Bertha Lucinda Butson (1883-1958)

Research note by Wesley Johnston

last updated 25 Dec 2012

3 subsequent discoveries not yet recorded below ...

1 - 1915 Buffalo City Directory has Bertha: waitress, residing 135 N Division -- http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=2469&path=New+York.Buffalo.1915.Buffalo%2c+New+York%2c+City+Directory%2c+1915.142&sid=&gskw= ---- I checked the 1911-1916 directories for both her and Alexander Potter, and this is the only one that shows either of them.

2 - Her 1943 arrival in US ... this is in my tree for her but not yet in this document

3 - Greg Burton also found her obituary in Toronto ... nothing breakthrough, but it needs to be included in my tree and in this research note

Overview

The research for records of Bertha Lucinda Butson has been unusually challenging. While I have gathered a good deal of information about her life, there are still many questions. This research note documents what I have found and highlights the open questions.

Note that after documenting the records about her, I have included a section at the end which covers records that could be (and by some researchers have been) confused with being records about her but which are in fact not records about her at all.

Birth 27 Feb 1883 - Reach Township

Her birth is recorded in the registers or Reach Township:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Ontario.1883.30

She was the fourth known child of Robert Keam Butson and his second wife Lydia Ann Brawn. She had at least eight known half-siblings from her father's first wife to Sarah Fitchett.

1891 Census - Reach Township

She appears with her parents and siblings in the 1891 Census of Reach Township:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1274&path=Ontario.Ontaro+South.Reach.80

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1274&path=Ontario.Ontaro+South.Reach.79

She is 8 years old and can read and write.

1901 Census - Research Gap 1

Her parents and siblings are still mostly all listed together in the 1901 Census of Prince Albert Village in Reach Township (search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8826&path=Ontario.Ontario+%28South%2fSud%29.Reach.67). And Bertha herself married at Port Perry later that year. But I can not find Bertha in the 1901 Census.

20 Nov 1901 Marriage - Port Perry

On 20 Nov 1901, Bertha married Charles Augustus Burton at Port Perry. The record is on two facing pages that were microfilmed as consecutive images:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Ontario.1907.35

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Ontario.1907.36

Note that Ancestry has grossly erred on all of the marriages on these pages, recording them as 1907 when they are clearly shown as 1901. This problem has been reported to Ancestry, but they have not corrected their multiple errors.

I have not yet identified the witnesses: Annie Anderson and Laura Kathleen Cooper, both of Port Perry. They are not known relatives. Since the minister was Rev. William Cooper, it may be that Laura was his wife or daughter.

29 Nov 1902 Birth of Daughter Edna Luella Burton - York County

Bertha's only known child Edna Luella Burton was born in York County 29 Nov 1902:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=York.1902.187

Unfortunately, the microfilming included only every other page, so that the information about where the birth was and who delivered the child are not included. Thus it is not known where in York County the birth occurred.

The record also has two later-written entries. The child's given name was originally left blank, and someone later printed "EDNA LUELLA" in the blank space. The mother's maiden name was originally entered as what appears to be "Beretia Lorinda". Someone, apparently the same person who added the child's given names, later printed "BERTHA LUCINDA BUTSON" above the original entry. So this was an unusual entry, and the date on which the additions were made is not recorded.

1903-1908 - Research Gap 2

And here we come to a major gap in the research. The next record for Bertha is her 1909 arrival, with her cousin Alexander Potter, in Buffalo, NY, showing both of them as single and also showing that Bertha had previously been in the US in Jul-Aig 1906. But I can find no record of her (including any births of children) during the intervening years, nor any record of the death of her husband Charles Augustus Burton. So I do not know if they had separated or divorced or if he had died. Because of the unusual nature of her daughter's birth record, things were apparently not typical as early as 1902. But I really have nothing at all solid, so that I can only speculate about this period.

8 Feb 1909 - Arrival in United States at Niagara Falls, NY - Buffalo, NY

There are both an individual arrival card for her and her entry with Alexander Potter on the Manifest of arrivals that day. The images are at:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Niagara+Falls.Cards.B.ALL.1685

There is also an arrival card for Alexander Potter:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Niagara+Falls.Cards.P.ALL.7789

Both of them are shown as single. Bertha Butson's father Robert Keam Butson's brother Henry Butson was the father of Alexander Potter's mother, Susannah Butson. So Bertha Butson and Alexander Potter were 1st Cousins, one generation removed.

Her arrival card shows that she had previously been in the United States, at Buffalo, NY, from 3 Jul 1906 to 6 Aug 1906. This overlaps with the 3-month period that Alexander Potter had also previously been in Buffalo, according to his arrival card.

They were going to separate places in Buffalo. Her card shows her destination as a boarding house at 121 Swan Street. Alexander's card shows his destination as his Aunt Celia Borgmaster (actually Cecilia Burgmaster). Both of them list their last permanent residence as Toronto. He was 26 and a sheet metal worker. She was 24 and a domestic. His age is correct. But she would have been 25, since she was just 19 days shy of her 26th birthday.

1910 Census - Buffalo, NY

The 1910 census shows Alexander and Bertha, at 177 N Division Street, as husband and wife, having been married 4 years, with her as the mother of one child which is no longer living. The image of the record is at:

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7884&path=New+York.Erie.Buffalo+Ward+3.0015.6

There are so many problems with this record that it is difficult to make sense of it.

There were six families at this address. So my guess is that it was a 3-story apartment building, with two apartments on each floor. It is not at all clear who gave the census taker the information.

Working from left to right, I will consider each item.

Residence: 177 North Division Street - there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of this

Surnames: Both of their surnames are given as Potter, when in fact her surname would either have been Burton (from her marriage) or Butson (her maiden name, which is how she was listed on the 1909 arrival card). I have found no record of them marrying, and in fact all subsequent records of Alexander show him as single, and Bertha is shown as the widow Burton in her 1922 remarriage. So I have found no other record in which her surname is shown as Potter.

Given names: He is shown as Alex and she as "Bertha L". I have found no records that show any other given names for him than Alexander. Her middle name was Lucinda, so that the given names are correct.

Relationship and Marital Status: They are shown as head and wife. As noted above, I have found no record of them marrying, and in fact all subsequent records of Alexander show him as single, and Bertha is shown as the widow Burton in her 1922 remarriage.

Age: Both are shown age 27. Bertha was born 27 Feb 1883 and would have been 27 at the time of the census. Alexander was born 23 Sep 1882, so that he was 5 months older. But the census was taken 16 April 1910, so that their ages are correct.

Number of years of present marriage: The census taker used the convention of including this information only on the line of the wife. So the absence of a number for Alexander is typical of all husbands. But the number 4 for this column does not fit anything. Bertha was married 20 Nov 1901, so that if she were still married to Charles Augustus Burton, the correct number in this column would have been 8. She was not married in 1906, but 1906 is the year in which she had previously come to the United States, according to her 8 Feb 1909 arrival card. This number 4 makes no sense that any marriage records support.

Mother of 1 child, who is not now living: Bertha was indeed the mother of one child. But Edna was very much alive, although not living with her. The 1911 Canada census shows Edna living with her widowed grandmother in Port Perry, Ontario. So while the number 1 is correct, the 0 is not correct.

Birthplaces: The birthplaces of both, as well as their parents' birthplaces, are correct. This indicates that whatever the source of the information, these pieces were accurate, so that it is all the more difficult to understand how the other information can conflict so much with known facts.

Year of Immigration to United States: This is left blank for both of them. It seems possible that a neighbor could have known their birthplaces and even their parents' birthplaces. But a neighbor would be less likely to know when they arrived in the US. The census taker did not even enter a question mark in the column but simply left it blank. In fact, in the entire building, only Charles Gascoigne's year if immigration is shown. So it may be that he was the source of information for everyone in the building who the census taker could not find at home.

Occupation: Alexander is a general laborer. Bertha is a restaurant waitress. These are probably correct.

Employment: Both employed 5 Apr 1910, with Alexander out of works 5 weeks in 1909 and Bertha 9 weeks. The number of weeks out of work are also facts that a neighbor would not be likely to accurately state.

6 Apr 1912 - Daughter Edna debarred from visit - Buffalo, NY

On 6 Apr 1912, Bertha's 9-year-old daughter Edna Luella Burton, who had been living in the 1911 census at Port Perry with her widowed grandmother Lydia (Brawn) Butson, attempted to cross into the US at Niagara Falls to join her mother in Buffalo. She was debarred from entry to the United States. The image of her arrival card is at

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Niagara+Falls.Cards.B.ALL.26041

Bertha is shown as living at 83 Swan Street. In February of the same year, 1912, two of Alexander Potter's relatives were also debarred from joining him in Buffalo, giving his address as 183 Swan Street. So it appears that one of the addresses was correct and that Alexander and Bertha were still living together at the same address, either 83 or 183 Swan Street in Buffalo.

1913-1921 Research Gap 3

I have found no record for Bertha after the 1912 arrival card of her daughter, until Bertha remarried in 1922 in Toronto. Perhaps the prevention of her daughter from visiting her led her to return to Canada. Alexander had returned by 1916, due to World War I. In 1920, Edna married in Toronto. Although the record makes no mention of the addresses of parents, it seems likely that Bertha was then living in Toronto. The 1925 New York State Census of Rochester shows that Edna and her husband had moved to the US 3 years earlier, about the same time that Bertha remarried.

21 Jan 1922 Remarriage to James Edward Ellis - Toronto

The record image for the marriage is at

search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=York.1922.174

She is shown under her married name, Bertha Lucinda Burton, as a widow. Both are living at 186 Oak Street in Toronto.

Records That Can Be Confused with Her But Are NOT Her

It is also important to document here the records that I have found that are not her but could be confused as being her.

She was NOT the mother of Lillian Jane Ealey Richardson.

Ancestry's indexers transcribe the mother of the child as "Bertha Butson" in the 7 Aug 1899 Parry Sound birth:

search.ancestry.ca/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Parry+Sound.1899.50

In fact, the record reads "Rutson Bertha". The fact that the initial letter of the surname is an R and not a B can be seen by comparing it to the "R" in Richardson and the "B" in Bertha -- as well as several other entries on the page. In fact, even this "Ruston Bertha" was wrong, since the mother's name was Bethea Hutson, as can be seen in many records, including the 1901 census:

search.ancestry.ca/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8826&path=Ontario.Muskoka+and+Parry+Sound.Himsworth+%28North%2fNord+-+South%2fSud%29.4

Here the mother is shown as Bethea, age 40, born 28 Aug 1860, which is clearly NOT Bertha Butson. Many other records also exist documenting Bethea Hutson and clearly showing that she was NOT Bertha Butson.