596327

[phelps.FTW]

[2812.ftw]

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 4, Ed. 1, Tree #2812, Date of Import: Nov 11, 1998]

"from whom the American family chiefly derive issue"

Benjamin [1]
Son of Benjamin I and Susan (Wood) Butterfield was born about 1600 at Cvenden, York, England, and baptized at St. John The Baptist Church in Halifax, England.

He married Miss Ann Jundon of Moldon, England and they already had two small children when Benjamin and his family joined with Benjamin's young half-brother Samual, and his older sister Susanna, with her husband, the Reverend Matthew Mitchell and their children for the trip to America in 1635.

He was known to be in Charlestown in the Bay Colony in 1638, then, removing to Woburn, his name appears among the first town orders of Woburn and, in 1643, he was made a Freeman. (in early Colonial life a Freeman was one who was entitled to vote and was considered a "gentleman." To qualify, a man must not be indentured and must be a property owner and a member of the Church). In 1645 we find Benjamin's name on the Woburn tax list.

In 1652 the inhabitants of Woburn petitioned for leave to explore the West side of the Concord River. The report was, "a very comfortable place to accompodate a company of God's people."

In 1658, Benjamin I headed a petition of twenty-nine names from Woburn and Concord for a tract of land six miles square, "to begin at the Merrimack River, as the neck of land six miles square, "to begin at the Merrimack River, at the neck of land next to the Concord River," to r;un southerly on the Concord River and westerly into the wild country. This spot was known to the indians as Naamkeek. The six mile tract was occupied in 1654 by Benjamin and his associates, including the family names of Learned, Chamberlin, Fletcher, Adams, Proctor, Hildreth, Blodgett, and Parker, among others.

In 1655 the town was incorporated under the name of Chelmsford, MA. The land adjoining was occupied by the Rev. John Eliot with a reservation for Christianized Indians called "Wamesit." The line between the Indians and the English was run "on the east side of Butterfield's high way" and marked by a ditch. On this highway Benjamin pitched his farm and built his house, somewhere within what is now Ward 4, Lowell, Massachusetts.

Also in 1654, Benjamin was one of the signers of letters requesting the Minister of Wenham, MA, the Rev. John Fiske, to come to Chelmsford, MA to start the Church at Chelmsford which is now Unitarian and known as the First Congregational Society. They gave the Reverend Fiske 30 acres of meadow and 30 acres of plowable land plus a house 20' x 38' with 3 fire rooms and brick or stone chimneys as well as 50 pounds the first year, and maintenance therafter.

In 1656, Benjamin is named as one of the citizens of Chelmsford, MA to whom the Governor Dudley farm of 1500 acres in Billerica was conveyed.

On Dec. 1, 1656, a minister in Chelmsford (probably Rev. Fiske) recorded the fact that he had baptized the following sons of Benjamin Butterfield that day.

Benjamin III: age about 20 years
Jonathan: age about 15 years
* Nathaniel: age about 11 1/2 years
Samuel: age about 8 years

In view of the birthdates recorded by the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for Joseph, Samuel and Nathaniel, it seems that the good minister was estimating the ages of the boys at from one to three years younger than they actually were. He also did not record a baptism for Benjamin's daughter, Mary. Therefore, as near as it can be discovered, it seems that Benjamin's and Ann's children were:

Butterfield, Benjamin III [2]: (sometimes called Berabin),
Born in England about 1633;
Died in Chelmsford, MA Feb. 1, 1663.

Butterfield, Mary [2]: Born in England about 1635;
Married in 1653 to Daniel Blodgett,
the first marriage performed in
Chelmsford, MA;
Died Sept. 5, 1666.

Butterfield, Jonathan [2]: Born 1641;
Married Mary Dixon of Cambridge, MA;
Died April 3, 1673.

* Butterfield, Nathaniel [2]: Born in Woburn, MA Feb. 14, 1642

Butterfield, Samual [2]: Born in Woburn, MA May 17, 1647

Butterfield, Joseph [2]: Born in Woburn, MA Aug. 15, 1649