"Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania" reports that George Eyre, founder of the dynasty in the United States, was the great-grandson of arch-royalist Gervaise Eyre, who served as governor of Newark Castle during the English Civil War, auctioned off one of his personal estates to provide loans to King Charles I, and eventually died defending the Crown.The semi-mythical account of their line's founding during the Battle of Hastings evolved into a national legend.