Laurence Butler (1750-1820) and wife Catherine were living in Ferns Co. Wexford at the time of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. Laurence was charged with "aiding, abetting, and assisting the murder of George Grimes on or about 29 May 1798, and also with having acted as a Rebel Captain during the Rebellion". He was sentenced to transportation for life and arrived in the colony of New South Wales, ie. Sydney Cove, on 30 October 1802 on the 'Atlas' 2. He is now recognised as Australia's first cabinet maker of note with a large manufactory employing several journeymen and apprentices, and was one of Sydney's leading businessmen.
As Laurence was 52 years of age when he was transported and subsequently had five children in Sydney, he must have had a grown up family in Wexford. I am looking for his Irish descendants and any information on his birth, marriage, parents, cabinet making business, etc.
Thursday 3rd Jan 2013, 02:39AM
Message Board Replies
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Hi,
Thank you for your message. You have some great information here- it is great to see that Laurence prospered despite having been transported!
Unfortunately, it may be quite difficult to find records for Laurence prior to 1800. The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist. As the Church of Ireland was the official church of the country the bulk of information that does survive for earlier periods is often from these registers.
To check Church of Ireland records check: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
To see what Roman Catolic records are available in Ferns follow this link:
Perhaps you could try looking for some newpaper articles on his crime. If you go to http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ you can do a search of the newspaper archives for free. However, if you want to view the article there is a small fee. I would suggest doing your search in the Freemans Journal and the Leinster Journal as both of these newspapers were founded in the 1700's.
Some other websites which may be helpful are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Family Search: https://familysearch.org/
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/wexford/index.html
Wexford County Library: http://www.wexford.ie/wex/Departments/Library/YourServices/LocalStudies/
I hope that some of these suggestions help.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Wednesday 27th Feb 2013, 03:57PM