John & Mary Butson Couples at Padstow and St Merryn, Cornwall, 1709/10 and 1718

Research Note by Wesley Johnston, begun 27 Nov 2014, last edited 14 Aug 2020 (added URL for image of 1718 marriage)

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/12001386/person/26000752050/media/2eaa1a30-70d8-4aec-9aa4-6a017e673977

Background

There were two John and Mary Butson couples in the early 1700's in the same area of Cornwall.

  1. Married 1709/10 Feb 12 at St Merryn: John Butson and Mary Ivey - both "of this parish" (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-53585-47)
  2. Married 1718 Apr 19 at Pastsow: John Butson and Mary Morrish (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6W33-6MN?i=489&cat=495817) - She was most likely the 1 Oct 1693 baptism at Padstow, daughter of Thomas and Mary Morrish.

This research note presents evidence that I have gathered about these couples, reasoning from the evidence, and the conclusions (in enlarged red) that I have reached.

Children of the Couples

The Cornwall OPC database of baptisms, searched for surname BU with father JOHN and mother MAR from 1700 to 1740, finds the following Butson baptisms.

  1. 1719 at Padstow - Mary
  2. 1720 at Padstow - Margery
  3. 1722 at Padstow - Elizabeth
  4. 1725 at Padstow - Ursula
  5. 1728 at Padstow - John
  6. 1730 at Padstow - Prudence
  7. 1733 at Padstow - Thomas

The Cornwall Family History Society's Research Database (CFHS DB) of baptisms, searched for surname BU*T*N* with father JOHN* and mother MAR*, finds the same 7 baptisms, with the last three (John, Prudence, Thomas) as BUTTON. Margery is recorded as 1721, John as 1729, and Prudence as 1731, due to the different old/new date system conventions used in the two databases. That is, the two databases are recording the exact same baptisms and dates.

Since CFHS DB queries cannot be constrained by date, the results also included St Merryn Butson baptisms from 1689 to 1699. But there were no other St Merryn Butson baptisms. Nor were there any other Padstow Butson baptisms at any other time than the 7 shown above.

Thus there were no baptisms of the 1709/10 St Merryn couple found in either database. All baptisms begin one year after the marriage of the 1718 Padstow couple and are in Padstow.

My conclusion is that all of the children born at Padstow from 1719 to 1733 were the children of John Butson and Mary Morrish, married 19 Apr 1718 at Padstow.

Who were these John Butsons?

The records of this period tend to be minimalist: they include only the most basic information. So the information shown above for the two marriage records is all that is shown for the 1709/10 record (since the image is available online) and probably all that is shown for the 1718 record. So figuring out just which John Butson in another record is the 1709/10-married John and which is the 1718-married John has to evaluate the evidence, as shown with the baptisms above.

We also have to consider other John Butson records of this period, to assure that some John Butson other than these two is actually being referenced. We also have to consider the possibility that these two are really the same John Butson.

So here are the other John Butson (and Mary Butson burial) parish register records of St Merryn and Padstow and burials at St Just in Roseland (primarily using OPC search and old date style convention) going back to possible baptisms and ahead to subsequent burials of John Butsons. (There are no online records for Padstow for this period - just index records.) Note that the two marriages above and the one below are the only Butson grooms of any given name in these two parishes for any years, and there are no Mary Butson marriages in either parish for any year, so that there was no remarriage of either Mary in these parishes.

  1. 1669 Jul 20 - John married at St Merryn to Johanna Morrish (known via CFHS DB from Bishop Transcript)
  2. 1688/9 Jan 19 - Johannes married at St Merryn to Prudentia Tonkin (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-53845-46)
  3. 1682 Jun 19 - John baptized at St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11631-4392-83)
  4. 1708 Apr 21 - John burial at St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-53143-5)
  5. 1715 Apr 18 - John burial at St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-52518-78)
  6. 1732/3 Jan 4 - Mary burial at  St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-53586-42)
  7. 1735 Mar 20 - Mary burial at Padstow
  8. 1752 Jan 30 - Mary burial at Padstow
  9. 1762 Jan 1 - Mary burial at St Just in Roseland (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12808-53631-94)
  10. 1769 Oct 8, 17, 26 - John, Mary. Elizabeth burial at St Just in Roseland (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12808-54265-72) - apparently a major calamity, with the Elizabeth (Jago) Butson possibly being the Elizabeth of this record, since she gave birth for the final time earlier in the same year. so that the Mary in this case was probably her 1762 daughter and the John either her 1766 son or her husband born at Padstow 1729 (and thus not included in this list, as he could not have been the John who married in 1709/10 or 1718)
  11. 1774 Apr 7 - John buried at St Just in Roseland (probably either the husband or son of Elizabeth (Jago) Butson or else the 1772 John, son of Thomas Butson and Alice (Jago) Butson)
  12. 1780 Nov 22 - Mary buried at St Just in Roseland

 There is nothing clear about which of the burials were those of either John Butson or Mary (Morrish) Butson or Mary (Ivey) Butson. We wind up with three candidates for the John in the 1709/10 marriage.

  1. Perhaps the Johanna who married John Butson 1669 married and he remarried. I am not able to find a burial for Johanna/Han*/Ann* Butson that could be her. So this possibility is still open for the 1709/10 childless marriage John Butson but not for the 1718 John Butson. If he was the widowed husband in the 1709/10, then it seems likely that Mary Ivey was also widowed, which would explain why the couple was childless, since both would have been about 60 years old. I can find no prior marriage for her in Cornwall records, nor baptisms of children of such a prior marriage. There was a Stephen Ivy buried 1 Jan 1795 at St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-53143-5) who may possibly have been her husband.
  2. Perhaps the Prudentia who married John Butson 1688/9 died and he remarried. However Prudentia Butson, buried 13 Nov 1727 at St Merryn (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16101-52837-34) is identified as the wife of John Butson, thus eliminating the 1688/9 husband from both the 1709/10 and 1718 marriages.
  3. The John Butson baptized in 19 Jun 1682 at St Merryn would have been only 17 years old at the 12 Feb 1710 (new style, used for date calculation) marriage. While not impossible, this is an unusually young age for marriage at that time. The fact that the most likely candidate baptism for Mary Morrish was 1 Oct 1693 further indicates the likelihood that her husband was the 1692 John Butson.

Of course, there is the possiblity of a John Butson who came from elsewhere or is otherwise not recorded. While this cannot be ruled out, it seems unlikely since the Butsons at St Merryn are documented as far back as 1669 in the parish registers, so that the candidates for the 1709/10 and 1718 marriages are most likely to come from the John Butsons in the St Merryn parish registers.

Conclusions

These are the way in which I will carry these couples in my database. These conclusions are very much open to revision if solid evidence so indicates.

  1. The John Butson in the childless 12 Feb 1709/10 marriage to Mary Ivey at St Merryn was, with considerable uncertainty, probably the John Butson who married Johanna Morrish at St Merryn 20 Jul 1669. Ivey was possibly, with considerable uncertainty, not her maiden name, as she was also possibly widowed.
  2. The John Butson in the productive 10 Apr 1718 marriage to Mary Morrish at Padstow was, with moderate confidence, the John Butson baptized 19 Jun 1692 at St Merryn.