Levi Buttram (abt. 1777 - abt. 1841)

Born about 4 Nov 1777 in Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Bedwell) Buttram — married 4 Nov 1800 in , Rowan, North Carolina

Descendants

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Biography

Levi Buttram was born on November 4, 1777, in Salisbury, North Carolina. He was the son of William Buttram and Margaret Willis. He was the 9th child of 11 children.

Levi Buttram married Elizabeth "Eliza" Bedwell/Kedwell in Rowan, North Carolina, on November 4, 1800, when he was 23 years old. The bondsman was John Canada, the witness was John Brim.^[1][2] There is only one known child listed for Levi Buttram and Elizabeth. DNA test show he may have been adopted.

1. John Buttram Reverend. (1803-1841)

Levi Buttram died in 1841 in Meigs, Tennessee, when he was 64 years old.

DNA STUDY

NON-PATERNITY EVENT --- Either Levi Buttram or his son, Rev. John Buttram was actually the biological son of one of the Boler family of Rowan County, North Carolina.

Y-DNA ANALYSIS has show that the descendents of Rev. John Buttram, born 1803, do not match the descendents of William Buttram, II, and Cornelius Buttram in Group 1, nor the descendent of William Butrum, born 1775, in Group 3, and these three groups do not share a common paternal ancestor. Based on DNA testing and the location of Boler men in Rowan County, it appears likely that the Buttram men in Group 2 descend from a Boler/Boulware paternal ancestor. According to the evidence provided by Mary Fern Souder (http://www.maryfern.com/buttram-y.htm), there was a misattribution of parentage at either the birth of Levi Buttram (b. 1777) or Reverend John Buttram (b. 1803) based on evidence from DNA testing of children of Elijah Henegar Buttram, Michael Farmer Buttram, Cornelius Buttram and William (II) Buttram. It has been determined that these four men did NOT share a common ancestor. Elijah & Mike's childen share a common ancestor, as Cornelius and William II's children share a common ancestor. As such, it is assumed that either Levi Buttram (b. 1777) was not the son of William Buttram (1) as assumed or Reverend John Buttram (b. 1803) was not the son of Levi Buttram (as recorded in the Miser Bible and confirmed by Phebe Buttram Pitts [my mother.]). Dr Souder explains: This leads to the conclusion that the descendents of Rev. John Buttram have a misattributed paternity in their ancestry that occurred with either the birth of Levi Buttram (1777) or the birth of Rev. John Buttram (1803). Because Levi Buttram was closely associated with the Buttrams of Wayne County, KY, and because Levi’s surname was Buttram, we must assume that he was somehow connected to William Buttram, I, and wife Margaret. Given that the surname carried in Group 2 is Buttram, DNA evidence supports the supposition that this misattributed paternity occurred within a 26-year time span (either 1777 or 1803). Since the early Misers claimed that Levi was the father of Rev. John Buttram, this gives some weight to the idea that Rev. John was indeed the son of Levi, and it was Levi who was not the son of William and Margaret Buttram. However, one wonders, with the extensive obituary that was written for Rev. John Buttram, why the names of his parents were omitted. Perhaps it was because his parents were not known in the community where he lived and died. It is possible that Levi Buttram may have been the son of a Buttram daughter, or that Rev. John Buttram may have been the son of a Buttram granddaughter. William and Margaret did have daughters old enough to be the mother of Levi Buttram, born 1777, and granddaughters old enough to be the mother of Rev. John Buttram, born 1803. Rachel Butram who married John Mounts, Sr., in 1809, and for whom Levi posted bond, may have been old enough to be Levi's mother. Or perhaps Levi (or Rev. John) was simply an adopted child. In early 2010 an automatic notification was received from FamilyTreeDNA of two 37-marker DNA matches between the Buttram participants in Group 2 and two Boler men. The Boler surname was immediately investigated, and two Boler families were quickly spotted living in Rowan County, NC, during the time that Levi Buttram and Rev. John Buttram were born. These were Stark Boler and his brother William Boler who were in Rowan County, NC, before 1776. Either could have fathered Levi Buttram, born 1777, and they, or one of their sons, could have fathered Rev. John Buttram, born 1803. Stark and William Boler descend from James Boulware, born before 1641 in London, England, who married Margory Gray. James Boulware immigrated to Essex County, VA. Their son, John Boulware, born ca. 1682, married Elizabeth, and they were the parents of Stark Boller, born ca. 1735 and William Boller, born after 1735 in Essex County, who came to Rowan County by 1776. There are several records for the two men in Rowan County. The spelling of this surname includes not only Boulware, but Boleware, Bowlware, Bowler, Boller, and Boler. After learning about the possible Buttram-Boulware relationship, it was noticed that Stark Boulware and his son, Thomas (written as Bolevar) were neighbors of Caleb Bedwell on the 1790 census in Rowan County. (Caleb Bedwell is the only man on the 1800 census in Rowan County, NC, who had a daughter in the age bracket to have been Eliza Bedwell who married Levi Buttram on 4 November 1800, if indeed she was a Bedwell rather than a Kidwell). The two Boler men who match the Buttrams trace their lineage to James Boulware, born before 1732 in Essex County, VA. They undoubtedly also descend from James Boulware born 1641 who immigrated to Essex County, VA, but there are so many men named James Boulware who lived in the same area at the same time that they have not yet proven with certainty how James born 1732 descends from James born 1641. The two Boler participants of this study have collaborated and determined that they are fourth cousins, with their most recent common ancestor being Wesley Boler, born 1797 in Edgefield District, SC, husband of Eliza Walton. Neither participant had ancestors who passed through Rowan County, NC, and neither lineage included Stark or William Boler/Boulware. A website constructed by Carol Shrader and devoted to the Boulware family may be seen at: Boulware Family. Results for the two Boler participants... When the composite results of the two Bolers and the two Buttrams are compared, each has had only one mutation on the 37-marker test. Results for a Boling man who matched the Buttrams (with two mutations on the 25-marker Y-chromosome test) are also presented for your examination. When his results were upgraded to 37 markers, he had far too many mutations to any longer be considered a member of the Buttram or Boler families. After the 37-marker match was discovered between Group 2 of the Buttrams and the two Boler DNA participants, further testing was done. Both of the Boler participants and one of the Buttram participants upgraded to the 67-marker Y-chromosome test. These three participants had no further mutations on markers 37 to 67! The results of these latter markers are not shown on the above chart due to extremely poor readability that would result if the results were expanded to include 30 additional markers. In September 2010 an automatic notice was received concerning a Y-chromosome match of the two Buttram men to a man using the Boulware spelling. The Buttrams were two mutations from the Boulware on the 37-marker test. The one Buttram who upgraded to the 67-marker test was a total of four mutations from the Boulware participant. This distance is still well within the range of relatedness in recent genealogical time. The precise markers on which the Boulware and Buttram participants differed have not been shared, and the pedigree of the Boulware has not been received. The Buttram participant has had one other 67-marker match, with three mutations, and this man carries the Fisher surname. He has not provided his DNA results or a pedigree. In conclusion, the descendents of Rev. John Buttram, born 1803, do not match the descendents of William Buttram, II, and Cornelius Buttram in Group 1, nor the descendent of William Butrum, born 1775, in Group 3, and these three groups do not share a common paternal ancestor. Based on DNA testing and the location of Boler men in Rowan County, it appears likely that the Buttram men in Group 2 descend from a Boler/Boulware paternal ancestor.

Source

1. ↑ North Carolina, Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868; “Data=Name: LEVI BUTTRUM; male; Souse: ELIZABETH KEDWELL; female; Bond date: 4 Nov 1800; Bond# 00131251; Level info: North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868; County: Rowan; Bongsman: John Canada; Witness: John Brim.”; Ancestry's North Carolina marriage Bonds Ancestry Record 4802 #83414
2. ↑ Family Search.org image; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-WDS6-LX?cc=1726957