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Subject: [BUTLER-L] Butler Coat of Arms
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 18:56:49 EDT

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I found this at the Ky History Center and thought the Butler Clan would find
it interesting. If anyone can find the book it came from I would be
interested.
Alan

THE BUTLER FAMILY IN AMERICA
17

Butlers of Carlisle, prior to the Revolutionary War bore it and we think some
of the pieces are still in existence. The prefix of Seignior in the family
record of Thomas Butler bears strong re-semblance to the title sometimes used
by a younger son. It may be that it meant the head of the family, or lord of
a manor; perhaps he thought he was entitled to that title on account of
inheritance of it, even if he had no property to give it value. One curious
thing noticed is that the name is spelled Butler now, but many of the older
stock spelled it Buttier or Boteler. In the Thomas Butler's family bible it
was spelled with one and with two "t's."
"The Butler family is one of the oldest in the peerage of Ireland. The
surname Butler is derived from the Chief Butler-ship of Ireland, conferred on
the family by Henry II. Among the most prominent members of the family were
Hubert, Arch-bishop of Canterbury in 1193 and Chancellor of England in 1199;
Theobald, who first assumed the surname of Butler; James, first Earl, who
married Lady Eleanor de Bohun, second daughter of Humphrey, Earl of Hereford
and Essex, by his wife, Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I., King of
England; James the third Earl, who purchased the present family seat,
Kilkenney Castle; Thomas the seventh Earl, whose second daughter, having
married Sir William Boleyn, was the mother of Anne Boleyn and grandmother of
Queen Elizabeth, and James the twelfth Earl, cre-ated Duke of Ormonde by
Charles II.
"The estates of tile family were attainted under the second duke and the
dukedom was lost. When the Butlers were raised to the rank of Earls they were
given the pricage of wines in Ireland. Walter the eighteenth Earl, sold this
privilege back to the Crown for 216,000 pounds sterling."
Many of the Butlers, loyal to the Stuart, followed the Pre-tender into exile
and we have the curious coincident of one of the families (whose descendants
reside in Baltimore and Annapolis).

18
THE BUTLER FAMILY IN AMERICA

having come over with LaFayette, to march side by side with those of the
descendants of James Butler~ (Dublin, i718) in the eause for American
Freedom. Wm. Butler2, son of James and younger brother of Thomas Butler2,
(1740) after meritorious services (he was one of the "Forlorn Hope" under
General Wayne at Stoney Point) was chosen as one of the picked men to serve
as body guard to LaFayette; the latter thought so well of him as to remember
him on his return to America in 1825 as stated else-where. The story of this
Wm. Butlers, which reads like a romance, is told elsewhere in this volume (by
his grandson), Prof. Wm. D. Butler4, of St. Louis, to whose diligent search
and earnest efforts much of our family history has been revealed and
preserved herein for the benefit of future generations, who may know and
pride them-selves that if they do not inherit great wealth they can, at
least, lay claim to a good family name.

[Unable to display image]

THE BUTLER COAT OF ARMS.
A chief, (or) indented (azure) was tile coat of arms of Theo-bald
Walter-Butler; and is traceable on seals so far back as the

THE BUTLER FAMILY IN AMERICA
19

twelfth century, when heraldry was first instituted. This, the family crest
was used in early Norman days and consisted of five ostrich plumes from which
issued a white falcon (argent).
Different branches of the family varied the colors, but the chief of the
family always used the colors of the princess of the blood, viz :--royal blue
and gold. Descendants of Seigneur Thomas Butler, and of his brothers and
their cousins the Butlers from Carlisle, Pa., all the Revolutionary stock,
are entitled to use the family crest.
Prepared by JOSEPH MARION BUTLER
and WILLIAM DAVID BUTLER.
AUTHORITIES :--"Burkes Peerage" London I9o6--Dictionary of Biography--Vol. 8,
McMillan & Co., New York, I886.
Brady's "Episcopal Succession," England's "Life of Arthur O'Leary."
Matthews', American "Armourer and Blue Book" without descent. London, I9o7.

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