I have been collecting material about many of the branches of the family world-wide over the last 25 years or so and hope to put it all on a web site over the coming year or so. However, it would be very helpful if you have further information, anecdotes or pictures if you could please send to me at my email address [email protected].
The origins of the family start in Norfolk before the Norman conquest. Despite a number of theories as to the possible derivation of the name it is clearly of Viking or Nordic origin. Branches of the family remained in Norfolk until the 15-16th century.
Several of the HAUTEIN's in Norfolk became professional lawyers in the 13th -14th century, with one (Hamo Hautein) also becoming a prominent judge.
My own Hawtin family comes from Sandford-St.-Martin and Enstone in Oxfordshire, and before that in Warwickshire.
Nearly all of the Hawtin families that can trace their history back to the last centuary find that they were settled in North Oxfordshire. The family settled here from Norfolk in the 13th or 14th century and still the greatest concentration of Hawtins in the world are to be found around Banbury in Oxfordshire.
One particular farming and merchant branch of the HAWTAYNE family in Banbury rose to some local power in the 15th to 16th century although this faded with the civil war. This branch had connections with a number of other local worthies including the Washington family which were the direct ancestors to George Washington who is quite well known in the USA.
After the Norman Conquest many families adopted coats of arms in order to identify themselves and their possessions. Such arms are not the property of all families bearing the same name and indeed each sub-branch would vary the arms accordingly. Few Hawtin branches were armigerous however the first recorded Hawtin arms were among the first in the country.