Walter Butler (c.1807-1870), son of Laurence Butler, a 1798 Irish rebel convict - the life of a 'currency lad' born in the Penal Colony of New South Wales.

Sydney 1822 by Joseph Lycett

INTRODUCTION

Walter Butler, one of the “currency lads” who grew to adulthood in the early settlement of Sydney, led a very adventurous life during which he traveled far from home to try and make his fortune in a variety of business ventures in the newly developing settlements in Van Diemen’s Land and Williamstown Victoria, eventually returning to Hobart to spend the final years of his life. Along the way, he would indulge in at least three relationships that would result in a large number of offspring who in turn have spawned a long list of Australian descendants. Walter was a strong minded individual with an entrepreneurial flair and a strong sense of community involvement. Losing his father while in his early teens and orphaned just four years later, Walter had to grow up quickly to take care of his younger siblings Lawrence Junior aged 12 years and their very young sister Mary Ann who was just 7 years of age.

Having been left very well off from their father’s estate, including several valuable properties in Sydney, the three siblings were financially independent.

Starting his career following in his father’s footsteps as a cabinetmaker, Walter soon tried many other occupations in his quest for financial success. He became a successful inn keeper in the early days of Melbourne and invested in property and whaling ships, and purchased two schooners carrying cargo and passengers along the Victorian coast. After making his fortune, he moved his young (third) family to Hobart where he was elected as council alderman for several years.

The grand house he built in 1854 is still standing in Elizabeth Street, Hobart today.

Newbury House c.1880 built by Walter Butler in 1854

Advert for sale of Newbury House in 1868:

NEWBURY HOUSE”

Formerly in the occupation of Mr Butler, the land comprises an area of I rood and 10 perches, and the house, which is substantially built of brick, contains nine convenient sized rooms, besides, kitchen, servant’s rooms &c. There are two large coach-houses, stable, and other necessary outbuildings, water and gas laid on, the whole forming a most compact family residence.

Newbury House in 2011 at 432 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart- Heritage register No. 141

It has been recently renovated and has had a chequered history- it housed nuns in the mid to late 20th century; was a backpacker's hostel in the early 2000's which caused considerable damage; and has been recently refurbished and repaired (viz.2011), and is now inhabited by an employment agency (Colony 47- Jobnet Tasmania).

This Blog follows Walter’s life story, which places him in the historical pages of this great country.

Walter Butler
born: c.1807 in Sydney New South Wales Australia
died: 4 Oct 1870 in Hobart, Tasmania
Father: Laurence Butler
Mother: Mary Ann Fowles (?)
Marriage 1: Margaret Dunn- 16 May 1825 in Sydney NSW
       Issue: Francis George Butler
                  Thomas Lawrence Butler
Partner: Eliza Bodecin nee Dwyer- February 1832
       Issue: George Walter Butler
                  Cecilia Ann Butler
                  Robert William Butler
?John Butler

Marriage 2: Frances Jane Catherine Edwards- 26 Oct 1841 in Williamstown Victoria
         Issue: Edmund Walter Butler
                    Louise Caroline Butler
                    Frederick Henry Butler
                    Arthur William James Butler
                    Frank Butler
                    Ormond Tasman Butler

Y-DNA Genealogical Testing

The Y-DNA test creates a Y-DNA signature using Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (ie. STR) Markers, which can be compared with the Y-DNA signature of others. The Y-DNA signature distinguishes your paternal lineage from others, as the Y-chromosome is passed down through the male line, father to son, for generations with little change, allowing for confirmation of descent from a common male ancestor, going back in time much further than through an autosomal DNA test which dilutes with each generation.

A Y-DNA test of a descendant of Walter Butler's son Francis George Butler and his son Thomas Charles Butler, matched the Y-DNA test of a descendant of Lawrence Butler Junior's son George Henry Ormonde Butler and his son Ernest Ormonde Butler, which proves that both Walter and Lawrence Junior were true blood brothers, and sons of Laurence Butler Senior. Their test results are summarised below. For full details and explanations of these tests, see the last chapter of Laurence Butler's blog- Chapter 25.

The newly developing science of genealogical Y-DNA matching will probably gain momentum in the coming years and may play an important role in unraveling these family tree mysteries and help with matching family links. It may also pose new unanswerable genealogical questions as well. DNA can provide information about our ancestor's migratory paths through thousands of years as well as individual descent from one's forefathers. The same DNA markers are handed down from generation to generation for hundreds even thousands of years, with occasional mutations of individual markers in the DNA profile.

DNA is the only genealogical record that is absolute proof of one's true heritage, and combined with the traditional genealogical paper trail, it promises an exciting future in family research. Y-DNA is only present in males and is passed down from father to son, as only the male child inherits the Y chromosome from his father, and this information can reveal information on the patrilineal line and determine one's ancestral roots. DNA also reveals our ancient ancestral roots.

The ancient migratory paths of ancestors out of Africa, tens of thousands of years ago, have been grouped into HAPLO groups.
A Haplogroup is defined as a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor; and a haplotype is defined as a group of genes or a set of DNA variations which is inherited together by an organism from a single parent.

To understand these different groupings, one would need to read some of the numerous online articles on this subject. Suffice to say that the most common Haplo groups for western European ancestry fall into the Haplogroups I and R and their subgroups or ‘subclades’.

One of Laurence Butler's male descendants (from son Walter) has done a Y-DNA test (111 STR markers tested) and a BIGY test (ie for SNP mutations and 500 to 700 STR markers) and his Haplogroup (deep ancestral roots) was determined as belonging to the I Haplogroup, I1 subclade, confirmed by the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, SNP, (or mutation) known as M253. All men with the I1-M253 Y-chromosome share a common ancestor, and all of their STR (Short Tandem Repeat) markers can be expected to be in a range around that of their forefather.

Further testing of SNP mutations that occur very rarely in the human genome can narrow down deep ancestry and indicate the emergence of a new ancestral line from a single ancestor.

The largest concentration of those from the I Haplogroup appear in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden (particularly Gotland) and Norway, and to a lesser extent in parts of Finland, and the remainder of western and central Europe are concentrated in the R Haplogroup. As Britain, peopled by the early Celts and Britons, was invaded by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Vikings and Normans, the majority of those of long British heritage are a mixture of the two Haplogroups, with R1b (and its subclades) the most common, and I (including subclade I1) found in greater numbers in the Viking and Danelaw settlement areas of Great Britain. The Celtic regions of Wales, Ireland and Scotland have a high percentage of people in the R1b Haplogroup.

Haplogroup ‘I’, subclade ‘I1’, geographically, is highly concentrated in Nth Germany, Denmark, Sth Norway and Sth Sweden, which means that all of Laurence’s male line ancestors originated from these areas, thousands of years ago.

Laurence Butler's Y-DNA Profile or Signature from his descendants' signatures.

As mentioned, a descendant of Laurence Butler tested his YDNA with FamilyTree DNA using the BigY500 test which tests most of the chromosomes in the Y Chromosome which is passed down with little change from father to son for thousands of years, with occasional mutations marking a new branch of the Y tree. Laurence was thereby found to be of the following haplogroup and Y Tree pathway:

Haplogroup I1- M253- L22- Z74- L813, with a terminal SNP of FGC15301

To understand this scientific process fully, refer to the last chapter in Laurence Butler’s blog for a full explanation.

At this point in time, there is only one other match for Laurence Butler’s Terminal SNP of FGC15301, a descendant of a man named Henry Atkins (1718-1786 from Kent). However, they share a common ancestor estimated about 1200 years ago, hundreds of years before the general use of surnames.

To prove that the results of Y-DNA tests done on the descendants of Laurence Butler make up Laurence Butler's Y-DNA haplotype signature, a Y-DNA test was conducted on a descendant of each of Laurence Butler's two sons, viz. Walter Butler (b. 1807 Sydney, to Mary Ann Fowles) and Lawrence Butler Junior (b.1812 Sydney, to Ann Roberts).

These Y-DNA results can be viewed on the Butler Surname Y-DNA Project website at Family Tree DNA- Projects- Butler, under the name of ancestor Laurence Butler b.1750 Wexford, Ire. Scroll down to Haplogroup I - Lineage XI (at present there are three tests in this group- both descendants of Laurence Butler, plus Henry Atkins' descendants). At this stage, there have been no matches with any of the other 430+ Butlers listed in the Butler Surname Project, but this is a new science in genealogical research and will expand in the coming years.

The Y-DNA tests were conducted by Family Tree DNA at www.familytreedna.com , and specifically, the Butler Surname Project Y-DNA tests linked with Family Tree DNA, (which offer a discount):
https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Butler

The descendant of Walter Butler (by 1st wife Margaret Dunn) had 111 STR markers tested and is 7th generation down from Laurence Senior; and the descendant of Lawrence Butler Junior (by 1st wife Catherine Gorman) had 67 STR markers tested, and is also 7th generation.

The test results for various levels show that the two descendants match exactly for the first 25 markers; for 36 out of 37 markers; and for 64 out of 67 markers, with three mutations, which is defined as a Genetic Distance of 3; and they have the same HAPLO group ( I1- M253, although Laurence's Terminal SNP of FGC 15301 is now listed).

Historically, it should also be taken into account that when Walter (b.1807) and Lawrence Jnr (b.1812) were born, the colony of New South Wales had a population of only a few thousand, many of whom lived outside of Sydney, whereas Laurence Butler Snr lived in Sydney. This small population statistic can be further divided by gender, age, and class status viz. convict, emancipated convict, free settler, military, or government official. Both sons were named and recognised as Laurence Butler’s sons in his Will of 1820. So this further confirms that Laurence Butler Senior was undoubtedly the biological father of Walter and Lawrence Junior.

‘Familytreedna’ interprets the criteria for Genetic Distance at 67 Y-Chromosome STR markers, when two men share a surname:

A Genetic Distance of 3 or 4 are related- 63/67 or 64/67 match between two men who share the same surname (or a variant) means that they are likely to share a common ancestor within the genealogical time frame. The common ancestor is probably not extremely recent but is likely within the range of most well-established surname lineages in Western Europe.

The Genealogical Time Frame is the most recent one to fifteen generations. Recent genealogical times are the last one to five generations.

A Genetic Distance of 1 or 2 are tightly related- 65/67 or 66/67 match between two men who share the same surname (or a variant) indicates a close relationship (within one to five generations). It is most likely that they matched 36/37 or 37/37 on a previous Y-DNA test. Very few people achieve this close level of a match.

In the case of these two descendants, 7th generation down from Laurence Butler is not classed as within the ‘recent genealogical time-frame of 5 generations’, which accounts for one extra marker variation, viz. 64 out of 67, in that time-frame. Notably, all three marker changes were in fast changing STR’s (DYS570, DYS557 and DYS446). It is expected that there are 1-2 genetic mutations in the marker values every hundred years or so, per descendant line.

The Y-DNA tests therefore provide us with Laurence Butler's Y-DNA haplotype signature for 67 markers, plus the probable haplotype for the remaining markers between 67 and 111 (with the possibility of some further mutations occurring in one to three of the remaining markers, noting that some markers are more prone to mutations than others). Only an upgrade to a 111 marker test of the second descendant, or of another descendant, would prove if there are any further mutations.

The testing of these two descendants of Laurence’s two sons by two different women, is a rather rare and unusual scientific study, providing absolute proof of the Y chromosome haplotype of a man, born in 1750 living more than 260 years ago, and where the paper trail of descent matches the Y-DNA evidence.

Y-DNA Test results of descendant of Walter Butler:

Explanations:
NB Micro Alleles marker DYS710: this is a high frequency mutating YSTR that is very useful for near range/family genealogical studies. Micro Alleles = part of a repeat for an STR is lost.

eg. if you are 33.2 and a cousin is 33.1, or 33.3, you can determine that the mutation occurred with either your father or your cousin's father.

Markers DYS19 ** (value 14), and DYS389II*** (value 28) notably have red stars against them.

DYS19** -is also known as DYS394

DYS389II***- the Family Tree DNA and the Genographic Project report DYS389II differently

Y-DNA test results of descendant of Lawrence Butler Junior

NB. STR markers DYS570 (19-20), DYS 557 (16-15) and DYS 446 (12-13), marked in red, differ from the test of Walter Butler's descendant.

The above two tests confirm Laurence Butler's Y-DNA Haplotype signature, for at least 64 STR markers of the first 67 markers, and for most of the remaining markers to 111, with possibly one to three further mutation/changes in STR Markers 68 to 111.

In summary, Laurence Butler's Y-DNA profile (and his male descendants) looks like the following:

NB. X denotes mutations in DYS 570 (20 or 19), DYS 557 (15 or 16) and DYS 446 (13 or 12) between Descendants 1 and 2.

Markers DYS 570, 557 and 446 have changed since Laurence's two sons were born. To determine in which descendant line these mutations occurred, we can compare marker values with Laurence’s other Haplogroup match, Henry Atkins. Comparing Atkins marker values with Walter’s and Lawrence Jnrs, we can determine that the first mutation at DYS570 occurred in Walter’s line, changing from 19 to 20, the original being 19; similarly, the other two mutations in marker values occurred in Lawrence Jnr’s line, with DYS 557 originally being 15 and DYS446 originally being 13.

There are various levels of testing available, 37 STR markers, (67 markers?) and 111 markers, and the Big Y tests which now tests 700 STR markers. The more markers tested the more reliable the match. 37 markers can also match with many other non-Butlers, but the more markers tested increases the accuracy of a match.

If Laurence's Y-DNA profile eventually matches with Laurence's descendants of his first family in Wexford by wife Catherine, it may even lead to sorting out Laurence Butler's ancestry- whether from the Chief Butler/Ormond/Mountgarrett lines or from other more recent Butler immigrants to Ireland from England, or even (heaven forbid!) a non-Butler line in Ireland, of Viking ancestry.

Being of Norman/Viking ancestry, one could generalize that Theobald Walter's DNA would have most likely been from the I Haplogroup, but the passage of nearly thirty generations and 900 years makes the likelihood of his Y-DNA continuing down the male Butler line to the present day, uninterrupted, pretty slim.

Notably, at this stage (viz. in 2015), of 430 Butlers tested, the majority are American participants. The majority have not indicated the origin of their ancestor, as for many Americans their ancestral place of origin is unknown, but others have indicated mostly English and some Irish descent. The Butler Project is showing up an unexpected result- there are two distinct lines of ancient ancestry (viz. Haplo groups, R and I that are not related) in the Irish Butler lines. Irish and English Butlers historically have totally different ancestral beginnings, but the different results within the Irish descendants, despite the general consensus that nearly all Irish Butlers 'descend' from the first Butler, Theobald Walter, could mean there were some Non-Paternity Events (NPE- viz. father not biological father) occurring somewhere down the generations; or non-Butlers have taken the Butler surname eg. tenants and servants taking their overlord’s surname; or the husbands of female Butler sole heirs, or their eldest son, taking the Butler surname for inheritance purposes, such as the O’Brien Butlers and the Creaghe Butlers. The majority of Butlers in the Butler Surname Project so far, belong to the Haplogroup R1b1a2, including a descendant of the Viscount Ikerrin and Earl of Carrick lines (who descend from John Butler [1306-1330], younger brother of the 1st Earl of Ormond), but there is still a sizeable group from the I Haplogroup. At present, the Carrick descendant is the only known direct descendant of the Ormond/Chief Butler line who has taken the test, and that line broke away from the senior line seven centuries ago, so it is too early in the project to make a conclusion about the probable Haplo groups of the Ormond Butlers. And it also must be taken into account that over the period of several centuries, the true paternity of each generation being a Butler sire cannot be guaranteed.

At present, this science is still in its infancy, but within the next ten years, one can see this gaining momentum as genealogists come to realise that Y-DNA testing could be the solution to breaking down that brick wall in their search for their ancestral roots. As more and more Butlers take the test, patterns of paternal lineages and common ancestors should emerge. It may also lead to disappointment (and possibly some family disharmony) as some will discover they may not be of 'Butler' descent, but as family historians, we have all come to accept the 'skeletons in the closet' and the 'black sheep' that we have each unearthed in our quest, and we should be capable of accepting that our ancestors, no matter from whence they have come and what they have endured or experienced, have contributed to who we are today. And most importantly, without them, we would not exist.

See Blog on Walter's father Laurence Butler:
http://butlerfamilyhistoryaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/laurence-butler-intro.html

See Blog on brother Lawrence Ormond Butler:
http://butlerfamilyhistoryaus1.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/lawrence-butler-jnr-introduction.html

Blog on sister Mary Ann Butler/Mary Ann Macdougall
http://butlerfamilyhistoryaus2.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/mary-ann-butler-ch-1-mary-anns-childhood.html

Blogs on the Ancestry of the Butlers of Co Wexford

http://butlerfamilyhistoryaus1.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/lawrence-ormond-butler-ch-7-history-of-butlers.html

http://butlerancestryireland.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/butlers-co-wexford-ch1-richard-1stviscount-mountgarrett.html

The Irish Origin of the surname 'Butler'

The surname of the Butlers of Ireland has its origins in the hereditary office of ‘Butler of Ireland’ originating with Theobald Walter, 1^st Chief Butler of Ireland who lived in the 12^th century. Theobald was granted the hereditary title of Butler of Ireland, or ‘Pincerna Hiberniae’, having served as butler to Prince John who was created Lord of Ireland in 1177 by his father King Henry II. The 7^th Chief Butler, James Butler, was created 1st Earl of Ormond in 1328.

In royal households, the title denoted a high-ranking officer and the ‘butler’ was one of the top five ranked senior offices in the household, along with the chamberlain, the seneschal, the chancellor and the constable. While officially in charge of the wine cellar/buttery and all of the under-staff required in that position, he held other important duties such as serving the king his wine at dinner, presenting the newly crowned king his first cup of wine as monarch, and other appointed duties required at court.

While the family surname was ‘Walter’, Theobald’s heirs and descendants adopted the surname ‘le botiller’ and then ‘Butler’.

The following blog URL links, explore the history of Theobald Walter and his Norman origins.

Theobald Walter, Chief Butler of Ireland

Part 1: Ancestral origins of Theobald Walter, ancestor of the Butlers of Ireland, and the history of the Walter family

https://theobaldwalter-1stbutler-of-ireland.blogspot.com/2022/07/-part1-%20ancestral%20origins%20of%20theobald.html

Part 2: Ancestral origins of Theobald Walter: possible candidates for the Walter surname named ‘Walter’ in the Domesday Book

https://theobaldwalter-1stbutler-of-ireland.blogspot.com/2022/07/part-2-ancestral-origins-of-theobald.html

Part 3: Ancestral origins of Theobald Butler: Analysis of the various theories of the origins of the Walter family:

https://theobaldwalter-1stbutler-of-ireland.blogspot.com/2022/07/part-3-ancestral-origins-of-theobald.html

Part 4: Ancestral origins of Theobald Butler: The Lands held by the Walter family:

Walter Butler (c.1807-1870)- the life of a 'currency' lad born in the colony of NSW

Saturday 18 August 2012

Walter Butler- introduction

INTRODUCTION

https://theobaldwalter-1stbutler-of-ireland.blogspot.com/2022/07/part-4-ancestral-origins-of-theobald.html