Wyatt
As of this writing, we have not established the identity of the parents of Major William Wyatt, beyond the above evidence that he was a close relative of Sir Francis Wyatt and Rev. Hawte Wyatt. One possible candidate to be William’s father was a John Wyatt of Boxley, Kent, whose will was dated April 27, 1656, and proved June 11, 1656 [32]. This John Wyatt’s relationship to Sir Francis Wyatt is lost as of this writing. The will names a son William, under age 24. This is the only William Wyatt of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent that we have found in records to date who might be Major William Wyatt. There are 3 facts that are consistent with this John Wyatt of Boxley, Kent, being the father of Major William Wyatt:
- The fact that William Wyatt of Boxley, Kent, son of John Wyatt, was under age 24 on April 27, 1656, is consistent with Major William Wyatt being about age 21 when he first arrived in Virginia and patented land in Gloucester County on April 27, 1653 [33]. The wording of John Wyatt’s will leaves open the possibility that William is near age 24 on April 27, 1656. Men were able to patent land before age 21 in Virginia in the 1600s and were more likely to do so if they were from wealthy families that did not require their labor on the family farm [34]. Thus, the fact that William could have been near age 24 when John Wyatt’s will was written in 1656 is consistent with his obtaining a Virginia land patent in 1653 and consistent with the age he might have decided to leave England because of his status as a younger brother, to wit.
- The will of John Wyatt names an older brother of William, Stephen, under age 26, who would have been in line to inherit the family estate in England. This fact would account for William Wyatt’s leaving England promptly in young adulthood to establish a large estate in Virginia. The fact that Stephen was to obtain his inheritance at age 26, and William at age 24, might suggest that each of these individuals was near the respective ages of 26 and 24 when their father wrote his will.
- The fact that William Wyatt is listed as one of 8 persons transported on his first Virginia patent indicates that he paid for his own transport, and presumably the other 7 individuals [35]. Further, William Wyatt paid for the transport of 8 more individuals the same year on December 20, 1653 [36]. These patents suggest that William Wyatt was from a prominent family with sufficient wealth to fund the transport of 15 persons plus William Wyatt and his family in 1653, and to fund William’s establishment of a working farm, all presumably before the demise of the patriarch. These circumstances are consistent with Major William Wyatt being the son of a member of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent, and consistent with his being the son of John Wyatt of Boxley, Kent.
IN CONCLUSION, the above provides evidence that Major William Wyatt was a member of the same family as Sir Francis Wyatt and Rev. Hawte Wyatt, and provides evidence that there were other members of this family (such as Sir Dudley Wyatt and John Wyatt of Boxley, Kent whose will was proved on June 11, 1656) whose lineages to Sir Henry Wyatt and Sir Thomas Wyatt are lost. We conclude that Major William Wyatt was a member of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent; was descended from Sir Henry Wyatt and Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Renaissance poet; and that the details of Major William Wyatt’s lineage to this family remain lost at the time of this writing.
Further evidence linking Major William Wyatt to the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent, follows.
The Ancestry Of Richard Wyatt Of Plain Dealing
Richard Wyatt (1720-1803) owned a painting of his English ancestors’ coat of arms that hung near the fireplace in his Plain Dealing estate. A few years before the start of the American Revolution, Richard became so incensed at the way that the English were treating the American Colonists that he exploded in a fit of rage – he tore the painting off the wall, hacked it out of its frame with his sword, and threw the painting into the blazing logs. His eldest daughter Nancy reached into the fire and saved the damaged painting. Years later, she married Colonel Anthony New and moved to Kentucky. For many years, the New family proudly displayed the painting in their home [37].
The painting of the Wyatt coat of arms was later lost in a house fire, but a sketch [38] of the painting survives, drawn in 1830 by a nephew of Nancy’s, Richard Ware Wyatt, who was visiting the New family during a 4-month journey on horseback from Louisa County, VA, to St. Louis. The young man was exploring the Midwest and checking on land his father had been given for service in the Revolutionary War. Richard’s sketch of the fire-damaged painting is shown on this site and others.
Another family member wrote of seeing the coat of arms painting, and gave a brief description. Judge David Walker (1806-1879) of Fayetteville, Arkansas was a great-grandson of Richard Wyatt of Plain Dealing. Judge Walker was the President of the Arkansas Secession Convention in 1861 and later served as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. In a long, autobiographical letter written to his daughter Mary in 1865, he wrote [39],
“[My grandfather] was apprenticed to Anthony New to learn the trade of carriage making. About the time his apprenticeship expired, he married Lucy Wyatt, daughter of John Wyatt of Virginia, of English descent [this is an error: Lucy was the granddaughter of Capt. John Wyatt]. I remember to have seen a painting on canvas or parchment called a ‘coat of arms’. It has on it a hog’s head (boar), a spear and some other devices, certifying that the Wyatts were of the English nobility.”
Another family member wrote of the Wyatt family ancestry: Helen Call Hawkins was the sister of Governor Richard Keith Call, territorial governor of Florida 1836-1839, and was a great-granddaughter of Richard Wyatt of Plain Dealing. Helen wrote a letter [40] to Judge David Walker in 1876 discussing family history. She wrote,
“James Hawkins the son of John Hawkins of Hanover County, Virginia married Lucy Wyatt of Louisa County. Her father was a branch of the same Wyatt family of which was the English Baronet Wyatt, Virginia’s first Governor.”
Helen Call Hawkins’s letter establishes that there was a family tradition that the Plain Dealing Wyatt family was related to Sir Francis Wyatt. The relationship to Sir Francis is further supported by, but not proven by, the ill-fated painting of the Wyatt coat of arms, as follows.
The Wyatt Family Coat Of Arms
Richard Ware Wyatt describes his sketch of the coat of arms painting in text below the sketch [41]:
“An imperfect diagram of the ‘Coat of Arms’ of the Wyatt family from a defaced copy at Col Anthony New’s in Todd County, Kentucky. Ao D 1830.”
To the left of the sketch he writes “+ denotes the head of the wild boar.” The sketch shows a boar’s head with a band above, across the lower part of the shield. It would have been common for this configuration to include 2 more boars’ heads, side by side above the first, sitting either above or below the horizontal band. The upper half to 2/3 of the shield is blank, erased by fire damage.
Judge David Walker’s description [42] mentions the boar’s head and also mentions “a spear and some other devices…,” which may have been faintly visible in the upper, fire-damaged half of the shield. No spear and no “other devices” appear on Richard Ware Wyatt’s sketch.
Evidently, there is too little detail from the sketch and from Judge Walker’s description to reconstruct the upper portion of the coat of arms. The most prominent features of Richard Ware Wyatt’s sketch, the single boar’s head with a horizontal band above head, is present on at least one coat of arms that was granted to Sir Francis Wyatt’s great-great-grandfather, Sir Henry Wyatt (1460-1537) by King Henry VIII, according to Burke’s Heraldry [43]. This coat of arms was later transferred (“confirmed by grant with a difference, December 28, 1839”) to the Wyatt family of Sussex.
The Burke passage describes the “Quarterly, first and fourth” shield [on a family’s quarterly coat of arms, the husband’s shield was in the top left and bottom right position, and the wife’s family shield on the top right and bottom left positions. Thus, Sir Henry’s shield would be the first and fourth quarters]. The description by Burke of the boars’ head feature from Sir Henry’s coat of arms matches the lower part of Richard Ware Wyatt’s sketch. The description from Burke follows, with translations of the heraldic terms shown in curly brackets:
“gu. {gules=red background} on a fess or {horizontal band, gold color}, betw. three boars’ heads, couped {boars’ heads cut off horizontally}, erm. {ermine=emblazoned with small fur tails} a lion pass. {lion passant = lion with three paws on the ground, right front paw elevated} betw. two pheons {heads of darts, barbed, engrailed on the inner side} az. {azule=blue}”
It is quite possible that the coat of arms painting originally showed 2 additional boars’ heads above the one depicted on the sketch. This configuration of 3 identical animals, 2 above one, is common on heraldic shields. It is also possible that there was originally a “lion passant” on the upper part of the shield before the fire damage, and Judge Walker may have seen a faint remnant of the “pheons” that he called “a spear.” Even more fancifully, one could speculate that Judge Walker saw remnants of the ermine-emblazoned lion, and interpreted the small fur tails as “other devices.” But there is no way of knowing what was depicted on the burned area of the painting unless a pre-fire description surfaces.
In any case, we learn from the Burkes’ passage that at least one coat of arms granted to the ancestor of Sir Francis Wyatt, Sir Henry Wyatt, included boars’ heads. Therefore, the coat of arms depicted on the Plain Dealing painting is consistent with, but certainly not at all proven to be, the lower portion of a coat of arms of this Wyatt family.
The meaning of the unicorn crest over the shield, and the berried branches to the sides, is unclear. Further analysis of the Plain Dealing painting is the subject of current inquiry with a heraldry expert in London.
Summary
In summary, this article has established that
- There was a family tradition that Richard Wyatt of Plain Dealing was of the same branch of the Wyatt family as Sir Francis Wyatt, first governor of Virginia.
- Richard Wyatt owned a painting of a family coat of arms that is consistent with the lower portion of one granted to Sir Henry Wyatt, the ancestor of the Wyatt family of Boxely, Kent.
- Two Virginia documents provide circumstantial evidence that Major William Wyatt was a close relative of Sir Francis Wyatt.
- The 1656 will of John Wyatt of Boxley, Kent named a son William whose demographics and circumstances match those of Major William Wyatt of Virginia.
The conclusion is that both Major William Wyatt and Richard Wyatt of Plain Dealing were descendants of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent. The descendants of Sir Francis Wyatt and Rev. Hawte Wyatt are well researched and do not include either Major Wyatt or Richard Wyatt. Therefore, these two men are members of a third American branch of the Wyatt family of Boxley, Kent.
© 2013 W. Mullins