Benjamin Butterfield

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Benjamin Butterfield (d. 1688)

Anna Unknown (d. 1661)

Benjamin Butterfield died on 2 March 1687/8 in Chelmsford. [1, 372][2, 532]

Anna, the wife of Benjamin, died on 19 May 1661 in Chelmsford. [1, 371]

Benjamin became a freeman, along with William Fletcher, Thomas Adams and Robert Proctor on 10 May 1643. [3]

Benjamin Butterfield was one of the petitioners for a grant of land for the town of Chelmsford on 19 May 1653. [2, 2–3] He was an original member of the church in Chelmsford in 1655. [2, 11] He was a trustee in 1656 and a selectman in 1660 and 1661. [2, 754]

Benjamin Butterfield's wife was an early member of the church in 1655. [2, 12] Benjamin's wife Anna owned the covenant at the church on 11 (4) 1656. [2, 26]

Benjamin is on a 1671 tax list in Chelmsford. [2, 59–60]

Children of Benjamin Butterfield: [1, 34]

i. Mary Butterfield married Daniel Blodgett on 15 September 1653 in Chelmsford. [1, 196] It was the first marriage recorded in Chelmsford. [2, 8]

i. Benjamin Butterfield was born about 1636. He was baptized on 1: 12m 1656 at about 20 in Chelmsford. [1, 34] He died in 1688. [4, 1:264] He married second Hannah Whitmore on 3 June 1663 in Chelmsford. [1, 308] Hannah Chawkley married first Thomas Whittemore. [4, 1:264]

ii. Jonathan Butterfield was born about 1641. He was baptized on 1: 12m 1656 at about 15 in Chelmsford. [1, 35] He died on 3 April 1673 in Chelmsford. [1, 371] He married Mary Dicson on 16 June 1667 in Cambridge. [1, 308] Mary, the wife of Jonathan died on 25 January 1702/3 in Chelmsford. [1, 371]

Jonathan was born in England and came to New England with his father. [2, 532]

Jonathan Butterfield is on a 1671 tax list in Chelmsford. [2, 59–60]

iii. Nathaniel Butterfield was born on 14 February 1643 in Woburn. He was baptized on 1: 12m 1656 in Chelmsford. He died on 5 March 1748/9 in Chelmsford. [1, 372. He married Deborah Underwood.

iv. Samuel Butterfield was born on 17 May 1647 in Woburn. [5, 37] He was baptized on 1: 12m 1656 at about 8 in Chelmsford. [1, 35] He died on 30 July 1714 in Chelmsford. [1, 372] He married Mary Ballard by 1670 in Chelmsford. [4, 1:265] Mary, the wife of Samuel died on 25 January 1702/3 in Chelmsford. [1, 371]

Samuel is on a 1674 list of able-bodied men in Chelmsford. [2, 89] Nathaniel and Samuel Butterfield and their families shared a garrison in Chelmsford with Joseph Hide and Benjamin Bagnet and their families on 16 March 1691/2. [2, 134]

v. Joseph Butterfield was born on 15 August 1649 in Woburn. [5, 37] He was baptized on 1: 12m 1656 at about 6 in Chelmsford. [1, 35] He married Lydia Ballard, the daughter of William of Andover, on 12: (2 or 3) m: 1674 in Chelmsford. [1, 195]

Joseph is on a 1674 list of able-bodied men in Chelmsford. [2, 89] He is on a 5 August 1676 list of those in Chelmsford who had their taxes adjusted because of losses in King Philip's War. [2, 121]

Endnotes:

1. Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1914).

2. Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts (Lowell, MA: Courier-Citizen, 1917).

3: Lucius R. Page, "List of Freemen," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 3 (1849): 190, "Benia. Butterfield."

4. Clarence Almon Torrey," New England Marriages to 1700, database with images, AmericanAncestors.

5. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Part 1 (births), Part 2, (deaths) Part 3 (marriages) (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890).

Revised 14-Nov-2023