Person:William Butler (2)

William Butler's Marital Status

"The claim has been made repeatedly that William Butler married Eunice, sister of Tristram Coffin [Savage 1:322; NEHGR 24:150; Pillsbury Anc 2:604], but no evidence has been found for this claim. The Coffin family came to New England about 1642 and settled in Salisbury, by which time William Butler had resided in Hartford several years, so it is hard to see how they would even have met. If Eunice did marry someone named William Butler, he was almost certainly someone other than the subject of this sketch."^[1]

The Estate of William Butler of Hartford

"Probate Records. Vol. I, 1635 to 1650. Page 482.

Butler, William, Hartford. Invt. £429-03. Taken by John Cullick, and William Gibbins. Will dated 11 May, 1648.

I William Butler, of Hartford, in Conectecot; doe meake and ordayne this my last will and testament wherein I give my earthly goods as followeth: And first I meake my brother Richard Butler, dwelling in Hartford, my sole Executor. All that is left of my lands and goods, when he hathe payd all the legeses vnder ritene, I give to him. It. I give my Sister Weste's Children, that ear now living in olld Ingland, five pounds apese. It. I give my Sister Winter's Childrene, that eare nowe living in Ingland, five pounds apese. It. I give my loveing frendes of Hartford, Mr. Stone and Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Hoker and Mr. John Stelle, ten pounds apese. It. I give to the Churtche of Hartford, three Schore pounds; and farther I doe earnestly desier my tow frendes, Mr. John Colicke and William Gibbince, both of Hartford, to see that this my last will and testament be follfiled, and for there lowe and paynes I doe bequeath to etche of them thre pounds apes.

In Witness wherof I, the said Will Butler, have set tow my hand this Eleventh of May, 1648. WILLIAM X BUTLER.

(This will copied from original paper on file.)"^[3]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} William Butler, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   1:515-17.

   ORIGIN: Unknown.
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Cambridge church prior to 6 May 1635 implied by freemanship.
   FREEMAN: 6 May 1635 (as "Will[ia]m Butlar," second in a sequence of eight Cambridge men [MBCR 1:370].
   ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of Richard Butler of Cambridge and Hartford [GMB 1:285-88]..

2.   The Founders of Hartford-William Butler
   Accessed 5 Oct 2012.

   William Butler, Cambridge, 1634; freeman, Mass., May 6, 1635; was an original proprietor at Hartford, and received 28 acres in the distribution of 1639-40 ; his house-lot was on the road from the Little River to the North Meadow (now Front St.), bounded W. by John Talcott's land. He m. Eunice, sister of Tristram Coffin, of Nantucket; d. 1648, without wife or ch., leaving by his will, dated May 11, the greater portion of his estate to his brother, Deacon Richard Butler. He mentions children of his sister West, and his sister Winter, “living in Old England,” and gives “three-skore pounds” to the Church of Hartford. Inv. £429. 3

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Butler, William, Wethersfield, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:4.