When I found the Fentons in old England records I uncovered this reference to the Surname: “de Fentonne” origin from France, which sounds not too dissimilar to “de Fontaine’, of which I am descendant from Normandy/Maine. I am searching for the origins of the “de Fentonne” name in Normandy to see if I can find a connection between it and the “de fontaine” ancestors.
One has to go back way before 1215 and the signing of the Magna Charta by the John II, King of England then and the 24 or so barons who supported the King but at the time were oppresses by increases in taxes. See article at bottom of page. One needs to go back to the conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy William the conqueror at the battle of Hastings in 1066, afterwhich he resided in England until his death in 1087. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointment of his supporters as bishops and abbots in the Norman church. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and he secured control of the neighbouring county of Maine by 1062. (Source: wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror )
Il faut remonter bien avant 1215 et la signature de la Magna Charta par Jean II, alors roi d'Angleterre et les quelque 24 barons qui soutenaient le roi mais étaient à l'époque opprimés par l'augmentation des impôts. Voir article en bas de page. Il faut remonter à la conquête de l'Angleterre par le duc de Normandie Guillaume le Conquérant lors de la bataille d'Hastings en 1066, après quoi il résida en Angleterre jusqu'à sa mort en 1087. Son mariage dans les années 1050 avec Mathilde de Flandre lui offrit un puissant allié dans le comté voisin de Flandre. Au moment de son mariage, Guillaume fut en mesure d'organiser la nomination de ses partisans comme évêques et abbés dans l'église normande. Sa consolidation du pouvoir lui a permis d'élargir ses horizons et il a assuré le contrôle du comté voisin du Maine en 1062. (Source : wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror )
(translation: google.com)
translation:
Lorsque j'ai trouvé le Surnom Fenton dans de vieux archives anglais, j'ai découvert cette référence à l'origine française du surnom "de Fentonne", qui ne diffère pas tellement phonétiquement de "de Fontaine", dont je suis un descendant de Normandie/Maine.
Thus the Fentons of the English midland counties became the Fintons of Ulster. In the middle of the
seventeenth century we find Fentowne. By the commencement of the eighteenth it was Fenten
and Finton. In the old records seen by the author in his researches the name is often found spelled in two and three different ways in the same document. At times the Recorder adds to these an ex-
planatory or suggested Vinton.
It is proper here to note that so far as the historic local records have been scanned the name of Fenton has not been disgraced through the frightful burnings, murders and robberies of the peaceful inhabitants whom they found in possession. There were warrior Fentons, but they did only as
troops do in a foreign country. The Fentons appear in English history before the time of William the Conqueror, and we find grants of land by Edward the Confessor to one recorded as "Le Fentonne," in paiement for adhesion to his cause.
We are informed by a Fenton author that when William of Normandy came to England in 1066 he found one Richard Fenton out on a land grabbing expedition and that the aforesaid
Richard was very useful to him. But the very earliest dates of the family are as yet in obscurity.
The Domesday Book has in it a record of lands assigned to Baron Ricardus Ffentone in Nottinghamshire.
The name Fenton suggests its derivation at a very early date, when men and families were named from occupations or location. We have John the Smith and William the Bowman, or James the Archer.
We find that the earliest recorded meaning of the word "ton" was an enclosed place, enclosed for protection against sudden attack, and thus the enclosed and protected "ton" on the "Fen" most naturally would be applied to a man or family coming thence. It is but fair to say that other designations are found, but this seems most reasonable.
Richard Fenton is surnamed "The man with the strong grip."
From Sir Richard to Sir Gregory or Jeffrey Fenton the line of descent is said to be distinct and reliable.
It is said that Sir Richard obtained rich and fertile domains not alone in Nottinghamshire, but also in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. We find him duly credited with these large and important possessions noted as early as the year ten hundred and sixty-seven (1067).
Ferrar Fenton, the Orientalist writer and historian of the Fenton family, whom the author met in New York City while Mr. Fenton was there upon business matters, says that in the Fenton genealogy the names that most frequently occur are the Richards, Johns, James and Henrys, but that there
are mentioned many Williams in the six hundred years to Queen Elizabeth's time. In the various branches of the Fenton family in New England, but not of our line, one finds a very great number of Scriptural names. This difference is noteworthy, for in the branch of the family under consideration
the Johns and Williams predominate. In the direct line from Sir Richard we come to a John Fenton, Member of Parliament from Lincolnshire, but we have only a mention so far of his decease in fifteen hundred and fifty-four (1554).
This particular John had a son John and a son James. James lived in England and John in Wales.
This John had a son John who was the father of Sir Geoffrey Fenton.
As this excludes our branch it would seem that William Fenton of Rutland, Massachusetts Bay Colony, must have descended either from James of Nottingham or from James the uncle of Sir Geoffrey Fenton.
It remains for the future genealogist of the American family to solve this question, there yet remaining a blank of great size to be filled. It may be found that in some of the great record offices of Great Britain this connecting link may be found and the blanks filled in. Many greater genealogical
tasks have been successfully prosecuted by our American genealogists. It will be an interesting work for some energetic well-to-do Fenton. Mr. Ferrar Fenton writes me that, after much research,
at considerable expense, at my request he believes that our Ulster Fentons were descended from General James Fenton, whom documents in the English Record Office state to have been one of Queen Elizabeth's officers who commanded a division in defeating "O'Neal's Rebellion" in Ulster,
where James' brother, Edward, held the chief command. Also that, on retiring from the service,
James Fenton returned to his ancestral estate in Staffordshire, England, in the year sixteen hundred and fourteen. His son James died in Sixteen hundred and forty (1640).
The line of descent from Sir Geoffrey is so well settled and known that after personal correspondence with the Ulster Geoffrey Fentons it seems certain, at least to the author, that the Tyrone Fentons here being recorded cannot be descendants of the Viceroy of Ireland. We are informed that the male
line was very limited in extent, but from papers submitted it would seem that the stock ran strongly to females.
Much care has been taken by the writer to eliminate all persons and lines which fail to show indisputable evidence of succession to connect with our Ulster Fentons. General James Fenton,
with many other officers, was rewarded for his services in the conquest of Ireland, by grants of forfeited land. These grantees, in turn, subdivided the alotted confiscated land and settlers in great numbers were brought over from England. Afterwards we find that there was constant
official supervision as to these parcels and an account taken of their doings and the chattels and cattle which they had raised or purchased.
Mr. Hanna, in his great work on the Ulster Scots in Ireland and America, has opened up the records to an amaz- ing and intensely interesting extent. There still exists vast masses of such important data in the English National Archives and in the Probate records, and in these may yet be found, as Mr. Hanna has found, the story of that part of the occupation of Ireland which concerns us. Correspondence
with the Stewarts shows me that the Lords Mount joy records have passed out of their hands.
Just where they may be found is yet unsolved, but, as we shall see later, the Fentons of Urney
were their tenants and their records, if found, would carry the Fentons further back by generations. It may not be amiss to record in this chapter the names of a Fenton or two who may hereafter be accepted with pride as a relative, not an ancestor.
Source: https://archive.org/stream/fentonfamilyame00atkigoog/fentonfamilyame00atkigoog_djvu.txt
Fentons found in Scotland in 13th Century
John de Fenton appears to have had a close association with the Hay family from the outset. In a charter of Gilbert Hay dated 1240, John Fenton is a witness at Inchaffray among several Hay relatives of Gilbert.[5] The Fentons from an early time held lands in the Hay’s Barony of Slains. It may be that his mother was a kinswoman of the Lord of Errol but evidence is lacking.
About 1270 when Roger son of Baudryg, granted to his lord Nicholas de Haya, for a sum of money paid to him in his most pressing need for sustentation of his life, a piece of land in the territory of Achemor, Sir John de Fentun, Sir William de Haya and Robert de Haya were witnesses to the charter, [6]
His wife may have been a daughter to Malcolm of Kettins who flourished circa 1200 – 1230. William Fenton her son included Malcolm after her in the his donation to the convent of Coupar Abbey for the salvation of the souls of his ancestors.[7] (Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fenton-3180)
Edward Fenton is 23 Degrees from Roger Fontaine 1539-2024 through wife Kathryn Ann French
Edward Fenton
→- ✖Thomas Fenton
(his son)→ - ✖Ralph Fenton
(his son)→ - ✖Thomas Fenton
(his son)→ - ✖Henry Fenton
(his son)→ - ✖Geoffrey Fenton
(his son)→ - ✖
Catherine Fenton
(his daughter)→ - ✖
Dorothy Boyle
(her daughter)→ - ✖Jane Loftus
(her daughter)→ - ✖Richard Gorges
(her son)→ - ✖Richard Gorges
(his son)→ - ✖Jane Beresford
(his sister)→ - ✖Marcus Lowther
(her son)→ - ✖Catherine Crofton
(his wife)→ - ✖Edward Lawder
(her husband)→ - ✖Susannah Lawder
(his sister)→ - ✖Robert Innes
(her son)→ - ✖Janet Innes
(his daughter)→ - ✖
George French
(her husband)→ - ✖John French
(his brother)→ - ✖John French
(his son)→ - ✖Terence French
(his son)→ - Kathryn French
(his daughter)→ 
Roger Fontaine
(her husband)
How did Magna Carta come about?
King John became King of England, Duke of Normandy (in France), Duke of Aquitaine (in France), Count of Anjou (in France), and Lord of Ireland in 1199. John inherited England, and of most of western France, where he was more powerful than the King of France.
In 1204, the King of France took Normandy and Anjou from John. John wanted to regain his lost territories in France, which his family had ruled for hundreds of years. John’s attempts to recapture his family’s lost territory in France, meant that he needed money. He raised taxes in England much higher than they had been before, causing officials to become more and more oppressive in the way they collected these taxes.
Raising taxes made John increasingly unpopular with the English barons, whom the king relied on to assist him in governing the kingdom. The immediate cause of the Barons’ rebellion was the decisive defeat in battle of King John’s army at Bouvines in 1214, by the force of the king of France. This, together with John’s personality and ruthless actions, which seem to have provoked hostility and fear in others more than the loyalty on which kings of this period had to rely, caused much opposition among the barons. The defeat at Bouvines led to the meeting at Runnymede, but opposition to the king had been brewing for longer; in 1212 there had been rumours of a plot to murder him.
Magna Carta was hammered out in negotiations between the leaders of two armed parties – the king on one side and the rebel barons on the other. Neither side expected it to settle the matter, and both anticipated continued war between king and barons. Within three months of it being issued at Runnymede, Pope Innocent III had annulled the charter, the rebels had renounced their homage to the king and invited the son of the king of France to take the crown of England in John’s place.