The Search for Sarah, wife of Henry Butson
(born c 1835 Upper Canada - died 1861-1868 Canada West/Ontario)

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Last updated: November 10, 2010 -- Added image of Henry Butson remarriage record
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Contents
Chronology of What I Know about Sarah
Records Researched and Yet to be Researched
Links to my other Relevant Web Pages


Chronology of What I Know about Sarah
by Wesley Johnston

Sarah was my 3rd Great Grandmother. She was the mother of Emma Butson, who was the mother of George Henry Johnston. She lived her entire life in Canada, in the mid 1800's. Her parents were almost certainly from England, Cornwall, Scotland or Ireland.

When Age Where What How Known
c 1835 0 Upper Canada (Ontario) Sarah is born. Ops 1861: age 26, born Canada
1851 16 Canada West (Ontario) Probably recorded in Census - BUT I have not found this census, since it was prior to her marriage none
1852 17 Canada West (Ontario) Sarah marries Henry. Ops 1861: married during the year 1852
c 1854 19 Canada West (Ontario) Daughter Mary Jane is born. Ops 1861: Mary Jane age 7
c 1855 20 Canada West (Ontario) Daughter Emily (Emma) is born. Ops 1861: Emily age 6
1856-1858 21-23 ?Ops Township, Victoria County? - NOT sure if she was always in Ops or moved to Ops Possibly 1 or 2 children who did not survive Ops 1861: gap in birth between Emily and Susan
1859 Aug 29 24 Ops Township, Victoria County Daughter Susan (Susannah) is born. Ops 1861: Susan age 2; 1862 Baptism
1861 before Jul 2 26 Ops Township, Victoria County Recorded in Census Ops 1861: age 26, born Canada
1861 Jul 2 26 Ops Township, Victoria County Daughter Sarah is born. - Last definite record of elder Sarah still living 1862 Baptism
1862 Nov 10 27 Ops Township, Victoria County Baptism of daughters Susannah and Sarah - NOT sure if elder Sarah is still living 1862 Baptism
before 1868 Jan 3 before 33 ?Ops Township, Victoria County? Sarah dies. (Henry remarries 3 Jan 1868.) Henry Remarriage

The fact that Henry and Sarah were living in Ops Township in Victoria County since at least as early as 29 Aug 1859 (birth there of Susannah) is an anomaly for Henry's family. All of his brothers and sisters either (1) stayed in the Columbus-Brooklin-Oshawa area, which includes Toronto for this purpose, or (2) moved north toward and at Port Perry, or (3) moved west to the Huron Tract (Staffa area). The fact that Henry moved east is unique among his many siblings. So was Sarah from Ops? Is that why they moved east? I don't yet know.

Once Sarah died, Henry moved back west, where he remarried at Reach Township in Ontario County, placing him again in alignment with his siblings. He eventually moved his second family to Detroit, where he died. (Their daughter Emma had moved with her husband John Johnston to Chicago in 1881, which was the first move of the first family to the United States. I am not sure when Mary Jane moved to North Dakota.)


Records Researched and Yet to be Researched
  • Canadian Records
    Where there is a record image thumbnail (), if you click on the thumbnail, you will be able to see the full-size image of the record in a new tab, where you can download the image.
    • Vital Records
      I have found NO vital records for Sarah, but I have found relevant references in the vital records of her husband and daughters.
      • Birth/Baptism - 10 Nov 1862 baptisms of daughters Susannah and Sarah
      • Marriage
        • 3 Jan 1868 Remarriage of husband Henry Butson to Mary Ann Wilson in Reach Township, Ontario County
        • Daughter Mary Jane Butson never married
        • 24 May 1876 Marriage of daughter Emma Butson and John Johnston - mother Sarah identified only by first name
        • 2 Mar 1880 Marriage of daughter Susan Butson and William Potter - mother Sarah identified only by first name
        • 5 Jul 1885 Marriage of daughter Sarah Butson and Riby Ellis - mother Sarah identified only by first name
      • Death/Burial
        • 10 Aug 1897 daughter Emma Butson Johnston death (burial 12 Aug 1897) in Chicago - no reference to parents
        • 25 Aug 1899 daughter Mary Jane Butson death in Leeds North Dakota - no reference to parents
        • 1939 daughter Sarah Butson Ellis death, probably in Toronto - I DO NOT HAVE THIS RECORD.
        • Daughter Susan Butson Potter - I do NOT know when or where she died and do not have her death record. The last record I have is the 1911 census when she was in Toronto.
    • Census
      • 1851/2
        I have not found Sarah in the 1851 census. The 1851 census was actually taken in 1852 in most places. It included an agricultural census in addition to the population census.
        • Whitby Township, Ontario County (Henry Butson's location)
          I have not found Sarah in the 1851 census. I researched all the Sarahs who appeared in Whitby Township on about 5 pages before or after Henry Butson's listing, and none of them are the Sarah he married in 1852.
        • Ops Township, Victoria County The family's location from at least as early as Susannah's birth there 29 Aug 1859.
          I have NOT yet searched this census. I would note the family's near them in the 1861 census and then see which Sarahs of the right age were living there in 1851.
      • 1861 - Canada Census for 1861 in Ops Township, Victoria County (enumeration district 4; stamped page 52)
        The census included the entire family at that time: Henry (29), Sarah (26), Mary Jane (7), Emily, and Susan (6). Daughter Sarah was born 2 Jul 1861, so that the census must have been taken prior to that, and the elder Sarah must have been pregnant at the time the census was taken. In the census, neither Henry nor Sarah can read or write.
    • Land Records - I have NOT researched any land records for Henry Butson, in Ops Township or elsewhere. In the 1851/2 agricultural census, his father and some brothers were listed but not him.
    • Tax Records - I have NOT researched any tax or assessment records for Henry Butson, in Ops Township or elsewhere.
    • ??? - not sure where else to look
  • Cornish Records
    My St. Blazey Families project is similar to my English Corners Project -- an in-depth look at every family that lived there. One of the hopes for this work is that I might identify those families that came from St. Blazey to Canada and thus Sarah's family, even if I did not yet realize it was her family. I could certainly seek to identify those families that came from St. Blazey to Canada in the right time frame.
    Working against this however, there is the possibility that Sarah's family had settled in Ops Township, and not the Cornish central Oshawa-Whitby area, and that she might not even be Cornish -- perhaps another Celtic family (Henry's second wife was Irish) from Scotland or Ireland or perhaps an English family. (I do need to research Ops families, which I have not yet done.)

Links to my other Relevant Web Pages
The following are NOT my pages but are very relevant.

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