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- As early as 1653, John Butler, a native of Waterford, and a descendant of the Butlers of Kilkenny, one of the most eminent of the Anglo-Norman families of Ireland, was in business as a merchant both at Saybrook and at New London, Conn. In Saybrook town records he is described as a n Irish gentleman. He was the founder of the settlements known as Butlertown and Waterford, a few miles west of New London. Members of the family are mentioned in New London records of the year 1680, and Thomas Butler is said to have been one of the leading men of the town in the early part of the eighteenth century. James Butler, a near relative of John, also came to Connecticut in the year 1653, but removed to Lancaster, Mass., where he received a grant of a "halfe home lott" in 1663, and his name appears in the tax lists of that town and also of Woburn and Billerica down to 1681. Although Billerica vital records contain an entry under date of March 20,1681, of the death of James Butler, Sr., Irishman, the local historian quotes from the town records: James Butler, Sen., Irishman, dyed 20, 01, 81. James is said to have been the largest landowner in what is now Worcester County. In a letter dated April 21, 1897, from one of his descendants, Henry A. May, in Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. 2, p. 19.7 His son, James, succeeded to this property and was mentioned in Lancastertown records in 1728.
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A long account of the Butler familys concludes thus: The Emerald Isle was undoubtedly the country from which their ancestors emigrated and Ireland is the nation with whom they enjoy nationality. We are told that James Butler came to the Colony when only four years old and knew nothing of his history, except that he came from a noble family in Ireland. He had a habit of enquiring of every emigrant from Ireland who came to the vicinity if they knew anything about the Butlers, and the frequency of his enquiries became a matter of much comment among the townspeople. Even on the day of his death (1681), hearing that an Irishman had just arrived in town, it is said he had the man summoned to his bedside and questioned him as to whether the Butlers were not one of the noble families of Ireland, and when the newcomer informed him that he knew the Butlers of Kilkenny and that they were of the Ormond family, James Butler "the planter" died in peace. His son, John, born July 22, 1677, was the father of ten children, all born at Woburn. In 1721, he removed to what is now Pelham, New Hampshire, where a monument was erected to his memory, and on the occasion of its dedication, in June, 1886, it is said that 1200 of his descendants were present. John, son of John Butler, was a Captain in the Indian War in1745, and David, son of John Butler Jr., was an officer in the Revolutionary army.
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Davis Uriah I | Born 1707
Abt 1651 - 1681 (~ 30 years)