The Researchers - John Butson
John Butson in 2011 ---------- Carol Butson in 2018
My name is John Butson and together with my wife Carol, we have been researching our Butson family history for over 30 years. It all started when a workmate returning from a visit to Cornwall, showed me a photo of a road sign which indicated “Wheal Butson ½ mile”. We were hooked. What followed was a journey through Devon and Cornwall which eventually led back to the Domesday book and what I believe to be the most likely, albeit strange, origin of the family name in Devon & Cornwall.
To give you a sense of whether what we have discovered is valid, I will try to lay out the route we took and the discoveries we made along the way.
We started as any good genealogists should by quizzing the oldest female member of the family and were amazingly led right back to 1843 to my great, great grandfather at the first attempt. With a minimal effort we progressed back to the birth of John Butson Harris in 1810 in the parish of Creed near Truro in Cornwall. We had hit the seemingly brick wall of an illegitimate birth which took us a few years to get past. (we subsequently managed to get past this block and found that his father was John Butson, brother to Solomon who married Jane Keam and founded a major North American branch of the family)
Frustrating though this was, it gave us time to ponder where the family had originated and also we had some idea of trying to go back as early as we could, lay out the whole family tree development and come forward to 1810 to clear this impasse.
The Mormon Index showed a few patterns. Firstly, most of the family seemed to be in Cornwall and the Devon/Somerset borders. Secondly, there seemed to be very few Butsons in Cornwall much before 1640 and those that there were, were found around the Padstow and St. Merryn area.
The Devon Butsons seemed to be centered around a place called Kentisbeare which is near Collumpton on the Devon border with Somerset and the family seemed to have been there in greater numbers up to 1640. A visit to the parish church revealed a large old board on the wall dated 1640 which recorded a donation of £2 from Thomas Butson, Churchwarden for the upkeep of the church.
A subsequent visit to the church at St Merryn near Padstow revealed another board, this time what is known as a protestation board dated 1642 which had the inscription “ we the undersigned do pledge allegiance to King Charles” and included the name Thomas Butson – churchwarden. Suddenly everything fell into place. The English civil war was 1640-42, Kentisbeare was for parliament and Cromwell, Padstow was royalist and for King Charles. This is all a bit tenuous but does suggest a family migration from Kentisbeare to North Cornwall. Subsequently the family spread down the coast to St Agnes and got involved in Mining, even owning a mine (the old Cornish name for a mine is Wheal – which is where I came in)
Meanwhile, back in Kentisbeare, there was mention in the church of a book on the history of the village by a former Vicar, the Rev Chalk.
We stopped by the vicarage and the vicar informed us that one of the villagers, a Helen Barrett had recently completed a more thorough and up to date history. We were directed to her house which was very close to Butson’s Farm and we bought a copy of the book.
What we had discovered was a complete history of the village and surrounding area from Domesday up until the 20th century. Obviously, mention of Butson’s farm intrigued us and the book confirmed that “Butson’s farm, otherwise Botuston (C. 1200), Botyston juxta Kentelesbere (1339), Butson (1610). It was held c. 1200 by Radulf Boty, who is also mentioned under Blackborough”
Blackborough (or Blackborough Boty) is another smaller village about 2 miles north east of Kentisbeare built on the side of a hill overlooking the valley in which Kentisbeare sits. Blackborough was originally known as Blackebergeboty (the black hill owned by Boty)
Research in Exeter at the county records office produced the following entry transcribed from the Exon Domesday book (shown on the next page)
There is also a passage in Helen Barrett’s book which talks about the early establishment of a sheep farming and wool processing industry in the area. References were also found to a leat which runs from the hill at Blackborough and was the only source of water for the valley of Kentisbeare
All of this (and much more detail than I can include here) leads me to the following conclusions:
If anyone wants to ask me any questions, please E-Mail me at john.butson@blueyonder.co.uk
I hope this is as interesting to you as it has been to us and just maybe you can believe in this version of the origin of our name
Happy Butson hunting !
John & Carol Butson