John Butchin (c1578-????) and wife (c1580-????).
My 10th great-grandparents.
I know very little about my 10th great-grandfather John Butching and nothing at all about his wife. I’ve not found a baptism record for him but he is found in his father William Butching‘s will dated 20 March 1606/7. William was a husbandman, a term that usually referred to a free tenant farmer who was a rank below a yeoman.
This document shows that John was the sole executor of the will and inherited some of his father’s property. It also mentions William’s grandson – “John Butching son of my son John” – being gifted a ewe. This child was the John Butchin – my 9th great-grandfather – who went on to raise a family in Bletchingley, Surrey, and worked as a carpenter. It was his older brother who inherited the tenancy of the family farm known as Butchings or Butchens in Nutfield.
It’s likely that John would’ve been born in the late 1570s or early 1580s as his siblings were baptised in 1575, 1580 and 1584 at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Nutfield. The parish records reveal no sign of John, which suggests he was missed by the clerk in error. Neighbouring parishes also make no mention of him.
I’ve found no reference to a marriage, a wife, his other children or his burial, which is unusual. Could it be that he was a non-conformist? Interestingly, several of his relations in the 17th century were leading baptists in the area.
John and his wife had at least one child:
- John Butchin (1605?-1672), my 9th great-grandfather.
Sources: Society of Genealogists’ will records, specifically Surrey Archdeaconry wills 1600-1649 Vol 1.