Wesley Johnston and John Butson's Early Butson Research
The Records - St. Merryn and Padstow, Cornwall

John Butson (of Devon) and Wesley Johnston (originally of Illinois, now of California) separately researched Butson family history over several decades and gathered many records. In 2011, we connected with each other and began combining what we had gathered and concluded.

This page presents the records found for St. Merryn, Cornwall and Padstow, Cornwall. You can click on any underlined entries to see the images of the original records.

It is important that the context and content of these records be properly interpreted. Please see the separate wep page on interpretation of the records.

Contents Overview and Chronology

Padstow and St. Merryn are adjacent parishes, with the church towns just a few miles apart, on the north coast of Cornwall. Padstow was a major port, from which many emigrants sailed in the 1800's.

The earliest Butson record in this area of Cornwall is from 1619 at St. Merryn, followed in the 1680's by records at Padstow. The earliest record at St. Agnes was the 6 Jan 1673 baptism of Barbara, daughter of Peter. So the St. Merryn records were first, then St. Agnes, then Padstow.

Here is the chronology of the 1600's Butson records at St. Merryn and Padstow. Padstow entries are in blue. Clearly, there are variant spellings, which are considered in the section on interpreting the records.

  1. 1619 Feb 10 - marriage at St. Merryn of Nicholas BUSTEN & Willmota MARTYN (source: Family Search Indexing Project: M05347-1, System Origin: England-ODM, Source Film Number: 916895)
  2. 1622 May 26 - baptism at St. Merryn of Thomas BUSTIAN, son of Nicholas & Willmote (source: Family Search Indexing Project: C05347-1, System Origin: England-ODM, Source Film Number: 916895)
  3. 1631 Feb 26 - baptism at St. Merryn of Thomas BUSTIAN, son of Thomas & Katherin (source: Family Search Indexing Project: C05347-1, System Origin: England-ODM, Source Film Number: 916895)
  4. 1631 May 16 - marriage at St. Merryn of John ROBYNS & Joane BUTSON (source: Family Search Indexing Project: M05347-1, System Origin: England-ODM, Source Film Number: 916895)
  5. 1642 - protestation letter by men of St. Merryn includes Thomas BUTSAN (source: plaque at St. Merryn parish church, photographed by John Butson)
  6. 1663 Mar 26 - baptism at St. Merryn of Hester, daughter of Nicholas BUTTSON & Ursula (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
  7. 1669 Jul 20 - marriage at St. Merryn of John/Johannis BUTSON and Johanna MORISH (source: bishop's transcript)
  8. 1676 Jun 6 - baptism at St. Merryn of Elizabeth BUTSON, daughter of Johanis (source: parish register and bishop's transcript, which may read Jan and not Jun)
  9. 1682 Oct 18 - baptism at St. Merryn of Katherin, daughter of John (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
  10. 1682 Oct 28 - burial at St. Merryn of Thomas BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  11. 1683 - marriage at St. Merryn of Nicholas BUTSON and Philippa BENNETT (source: bishop's transcript - entry partially lost)
  12. 1684 Feb 12 - baptism at Padstow of Rebecca, daughter of Nicholas and Philippa (source: parish register)
  13. 1686 Jan 9 - burial at St. Merryn of Alice BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  14. 1687 Jan 30 - baptism at Padstow of Charity, daughter of Nicholas and Philippa (source: parish register)
  15. 1687 Oct 3 - burial at St. Merryn of Katherin BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  16. 1687 Oct 22 - burial at St. Merryn of Elizabeth BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  17. 1688/9 Jan 19 - double marriage at St. Merryn of John BUTSON and Prudence TONKIN and of Thomas GEORGE and Ester BUTSON (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
  18. 1689 Sep 20 - burial at St. Merryn of Nicholas BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  19. 1689 Oct 6 - baptism at St. Merryn of Nicholas, son of John (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
  20. 1691 Feb 14 - burial at St. Merryn of Charity BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript)
  21. 1692 Apr 10 - baptism at Padstow of Nicholas, son of Nicholas and Philippa (source: parish register)
  22. 1692 Jun 19 - baptism at St. Merryn of John, son of John and Prudence (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
  23. 1695 May 29 - baptism at St. Merryn of Thomas, son of John and Prudence (source: parish register)
  24. 1698 Nov 19 - marriage at St. Merryn of Edward WARREN and Ann BUTSON (source: parish register)
  25. 1698/9 Feb 4 - marriage at St. Merryn of Peter RANDLE and Charity BUTSON (source: parish register)
  26. 1695 May 9 - burial at St. Merryn of Phillep BUTSON (source: bishop's transcript) - probably Philippa (nee BENNETT), 1683 wife of Nicholas
  27. 1699 Jul 23 - baptism at St. Merryn of Solomon, son of John and Prudence (source: parish register and bishop's transcript)
Parish Registers

The parish registers recorded baptisms, marriages and burials. The earliest Butson parish register entries are found only on FamilySearch.org. The rest, except the burials, are from the Cornwall Family History Society's research database, although some of them can probably also be found at FamilySearch.org. The Cornwall Family History Society research database has no Butson burials in either parish, but there is one burial record image that Wesley Johnston obtained from Padstow that is included.

St. Merryn Parish Registers

Earliest Records - from FamilySearch.org

All have System Origin "England-ODM" and Source Film Number "916895". The Family Search Indexing Project numbers vary, as indicated with each entry.

Records from Cornwall Family History Society Research Database

Butson Baptisms

Butson Marriages

Padstow Parish Registers

Records from Cornwall Family History Society Research Database

Butson Baptisms

Butson Marriages

Records obtained by Wesley Johnston

Butson Burials
No index to the burials has been found. The following is a lone image. The burial registers do exist but are apparently not yet included in the Cornwall Family History Society research database.

Bishop's Transcripts

These records were all copied in 1985 by John Butson at the Redruth local library o Clinton Road. They are only for St. Merryn. John Butson notes "This record continues to 1742. No further Butsons recorded B, M, or D, between 1727 and 1742."

Butson Baptisms

Butson Marriages

Butson Burials

Other Records

John Butson photographed this plaque in the parish church at St. Merryn. Thomas Butson (spelled BUTSAN) is third from the bottom in the right hand column.

The Protestation was an oath of loyalty to the king in the Civil War.

Protestation Letter 1642. Cornwall. St. Merryn.
St. Merryn. Curate. John Wyat. William Williams. High Constable.
Richard Jenkyn and Roger Withiell. Constables.
John Bone and Thomas Stribly. Church Wardens.
John Trevythan and John Withill. >u>Overseers.
John Kneebone and Peter Bone. Overseers in justice only.

Last updated April 17, 2011 - new web page
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