EARLY ANGLO-SAXON EASTWOODS

Historians have found that Anglo-Saxon tribes of the 5th century A.D. era, produced many surnames, including that of Eastwood. These founding families settled throughout the English countryside during this period.

The Anglo-Saxons soon displaced the ancient Britons who had populated the area throughout the Roman era. The Angles and the Saxons established several independent kingdoms, including Essex, Northumbria, Kent, Mercia, Wessex, Sussex and East Anglia. The kingdoms collectively became known as the Heptarchy. Eventually, all of these rival kingdoms were unified by Egbert, King of Wessex, during the 9th century.

Emerging from the shadows of time, records reveal the earliest origins of the distinguished Eastwood family. Historians have researched countless ancient manuscripts, including the Domesday Book compiled in 1086 A.D., by Duke William of Normandy, the Ragman Rolls(1291-1296) collected by King Edward 1st of England, the Curia Regis Rolls, the Pipe Rolls, the Hearth Rolls, parish registers, baptismals, tax records and other ancient documents. The surname, Eastwood, and it's various misspellings, appears throughout the records.

The Norman invasion from France, in 1066, shattered the serenity and peaceful co-existence in the Anglo Saxon regions of England which had been enjoyed by the area's residents for centuries.
The victory at the Battle of Hastings meant that many Anglo-Saxon landholders lost their property to Duke William and his invading nobles.

When forced to live under the oppressive Norman rule, many families decided to move north to the Yorkshire areas, some even extending to regions beyond the border to Scotland. Members of the Eastwoods were included in this migratory group.

The Eastwood family emerged as notable Englishmen residing within the county of Cheshire during the following, often tumultuous, times. Adam Eastwood was the first recorded landowner of the Eastwood name in Cheshire county in 1221. Hugh Eastwood took the family name to the Oxfordshire region in 1279.

Eastwood soon began appearing as a family name in Scotland at this time, and is thought to be derived from the town of Eastwood in Renfrewshire. John Eastwood had acquired vast lands and many estates in the Devonshire region of England by 1339. Over the next several hundred years, the Eastwood name flourished and the family soon established estates in the regions of Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire, and in Yorkshire, where they established the town of Eastwood.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Eastwood family continued to flourish and were noted contributors to English society. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, England found itself immersed in religious and political conflict. This conflict between the religious sects with the parliamentary and royalist forces created a most unstable environment. The upheaval in society was particularly disastrous for landowners throughout the area. The more prominent families were often banished from their lands by the prevailing powers. This political climate forced many of the leading families to leave the region and it's turmoil behind. Factions of the Eastwood family began to disperse to all regions of the British Isles.

EASTWOODS IN IRELAND

In Ireland, Protestant settlers, plus many of the soldiers from

Thus, it would be in Ireland that John Eastwood, a Protestant originally from Nottinghamshire, England, settled with his family.

John would eventually establish his family residence at Castletown Castle in Louth County {right} where he soon became the Mayor of Dublin, Ireland in 1658.

EASTWOOD  COLONISTS

By the mid 1600's, families with the surname "Eastwood" could be found throughout the British Isles. However, the upheaval in the region forced many families to risk the perilous journey to the New World in hopes of building a better future for themselves and their families.

The first documented Eastwood family known to settle in the American English colonies was Richard Eastwood, along with his young bride, Elizabeth, in 1642.
Together with the Haynes family, the Eastwood newlyweds boarded the ship of Capt. John Garrett at Portsmouth Harbor, bound for England's first established American Colony (1607),  Jamestown, The historical Colony of Jamestown, would eventually become Norfolk County, in the State of Virginia, where Richard was granted 400 acres of lush farmland on May 22, 1642.

Members of the English Eastwood Family were also among the earliest settlers who boarded ships bound for Canada, Australia, other new settlements being established in America, and many of the other colonies held by the British crown.

From the times of the Anglo Saxons to recent American history, many distinguished individuals from the Eastwood family have left a legacy for their ancestors to respect.
In addition to the Eastwood individuals who have already been mentioned, there was Sir John Eastwood, a renowned Industrialist from the long line of Eastwoods, who rose to prominence in Nottinghamshire, England. Christopher Eastwood was another prominent member of the Eastwood Family in England; he, a respected political figure who served as the English Under-Secretary of State. 

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