Biographical Notes |
Note: The Registrar of Births in Adelaide records George's name as George William rather than George Edward. Interestingly, in the Yorke newspaper account of his death, the initials G.W. are used. In 1882 George was in the Rocky River-Crystal Brook area where several of his relatives had land; but in 1883 he was on the Yorke Peninsula, farming at Oaklands. A year later George married his first cousin Blanche Buckley Buttfield, daughter of Francis Buttfield.
Blanche and George may have decided not to have children because of their first cousin status. For whatever reason they did not have children of their own; however, the premature death of George's brother Arthur in 1887 gave them the opportunity to have a family. They relieved Louisa Buttfield, the young widow with seven children, of three of those children, and brought them up as if they were their own. Louisa had remarried very soon after Arthur's death and subsequently had two more children.
George was a noted rifleman and was for some years the captain of the Yorketown Rifle Club.
In less than ten years thereafter George Buttfield would also die relatively young. In The Advertiser, Wednesday August 22nd 1906: DEATHS BUTTFIELD.--On the 17th August at Yorketown, George Edward, dearly beloved husband of B.B. Buttfield, passed away in his sleep, aged 48 years.
The notice in The Yorke Peninsula Advertiser, Friday, August 24th 1906 (page ) reads as follows: YORKETOWN THE LATE MR. BUTTFIELD.--Gloom has been cast over the whole district by the sudden death of Captain G.W. Buttfield of the local rifle club, which took place on Thursday night last. Mrs. Buttfield noticed him make an unusual noise in the night but before she could rouse him he had passed away. Heart trouble was the cause. Deceased was an enthusiastic in all kinds of scientific agriculture and horticulture. Of late years he has been experimenting with electricity, as applied to wheat culture with interesting results and...possibilities of a wonderful increase in yields by the agency. His sudden decease has nipped these interesting trials in the bud. Much sympathy is felt for the widow and aged father who are left.
George left his property to his wife Blanche. She remained there until March 1914 when she took her father-in-law Albert Buttfield and her two nieces Sophie and Alice Buttfield to live in Adelaide at The Nook in Magill. Blanche had inherited the property at Magill from her father Francis Buttfield.
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