The 1730-1751 Children of Thomas Butson of St Agnes, Cornwall

Research Note by Wesley Johnston - Last Updated 11 Aug 2013

Background

In the 1730's to 1750's, several St Agnes baptisms and one burial of children whose father was recorded as Thomas Butson. Was this one Thomas Butson, or was it more than one? Was the father the Thomas Butson baptized 1705 at St Agnes? Might there have been another Thomas Butson, baptized elsewhere than St Agnes, who fathered one of more of these children? Who was/were the mother/s of these children? This research note presents the evidence that I have thus far found.

Thomas Butson Father(s): St Agnes (and other) Parish Registers

I will detail the children below, although much of the consideration of the father's records is based on the children's records. This section deals with the identity of the father or fathers of the children.

Thomas Butson Baptisms 1700-1719

Since the first child was baptized 1732, the father of the children was most likely born from about 1700 to 1712. So what Thomas Butson baptisms took place at St Agnes in those years?

The Cornwall Family History Society's research database has no Thomas Butson St Agnes marriage in the years between 1705 and 1791, so that the marriage record is either lost or the marriage took place outside of St Agnes. For the baptism, these 1700-1712 St Agnes "hits" were found (using B*S*N* for the surname and TH* for the given name, in order to capture a wide range of variants):

 17 Nov 1705 - Thomas son of Thomas (no mother given)

There is only one candidate in St Agnes.

There are no candidates in other parishes.

Thomas Butson Baptisms 1720-1729

For the 1851 baptism, which could be a later marriage, we have to include any Thomas Butson born in the 1720's as possible fathers. There was only one candidate:

24 Aug 1729 - Thomas BASTION son of Edward at St Stephen in Brannel

who apparently died, since the following St Stephen in Brannel baptism took place only 2 years later:

8 May 1831 - Thomas BASTIN son of Edward and Mary at St Stephen in Brannel

So there is a possibility that this Thomas Butson married an Anne and fathered the 1851 child.

Thomas Butson Marriages 1720-1755

As noted above, there are no Thomas Butson marriages in the CFHS DB in St Agnes between 1705 and 1791. So either the marriage record is lost or it took place outside the parish of St Agnes.

There were a total of 49 T** B*S*N* marriages in all of Cornwall in all years in the CFHS DB. Many of thes were for surnames that clearly were not variants of BUTSON (e.g. BOSANKO). Searching these for marriage dates in the 1720's to the 1750's, there were no Thomas BUTSON (or reasonable variant) marriages in those decades in any parish in Cornwall.

So either the marriage records are lost (and I have not yet researched the completeness of the St Agnes marriage records for this period, so that I cannot evaluate that), or else the marriage(s) took place outside of Cornwall.

Conclusion on Thomas Butson father(s)

So it seems that the 1705 Thomas must have been the father of all those children born in the 1730's. While he could have been the father of the 1751 child and also of the one who died in 1749, there is a possibility that one or both of those latter children may have been fathered by the Thomas BASTIN baptized 1831 at St Stephen in Brannel.

Thomas Butson(s)'s Children: St Agnes Parish Registers

This section deals with the children and potential children. First are the apparently definite children, baptized in the 1730's. Next are the less certain children, buried in the 1840's and baptized in the 1750's. Finally, the children of the 1720's are considered.

MORE TO COME -- WORK IN PROGRESS