John Butson 1756-????: When and where did he die?

Research note by Wesley Johnston

last updated 10 Jan 2013

When and where did John Butson die?

His wife Elizabeth Rickard died in St. Stephen in Brannel parish where she was buried 16 Dec 1795. All five of their known children were born there Several trees on Ancestry.com have his date of death as 1 Jun 1796, but none of these have any documentation to support this.

The Cornwall Family History Society Research Database has no obvious burials for him.

There are only four Butson burials in St Stephen in Brannel - two Elizabeths (1795 and 1815). one Jenefer (1808), and one Nicholas (1784).

Searching all of Cornwall, there is a pauper John Butson buried 29 Mar 1794 at St. Columb Minor, which is where John was born, but there is no other information - not age, not abode - that can tell whether this is the right John Butson. But even without that information, it is certain that this was not the John Butson at St Stephen in Brannel, since the last son baptized at St Stephen in Brannel was william Butson, baptized 1 Jan 1796, after the death of his mother, probably in giving birth to him.

After this 1794 burial, the next John Butson buried in Cornwall was a 2-year-old buried 1821 at St. Blazey. In fact, there was only one John Butson burial whose age was close to the 1756 birth of the John who was the husband of Elizabeth Rickard. This was a John Butson buried from the pporhouse at St Austell 7 Oct 1831 at age 82 ( familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-13029-75058-15 ), which would put his birth about 1749, if they had his age correct. This might have been him, but so far I just do not know.

Bottom Line: We do not know when nor where he died

Despite the trees with the undocumented specific date of his death, the reality is that we do not have any solid evidence for when nor where he died. The best candidate is the John Butson buried from the St Austell poorhouse 7 Oct 1831. But there is just too much uncertainty to say whether this was him or not.