Old Essex County court records show that a James Butler was one of a group of 74 people transported from Ireland by Francis Moore, the Irish merchant. Three years later, this same merchant (and same ship) would bring in Edmund Butler whose family is well documented, including sons John Butler the Revolutionary War General and William "The Regulator", one of the leaders in the failed NC uprising that would eventually lead to the War.

I want to explore the hypothesis that this James is a near relative of Edmund.

According to Butler DNA studies, the descendants of Edmund are DNA Family H. However, there is another large family of Butlers in Hanover County, whose DNA match Edmund's, the family of Zachariah Butler b. 1736. Though the family of Edmund is exceedingly well documented, Zachariah's descendants find a brickwall at him. He cannot be connected to this family and all that is known is that Zachariah's father was named Christopher (and is NOT by DNA related to the Joshua Butler-Grace Page family's Christopher!).

Neither can my ancestor, John Butler b. 1762 in Culpeper County or Benjamin Butler, b. 1765 in Culpeper (and also DNA H) be connected to Edmund's or Zachariah's family through documentation. No one on the group H study knows enough far back to connect to James.

Looking at old land records, I have found a number of Butlers not yet associated with DNA families, particularly in St Anne's Parish, in present day Caroline along the River. The ones in St Anne's parish are not far from the original land grant received by Francis Moore for bringing in settlers is believed to be.

There are also Butlers in Fredericksburg at the time. Finally there were Butlers in present day Culpeper where the Rappahannock and Rapidan fork. .

Is anyone a known descendant of James Butler, emigrated 1703? Failing that, anyone having a brickwall at VA Butlers along the upper Rappahannock? I am constantly learning more about Butler families in general as I hunt for mine. I might be able to help you sort out your brick wall, even if your family is not the one I am hunting for.

If anyone would like to collaborate on ongoing research, because we sure don't know the answers yet, please email or post.

Thanks