DUTTON-L Archives

Archiver > DUTTON > 1997-10 > 0877746002


From: "Fred E. Dutton" <>
Subject: RE: Rip Off Alert!!!
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 22:20:02 -0400


I've read so much the past couple of years about the Halberts and their
genealogy books, all of it invariably denigrating, that I have little to
add except to say that when I got their book on the DUTTONs (it wasn't
called the "World Book of Duttons" then) as a gift from my mother my
attitude was quite different from the currently prevailing sentiments on
the net. That was in 1984. I wasn't at all into genealogy at the time,
national phone directories were not available on CD, and I didn't know a
thing about coats of arms. Ignorance was and continues to be Halberts' ally.

Viewing this book again after so many years I was struck by one of the
sections entitled "HOW THE DUTTON FAMILY GOT ITS NAME AND WHAT THE NAME
MEANS." I remember reading this with some interest 13 years ago. Halberts
makes a stab at explaining the name, but doesn't have the same take on the
name as I NOW have. They say it is "locational in origin..." In this they
are correct. They then go on to say that it is "associated with the
English, meaning 'from Dudd's homestead in Cheshire.'" Well, that's not
exactly my understanding of the etiology of the name. The Dutton genealogy
published by Gilbert Cope (who quotes from Leycester's Historical
Antiquities) states that the name derives from the Saxon phrase "Dun tune"
meaning "town on a hill" and is the place (in Cheshire, all right) where
Odard settled following the Norman Conquest of 1066 and after booting out
the original landowners. The name Duntune appears several times in the
Domesday book. This seems to be typical of the quality of Halberts'
research: close but no cigar!

There actually is very little in the book about the Duttons, and of course
nothing about actual Dutton ancestry. I remember being very disappointed in
this at the time. It does provide an introduction to genealogy, but this
information and much more besides can be found in a more useful format in
other introductory books.

Probably the most egregious thing Halberts has done is to enhance their
public image by buying Burke's Peerage. It's good that an honest assessment
of the value of their books is being aired on the net. But, inferior
products and services is the price we pay to live in a free market society,
and all the crying in the world won't change that. Let the buyer beware!

Fred
==================================
Fred E. Dutton
mailto:
http://www.iserv.net/~fedutton/
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