Nicholas Butler (abt. 1598 - 1671)

Born about 1598 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Cotterell) Butler — married 18 Feb 1613 (to about Aug 1623) in St. George's, Canterbury, Kent, England

Husband of Joice (Baker) Butler — married 22 Jan 1624 in Ashford, Kent, England.

Descendants

Died 13 Aug 1671 at about age 73 in Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Nicholas Butler migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 53) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Origins and Life in England

Nicholas Butler was born in England about 1598 (assuming an average of 25 at marriage). Nicholas Butler "married first at St. George's, Canterbury, MARY COTTERELL 18 July 1613, who d. in Aug. 1623 at Ashford, Kent, where he had resided for several years. His parentage and previous place of residence are not known. He married second JOYCE BAKER, dau. of Richard and Margaret Baker of Ashford 22 Jan. 1623/4, who was bapt. 30 May 1602. Her father was a miller of Ashford and the family had resided in Kent for many generations."^[1]

Another online genealogy of George Bush also ends the line with Nicholas Butler.^[2]

Nicholas Butler married Joyce/Joice Baker (b. 30 May 1602). A transcription of the marriage record is as follows "1623 Jan 22 mar. . . . . Nicholas, wid., & Joyce Baker"^[3]

Immigration

Nicholas Butler immigrated with his wife Joyce, three children (John, Henry, Lidia) and five servants from Eastwell, Kent on May 11, 1637.^[4] "Persons which have taken passage from Sandwich, Kent, England for the American plantations. Butler, Nocholas, of Eastwell, yeoman, Joyce his wief, children John, Henry, Lidia, and servants: John Pope, John Gill, Richard Jenkin, Margaret Angells, Christian Spice"^[5]

"Hercules of Sandwich, John Witherley, Master. When this ship sailed from Sandwich is not known, but the following list of passengers 'for the American Plantations,' in the corporation records of Sandwich, is 'certified under the seal of the office of Mayoralty, 9 June, 1637.' All these passengers settled in New England, Winthrop states, under date of June 3, that 'Two ships arrived here out of England (Mr. Peirce was one),' and the Hercules may be the other.'" [citing History of Sandwich, 1786-92 by Boys and Winthrop's Journal, 1, 221.]^[6]

Nicholas Butler of Ashford, yeoman, Dorchester

Mrs. Joyce Butler

John Butler

Henry Butler

Lydia Butler

Thomas Butler

John Pope

John Gill

Richard Jenkins

Simon Athearn^[6]

In his 1911 work, History of Martha's Vineyard, Banks had speculated that "the son Henry did not reach New England for several years after, perhaps with his mother Joyce, and therefore is not to be counted at that time."^[7] This was evidently corrected when he listed the passengers of the Hercules in his 1930 work, The Planters of the Commonwealth.

Dorchester to Martha's Vineyard

He migrated from Dorchester to Martha's Vineyard.

"On 25 November 1655, John Glover sold to Nicholas Butler "ten acres of land lying in the Great Neck."^[8]

Oct. 15, 1651: made his "well-beloved sonne John Butler" his attorney to collect and pay debts, which may be the most probable indication of the time of his leaving Dorchester and entrusting the settlement of his affairs there to his son."^[7]

May 8, 1653: participated in one of the divisions of land on Martha's Vineyard

1653-1654: was one of the "five men to end controversies," that is magistrate.

1655 he was re-elected and called "Assistant" to the chief magistrate.

In all the records he is called Mr. Butler or Mr. Nicholas Butler, a use of which prefix is distinctive. In December, 1661, he was fined for absence from town meeting and "for Going away Disorderly." Beyond the usual duty on juries and an occasional trivial litigation his name does not further appear upon the town records."^[9]

"His homestead lot was near Swimming Place Point, and consisted of twenty acres. Here he lived having as a next northerly neighbor his son John, from whom descends all of the name on the Vineyard. Nicholas Butler died Aug. 13, 1671, the day after his will was made."^[10]

Children

Children with Mary Cottrell:^[11]

Lydia, bur. 24 July 1625^[11]

Mary, bapt 30 June 1622, bur 11 July 1622^[11]

Mary bapt 24 Aug 1623; d. y.^[11]

Children with Joice Baker:

John, bapt 2 Jan 1624/5^[11]

Henry bapt 7 Sept 1626.^[11]

Lydia bapt 23 Feb 1628/9 m. John Minot^[11]

Thomas bapt 28 Aug 1631; bur. 24 Sept 1631.^[11]

Research Notes

Disputed Parents: Henry Butler and Isabel Tempest have been removed as parents of Nicholas Butler for lack of evidence. The Great Migration Directory (Anderson, 2015) reports his origin immediately prior to immigration based on the passenger list/certificates of conformity but does not offer any information on his place of birth.

Disputed Child: No support was found for a son Peter Butler (1633-), who was previously attached to this profile, and second wife Joice Baker.

The Great Migration Directory, by Robert Charles Anderson, (2015), entry for Butler, Nicholas, page 53:

Eastwell, Kent: 1637; Dorchester, Edgartown [NEHGR 58:404, 75:221; Lechford 243;

Records of the First Church at Dorchester, page 4, Archive.org, Ellis and Street, 1891;

Dorchester Town Records, pages 25, 28, 40, HathiTrust.org, (1880);

MBCR 1:375;

Martha's Vineyard Hist 2:Edgartown:54-58, 3:47-66;

Henry Langdon Butler, Tales of Our Kinsfolk Past and Present: The Story of Our Butler Ancestors for Ten Generations from 1602 to 1919, (New York 1919)], at HathiTrust.org

Torrey NE Marriages before 1700 entry:

• BUTLER, Nicholas & 1/wf Mary COTTERELL (-1623); St. George's, Canterbury, 18 Jul 1613; Martha's Vineyard {Martha's Vineyard 47; Reg. 5:397},
• BUTLER, Nicholas (-1671) & 2/wf Joyce BAKER; 22 Jan 1623/4; Dorchester/Martha's Vineyard/Ashford, Kent {Dorchester Hist. 109; Martha's Vineyard 47; Butler (1919) 24+; DePew 161; Palmer (,8) 371; Minot 70; Sv. 1:321; Reg. 58:404, 75:221}

Sources

1. ↑ Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard. Vol. 3, (1966) Page 47
2. ↑ Ancestry of George W. Bush compiled by William Addams archived webpage from 30 June 2005
3. ↑ Kent Archaeological Society. "Ashford, Kent - Index of all known births, marriages and burials from c.1570 - late 1800's." Accessed 13 June 2018 from http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/01/ASH/01/00b.htm
4. ↑ NEHGR: Vol. 75, Page 221
5. ↑ Sherwood, Page 30
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Banks, Charles E. : A Study of the Emigrants and Emigration in Colonial Times: to Which Are Added Lists of Passengers to Boston and to the Bay Colony, the Ships Which Brought Them, Their English Homes, and the Places of Their Settlement in Massachusetts, 1620-1640. (original publication in Boston, 1930; reprinted Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co, 1967), p. 188
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol 2, Page 54
8. ↑ "John Glover". Great Migration 1634-1635, G-H. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003. p. 73
9. ↑ Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol 2, Page 55
10. ↑ Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol 2, Page 55-56
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7} Banks, Charles Edward. The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Vol. III. Edgartown: Dukes County Hist. Soc., 1966, pp 46-48. View in FamilySearch

• Boys, William. Collections for an History of Sandwich in Kent (Simmons, Kirkby and Jones, Canterbury, 1792) Page 752: "Nicholas Butler of Eastwell yeoman and Joice his wife, 3 children, 5 serv."

• Banks, Charles Edward. The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts in Three Volumes. (Boston, George H. Dean, 1911) , Volume II Annals of Edgartown: pp. 54 - 58

• Sherwood, George. American Colonists in English Records (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1961)

• Putnam, Eben. "Two Early Passenger Lists, 1635-1637" The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass.), Vol 75, July, 1921. pp. 217-226

• Massachusetts Census, 1790-1890
• http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=macen&h=10199859&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt
• Fact: Christening (1590) Ashford, Kent, England, Great Britain
• Fact: Occupation (1653-1655) Assistant Magistrate Martha's Vineyard, West Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
• Fact: Burial (1671) Martha's Vineyard, West Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts, United States
• Fact: Residence 1651 or 1652 Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
• Fact: IMMIGRATION 1636 Arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
• "The Sandwich History Society." web site, Hercules (http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/town_history/hercules.htm), Emigration & The Good Ship Hercules; Open Sandwich: promoting Sandwich around the world since 1998.