Benjamin Butterfield and Sarah Bates

Benjamin Butterfield, Sr. died on 24 July 1715 in Chelmsford. [1, 371] He married Sarah Bates on 16 February 1697 in Chelmsford. [1, 195][2, son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Underwood) Butterfield]

Sarah Butterfield was born about 1677, based on her reported age at death. Sarah, wife to Mr. Richard Hildreth, died on 5 April 1735, age 58, and is buried in Chelmsford. [3] She married second as his third wife David Carver of Canterbury by an intention dated 14 January 1721/2 in Chelmsford. [1, 197] Ensign David Carver died on 14 September 1727 in Canterbury. [4] She married third as his second wife Richard Hildreth by an intention dated 17 April 1728 in Chelmsford. [1, 201] Richard married first Dorcas Unknown. She died on 10 May 1727, age 48, and is buried in Chelmsford. [3, 48]

Benjamin Butterfield, Sr., died intestate. On 9 March 1718/9 a committee was appointed to set out one-third of his real estate for his widow. Inventory, amounting to £222.16.08 was taken on 8 December 1719 and presented on 1 May 1720. Estate papers dated 1 March 1720/1 refer to the widow Sarah, the only son John and other children Sarah, Mary, Lydia and Abiel. [5]

i. Captain John Butterfield was born on 12 January 1697/8 in Chelmsford. [1, 34] He died on 8 January 1766, age 68, in Chelmsford. [1, 372] He married Anne Hildreth by an intention dated 10 December 1721 in Chelmsford. [1, 196] The widow Anna who was buried on 24 February 1784, age 81 in Chelmsford. [1, 372]

iii. Mary Butterfield was born on 25 August 1706 in Chelmsford. [1, 34] Mary, the wife of Ephraim, died on 26 January 1770, age 63, in Westford. [6, 288] She married Ephraim Hildreth by an intention dated 5 January 1722/3 in Chelmsford. [1, 196] Ephraim, the son of Joseph and Abigail Hildreth, was born on 25 August 1700 in Chelmsford. [1, 80] He died on 15 July 1797, age 78, in Westford. [6, 287]

iv. Lydia Butterfield was born on 11 November 1711 in Chelmsford. [1, 36] She married Deacon Ephraim Spaulding by an intention dated 31 March 1730 in Chelmsford. [1, 196] She died on 29 August 1796, age 84, and if buried in the Forefathers Burial Ground in Chelmsford. [7] Ephraim, the son of Andrew and Abigail Spaulding, was born on 8 August 1708 in Chelmsford. [VRC, 145] He died on 20 or 26 December 1791, age 83, in Chelmsford. [1, 443]

v. Abiel Butterfield was born after her father's death on 2 April 1716 in Chelmsford. [1, 34] She married John Reed, Jr. on 3 February 1736/7 in Westfield. [6, 142][8] John may be the son of Dr. Philip Reade and Thanks Dill, born on 7 September 1714 in Concord. [9]

vi. Benjamin Carver was born on 10 December 1722 in Canterbury. [Ref][Ref] He died on 18 July 1804 in Westford. [Ref] He married Edith Fletcher on 23 May 1745 in Westford. [Ref]

Benjamin's birth is recorded in Canterbury and Westford.

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

2. John Dennis Farwell, Jane Harter Abbott and Lillian M. Wilson, The Farwell Family (Rutland, VT: Frederick Henry Farwell and Fanny Barber Farwell, 1929), 64.

3. Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford, Mass. (Lowell: printed for the town, 1917).

4. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," database with images, AmericanAncestors > Canterbury, 48.

5. "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648–1871," database with images, AmericanAncestors, 3708.

6. Vital Records of Westford to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1915).

8. George A. Gordon, "The Butterfields of Middlesex," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 44 (1890), 36.

9. George E. McCracken, "Dr. Philip Reade and His Earlier Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 112 (1958), 129.