Question: I am looking for information on a Giles Butler who was sailing for New England in the 1630’s from England. Hoping he may be a relative of my Butlers.
Answer: According to the scholarship of Robert Charles Anderson published on The Great Migration there is a reference to your Giles Butle. This appears in the second series covering immigrants 1634-1635 [p. 515]. Anderson states “On or about 5 April 1635, ‘Gyles Butler’ of Marlborough, Wiltshire, laborer or husbandman, embarked at Southampton on the James of London.” Anderson goes on further to comment “There is no evidence that this man arrived in New England”. My own personal speculation is that the gentleman died on the passage over, or may have died soon after arriving and no record of his death was recorded.