Butler Family - A Short History

 
 
 

Three Butler brothers came to America from England about 1693.  Josiah Butler and two others.

The general court of Massachusetts granted a township (Arlington) to Joshiah Willard and others, OK'd by the general court of Massachusetts on November 30th 1736 - Settling delayed by the Indian "Problems" in 1746 when many were killed.  The treaty of Aix La Chapelle on October 7 1748 did little to improve things.  Josiah and Valentine Butler in company with Willard - Col.  Josiah Butler, born Lancaster Mass, 1693

Valentine Butler is probably the first Butler of this line to be born in America, in Topfield, Essex, Mass. on June 24th, 1716.  He married Lois Willard (a descendant of Simon Willard, founder of Concord, NH) in 1742.

Valentine Butler and Lois Willard's son Josiah, born about 1743 in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, married Thankful Alexander in about 1775.  They had two children, John Butler and Thomas Butler.

John Butler, son of Josiah Butler and Thankful Alexander Butler of Hinsdale, NH was born February 5, 1876.   John Butler married Gracie Hubbard in 1810 and had 8 children: Marshall (1811), Warren (1812), Josiah (1815), Ephriam (1815),  Erastus (1816), Maria (1818), Roswell (1822) and Otis (1826).  (Josiah and Ephriam have the same birthday, so they must have been twins.)

John's son Marshall Butler married Luthera Betsey Hubbard.  They had five children: Lucius Marshall Butler, Ann Sophia Butler, Helen Pricilla Butler and Warren Herbert Butler and Luna Ann, who lived only a few months.

Ann Sophia Butler married Frederick L. Stone in 1861.  They had 2 children (Harlan Fiske Stone and Winthrop Ellsworth Stone) in Chesterfield, NH and 2 others (Lawson Stone and Helen L. Stone) in Amhearst, Mass.  Harlan became chief justice of the US Supreme Court.  His brother Winthrop was President of Purdue University until July 17, 1921, when he died in an accident while mountain-climbing with his wife Margaret on Mt. Eon, Alberta, Canada. Winthrop's two children with his first wife Victoria were David F. and Richard Stone.

Lucius Marshall Butler married Esther Lapreda Abbott and they had 5 children: Helen May Butler, Lucius Abbott Butler, Herbert Marshall Butler, Henry Earl Butler and Lucy Mae Butler who lived only 3 months.

Helen May Butler was a famous bandleader, leading an all-female band. (More here)

Lucius Abbott Butler was an engineer.  He married Annie Bird Morton from North Auburn Maine in 1864.

More about the Butlers