Cressett Butler

Biography

Although Cressitt St John is stated to be the daughter of Anne Neville, the second wife of John St John, she is not refered to as such in the will of John St John. He merely states that she is his natural daughter. He names Anne as his wife, but does not say she is the mother of any of his children.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/St_John-185

Cressett St John[1][2]

Cressett, illegitimate daughter of John St John and Anne Neville, was born before her parents were married.[1][3] Cressett's father was Sheriff of Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire and Justice of the Peace for Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire.[1]

Cressett married "John Butler (or Boteler), Esq., of Tofte and Lorings (both in Sharnbrook), and Souldrop, Bedfordshire, and Thoby, Essex, son and heir of George Butler, Gent. of Tofte and Lorings (both in Sharnbrook), and Souldrop, Bedfordshire, by Mary, daughter of Richard Throckmorton, Esq., of Higham Park, Northamptonshire."[2]

"Cressyd ux John Boteler of Sharnbrooke in com. Bedfford.[4]

Children: Cressett and John had two sons and four daughters:[2][5][6]

Sons:

1. Oliver Butler, Knt.[2]
2. John Butler, Esq., married Jane Elliott[1]

Daughters:

1. Anne Butler, married George Digby[2]
2. Jane Butler, married Robert Wright[2]
3. Martha Butler, married Humphrey Barrell[2]
4. Mary Butler, married Richard Arkenstall, Gent.[2]

Research Notes

Name

Her names have been marked "certain", even though the spelling/styling of her name is not consistent in the sources. It is certain what her name was, though:

• Cressett (as spelled by Richardson),[2] also spelled as Cressitt[7] and Cressyd.[4]
• Butler, which is spelled a variety of ways, including Boteler[2] (see her son's profile for additional spellings).
• "St John" styling is in accordance with naming guidelines of WikiTree's European Aristocrats Project[8] (see this page for links to other projects' guidelines). Richardson spells out "St" (Saint John).[2] [the name is never spelt "Saint' John by any family mememer or contemporary record as the name is not that, it is pronounced "Sinjeon"]

Estimated Dates/Locations: The rationale for the estimated dates of born 1540, married 1560, died 1572 follow. Richardson's Royal Ancestry (I:385 BLETSOE 18.i.), does not include dates/locations for Cresset St John's birth, marriage, or death, nor does it include a marriage date for her widower & Mary Gedge (it does include that Mary's previous husband died 1571).[2]

Estimated birth year 1540: Cressett was a legatee in the 1558 will of her father.[2] As a legatee, and if 18 at the time, Cressett would have been born no later than 1540. She is shown by Lewis as born about 1540[7] "at of" Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England.[9]

• An unknown source gives her birth as 1 July 1534 in Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England.
• One of the locations associated with her father is Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, but she could easily have been born elsewhere. A search of freereg.org on 30 July 2019 did not discover any record of birth/marriage/burial for Cressett or John Butler. Search was for all of England; Bletsoe was not listed as having records in the database. Because Bedfordshire was also one of the locations associated with her husband, Bedfordshire is listed for her birth, marriage, and death as most likely.

Estimated marriage year 1560: Assuming (1) she was not married at the time of her father's 1558 will, (2) she was about 20 when she married, and (3) she was born c1540, then her marriage would have been about 1560.

• Lewis has "circa 1560" for her marriage (and "b. ca 1542" for her husband's birth).[7]
• If she had been married at the time of her father's 1558 will, one would think she would have been named in the will as Cressett Butler and her marriage given by researchers as "before 1558".

Estimated death year: 1572. When she died is not known.

• Estimating 2 years for each of their 6 known children from a c1560 marriage date puts her death c1572.
• John married (2) Mary Gedge, whose husband Christopher Harris, Esq., died in 1571. John and Mary had four children, including Nathaniel Butler,[2] born 1577.[10]

  ---

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/STJOHN.htm#Cressitt St. JOHN

Cressitt St. JOHN

Born: 1534, Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England

Died: 1612, Burch Hall, Roxwell, Essex, England

Father: John St. JOHN (Esq.)

Mother: Anne NEVILLE

Married: John BUTLER of Starnbrooke 1566

Children:

1. John BUTLER of Starnbrooke

2. Nathaniel BUTLER (Gov. of Bahamas)

3. James BUTLER (b. 1570)

4. Elizabeth BUTLER (b. 1572)

5. Sarah BUTLER (b. 1574)

6. Martha BUTLER

7. Mary BUTLER

8. Anne BUTLER

9. Jane BUTLER

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virginia historical genealogies By John Bennett Boddie

John Butler, or Boetler, of the Parish of Sharnbrook, Bedford, and of Thobie, Essex, son and heir of George Butler, who died 1551, married (1) Cressett, daughter of Sir John St. John of Bletsoe, Bedford.

Children of first wife

I. Oliver Butler of Sharnbrooke, Bedford, married

Anne, daughter and heir of Thomas Barham of

Barham-Court county Kent, who carried the manor

of Barham-Court in Kent to her husband, to which

place he removed and was knighted by James I at

Whitehall August 1604. He died in London November

22, 1632 and is buried at Teston.

William Boteler, his third son; heir to his brother.

Sir John Boteler, who died August 2, 1634; resided at

Barham-Court. He was created a Baronet by Charles

I, July 3, 1641, and lost his life in the fight between

the King's forces and those of Parliament, at the Battle

of Cropedy Bridge, June 29, 1644. (Hasted II, 291)

His title became extinct on the death of his great grandson, Sir Phillip Boteler, 4th Baronet, January 22, 1772. (Complete Baronetage, Cockayne, Vol. II, p. 97)

II. John Butler of Littell Burch Hall, Essex. (See Later)

John BUTLER Esquire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 was born 1532 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England. He died Jan 1614 in Thoby, Essex, England. John married Cressett St. JOHN on 1556 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England.[This is not likely as Cressitt was not married in the 1558 will of her father]

Other marriages:

GEDGE, Mary

Cressett St. JOHN [Parents] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 was born 1535 in Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England. She died 1571 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England. Cressett married John BUTLER Esquire on 1556 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England.

They had the following children:

		F	i	 Anne BUTLER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was born 1557 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England.

F ii Jane BUTLER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was born 1559 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England.
F iii Mary BUTLER 1, 2, 3, 4 was born 1562 in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, England.
M iv Sir Oliver BUTLER Knight was born 1565 and died 22 Nov 1632.
M v John BUTLER Esquire was born 1568.
F vi Martha BUTLER was born 1571.
===Sources===

1. Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), volume I, pages 384-389 BLETSOE.
2. Richardson, Royal Ancestry, I:385 BLETSOE 18.i.
3. John and Anne married after the death of his first wife Margaret, whose profile shows her death as about April 1564 (but no source). This has been changed to before 1558. Margaret's death has not been found, neither has a marriage to Anne.
4. Frederick Augustus Blayden, ed. The Visitations of Bedfordshire, 1566, 1582, 1634 (London, 1884). St. John of Bletsoe, pages 52-55. Accessed Dec 16, 2015.
5. The list of children only shows information from Richardson's Royal Ancestry (I:385-386). See the list on her husband's profile for additional information.
6. Dates for children given on their profiles as of 31 July 2019 are not compatible with an estimated marriage date for their parents of 1560. However, that date is compatible with their son John's marriage December 1599 (RA I:385), and reliable sources for their children's birth years are lacking.
7. Marlyn Lewis. Cressitt St. John, entry in "Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors and Cousins" database (accessed March 2, 2016).
8. Name Field for European Aristocrats (accessed 30 July 2019).
9. Lewis, citing Richardson's Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 115. Richardson's later publications, to include 2011's 2nd edition of Plantagenet Ancestry (volume I, page 287, BLETSOE 16.i) and 2013's Royal Ancestry (I:385), do not include dates/locations for her birth, marriage, or death.
10. Nathaniel Butler, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (preview; accessed 31 July 2019).
11. Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry.
12. Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. See also WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry. See also:
13. Adams, Arthur. The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, 5th edition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1999). FHL book 973 D2aa 1999., p. 80 lines 61:14 and 61:15.
14. Fiske, William Wyman, "Ancestry of Bennet Eliot of Nazeing, Essex...," NEHGR 162:2 (Apr 2008) (New England Historic, Genealogical Society.), p. 130, Los Angeles Public Library.
15. Harvey, William, The Visitations of Bedfordshire made in 1566, 1582, and 1634 (London: 1884.), pp. 10, 53, Los Angeles Public Library.
16. Sir John St. JOHN Knight, Ancestry link
17. Marlyn Lewis.
18. Metcalfe, Walter Charles. The Visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634 (London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1878.), p. 169, Los Angeles Public Library, Gen 942.005 H284 v. 13.
19. Philipot, John, The Visitation of Kent Taken in the Years 1619-1621 (London: 1898.), p. 223, Los Angeles Public Library, Gen 942.005 H284 v. 42.
20. Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co, 2005. (p. 94, p. 115, Family History Library, 942 D5rdm). 1st ed. - not appropriate source for Magna Carta Project profiles (use 2011 2nd edition and/or 2013 Royal Ancestry - see the project's Reliable Sources page).
21. Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 3 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011 (volume I, page 287, BLETSOE 16.i). See also WikiTree's source page for Plantagenet Ancestry. (Information from PA should also have a citation to either 2nd ed. Magna Carta Ancestry or Royal Ancestry - see the project's Reliable Sources page.)
22. Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. : 2008), 465 Amazon link. Not considered a reliable source for Magna Carta Project profiles. See the project's Reliable Sources page.
23. Weis, Frederick Lewis. The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215 (5th ed., Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999), pp. 61-15, Los Angeles Public Library, 929.273 W426 1999. Not considered a reliable source for Magna Carta Project profiles. See the project's Reliable Sources page.