John Butler UE (bef. 1728 - 1796)

Born before 28 Apr 1728 in New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Bradt) Butler — married [date unknown] in New York State

Descendants

Died 13 May 1796 after age 68 in Newark, Lincoln County, Niagara District, Upper Canada

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Biography

John Butler was a United Empire Loyalist.
UEL Status:Proven
Date: Undated

John Butler was an army officer, office-holder, and Indian agent.

He was baptized 28 April 1728 at New London, Connecticut, son of Walter Butler and Deborah Ely, née Dennison. He married Catalyntje Bradt (Catharine Bratt) about 1752, and they had four sons and one daughter who survived infancy. He died 13 May 1796 at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario).

John Butler moved to the Mohawk Valley with his parents. In 1755, he served under Sir William Johnson at Crown Point, under James Abercrombie at Ticonderoga, and under John Bradstreet at Ft. Frontenac.

At the capture of Ft. Niagara, he was William Johnson's second in command. Because of his connections to the Johnson family, in 1759 he became Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs. In 1760, Butler commanded the British allied Indians in the Montreal Campaign.

He was the residual beneficiary and executor of his father's estate in 1763.^[1]

As war approached the Mohawk Valley, he organized an Indian Department of British loyalists to work in conjunction with the Six Nations. Because of this, in 1775, he was forced to flee to Ft. Niagara, Upper Canada, with his son Walter. Because of the Canadian governor's dislike of the Johnson family, he was put into an Indian affairs leadership position.

He was leader of the Indian Dept. Rangers that besieged Fort Stanwix in 1777. He is credited with the loyalist ruse of turning their coats inside out to fool the weary Tryon County Militia at Oriskany.

He raised Butler's Rangers in 1778, organized and led raids on the Wyoming Valley. He organized the resistance to the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign in 1779, and fought in the Battle of Newtown. He took part in the Johnson raids on the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys in 1780.

After the war, he settled in Upper Canada and helped to create Niagara-on-the-Lake which was originally called Butlersburg, after him.^[2]

Church Records

Children's Baptisms:

1. 1753, Aug'st 26th, Mohawks, Walter son of John and Catalyntje Butler (Catalyntje Bradt), Trinity Church Records.^[3]
2. 1762, July 2, John Butler, Cataleyntje Bratt, Andreas, Wit., Arent A. Bratt, Jannetje Yates, Caughnawaga RDC.^[4]
3. 1764, May 12, Cap: John Butlar, Cataleyna Bratt, Debora, Pieter Coneyn, Rebecca Coneyn, Caughnawaga RDC.^[5]

Sources

• Find-a-Grave 42216505&

1. ↑ Lt. Walter Butler of Schenectady, Albany County, dated 13 Mar 1760, proved 20 Jan 1763, "New York Probate Records, 1629-1971," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYH1-7WF?cc=1920234&wc=Q7P3-VZ9%3A213301001%2C214824501 : 28 May 2014), Albany > Wills 1629-1802 vol AA-AB > image 465 to 467 of 854; county courthouses, New York.
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Niagara-on-the-Lake," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Niagara-on-the-Lake&oldid=1118199479 (accessed November 14, 2022).
3. ↑ John Ogilvie (bef.1724-1774) Trinity Church, New York, baptisms 1749-1756, pg. 204-216, images 983-989 of 1269, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3W-R3VD-1?i=982&cat=161380 , baptisms 1755-1764 are found here: New York Genealogical & Biographical Record, Vol 67-3, pg. 369-386, published 1936, Family Search Film # 007832061, Image 1068- of 1239, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3W-R3VD-Q?i=1067&cat=161380 , these records include baptisms from Queen Anne's Chapel in Fort Hunter and other locations in the valley.
4. ↑ Caughnawaga Dutch Reform Church, Fonda, NY, Baptisms - 1760-1763, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nytryon/bapt1760-63.html, archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20231122000050/http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nytryon/bapt1760-63.html
5. ↑ Caughnawaga Dutch Reform Church, Fonda, NY, Baptisms - 1764-1765, https://web.archive.org/web/20231225225850/http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nytryon/bapt1764-5.html

• Tory, Allied Indian, & British Military Leaders in New York [1]
• R. Arthur Bowler and Bruce G. Wilson, “BUTLER, JOHN (d. 1796),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed November 16, 2015, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/butler_john_1796_4E.html.
• Wikipedia: John Butler (pioneer)
• http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/brang/brlist.htm
• THE BUTLER PAPERS: DOCUMENTS AND PAPERS RELATING TO COLONEL JOHN BUTLER AND HIS CORPS OF RANGERS 1711-1977, Compiled and Edited by Lieutenant Colonel William A Smy, OMM, CD, UE Victoria, British Columbia, 1994, https://dr.library.brocku.ca/bitstream/handle/10464/9243/Volume1Edited.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y . 213 pages of mostly primary documents relating to the Butler family. This man's family is outlined on sheet 119 of 213.
• Olshan, Judd David, "Butlers of the Mohawk Valley: Family Traditions and the Establishment of British Empire in Colonial New York" (2015), Dissertations - ALL. 399, https://surface.syr.edu/etd/399, https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1399&context=etd
• The John, Margaret, and Edward Collins or Caughnawaga Patent, map by Lawrence Vrooman, 1800, https://www.fort-plank.com/Caughnawaga_Patent.html , shows "Jn: Butler's old place, now Douw Fonda's"
• UELAC Loyalist Directory, (Lt.) Col. John Butler. https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1091 .
• Niagara on the Lake Museum, Person Record, Butler, Col. John, https://niagarahistorical.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Butler%2C+Colonel+John .