Capt. John Butler

Captain John BUTLER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was christened 7 Dec 1600 in Roxwell, Essex, England. He died Jun 1642 in Kent Island, Queen Annes, Maryland.

Virginia historical genealogies By John Bennett Boddie

Children of Jane and John Butler:

I. John, bapt. at Roxwell, Essex, December 7, 1600,

came to the Isle of Kent, in Chesapeake Bay, Mary-

land, with his brother-in-law, Captain William Clai-

borne, about 1637. While in Maryland, on May 26,

1640, John Boteler made a deposition relative to

affairs on Kent Island in which he gave an age as 39,

which agrees with the above date of birth. The depo-

sition was as follows, "Johannes Butler de Insul Kent

in provincia de Maryland, gen. estatis 39 Annor, aut

eo circeter natus in fra Pochiam de Roxwell in Com,

Esseq, gen. " Same is signed "John Boteler" (Md.

Arch. V., pp. 212-220).

Thomas Butler and his brother. Captain John Butler, are found residing on Kent Island in 1637. There are no records preserved before that time, so they may have arrived much earlier, for the first permanent settlement of white men within the present boundaries of Maryland was made on Kent Island in 1631. William Claiborne, formerly Secretary for the Colony of Virginia, had received a grant of this island from the King when it was considered a part of Virginia. In 1632, the King granted a charter for Maryland to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, which charter contained within its boundaries the Island of Kent. Baltimore refused to recognize Claiborne's rights. Claiborne tried but could not obtain recognition from the King, so there was nothing left for him to do but fight it out with the Calverts.

Among those settlers who came to the Island and acted as mariners and traders for Claiborne were Captains Thomas Smith and John Butler, (or Boteler), also Thomas Butler, brother of the last named. Claiborne is referred to in the records as a brother-in-law of Captain John Butler. Claiborne married Elizabeth Butler, sister of the two Butler brothers.

Claiborne's chief aids or supporters in his war with Governor Leonard Calvert, brother of Lord Baltimore, were Captains Smith and Butler. He sent them to Palmer Island for the purpose of making a friendly agreement with the Susquehanna Indians. Governor Calvert feared that the result of these negotiations might be that the Susquehannas would join with Claiborne in attacking his colony at St. Mary's. The question came up in Council as to what should be done to prevent Smith and Butler from carrying out such plans, and Hanley, one of the Councillors, thought nothing should be done in view of Lord Baltimore's doubtful title to Kent Island. Butler and Smith, however, had no such plans of invasion. They had been traders with the Susquehannas and the trade had been very lucrative.

In 1637, Claiborne, called back to England, left Smith and Butler in charge of the island. While Claiborne was away Cloberry and Company, wealthy London merchants, of which firm Claiborne was a partner, sent over George Evelin as Commander of the Island. He returned from St. Mary's to the Island and the inhabitants, numbering about 120 men able to bear arms, were assembled. "There the astonished traders and planters listened to Zachary Mottershead, one of Governor Calvert's chief men read aloud the provisions of the Maryland Charter. " (Semmes "Captains and Mariners", p. 149).

Later while Evelin was himself addressing the Islanders, Captain John Butler spoke up and asked him "whether he was agent for Cloberry and Company for the Marylanders". Evelin replied he was agent for both. Butler and Captain Thomas Smith, however, were loyal to Claiborne and refused to support Captain Evelin in his cowardly surrender of the Island. Governor Calvert ordered Captain Evelin to arrest Butler and Smith and bring them to St. Mary's to answer for the crimes of sedition and piracy but the warrant could not be served because the Kent Islanders would not permit their arrest. (Md. Archives, Vol. 10, p. 4).

Governor Calvert then decided to use force. Armed with a cutlass and placing himself at the head of twenty musketeers he landed his men on the Island, suprising a fort which had been erected by Claiborne's men and easily capturing Captain Thomas Smith. He then sent an ensign with ten musketeers to Butler's plantation called "The Great Thicket" to arrest him.

On the 14th of March 1638, Captain Thomas Smith was brought before the bar of the Assembly at St. Mary's and there faced by all of his enemies he was ordered to be hanged. Calvert wrote to Lord Baltimore that he had not called "Mr. Butler to trial because I hope by showing favor unto him to make him a good member ... that Butler might be the fitted man to command Kent Island".

Captain Butler, however, refused to accept a commission or appointment under Calvert and died on the Island in 1642, his will being probated on April 1st of that year. He made his brother, Thomas, executor. The will has been lost. (Md. Archives, Vol. 10, p. 128).