Shep's Place Family Tree

When he was born, John had a brother James, four years; brother William, three years; and sister Sarah two years. Elizabeth Parker Buttfield was a busy woman with four children under the age of four!

The very next year John would have another sister, Eliza, then Albert, Joseph, Francis, Samuel and Annie. John was 15 years old when Annie, the youngest, was born. Altogether John had three sisters and six brothers.

In a letter written from John to his sister Sarah in 1847, John remembers their childhood: "Your letter letter has awakened...such feelings of affection as we were wont to feel for each other long, long ago. It has refreshed my memory with the scenes of those days when we were each other's sole companion - & were happy in each other's society."

James, William and John all learned their father's trade of printing. I can imagine that father William gave his boys jobs to do which helped him and taught them the trade. The printing business was located on the High Street in the village of Hemel Hempsted.

John's home in Hemel Hempstead in 1841 had the lovely name of Cherry Bounce. Later the family lived in Redbourn ‎(now Chapel)‎ Street where the premises consisted of a house and shop.

The Buttfields attended church services at the Boxmoor Baptist Chapel in Hemel Hempstead. When he was nineteen years old, John was baptized and joined the church on 3 October 1841. Five months later, Anna Louisa Carey, aged 15 years, and her brother Jonathan Pearce Carey were also baptized there and joined the church. As John and Louisa became good friends, going to church probably became increasingly more interesting.

Three years later on 25 October 1844, John 22 years and Louisa 18 years married in Hemel Hempstead. Almost immediately afterwards, the young couple left England for Belize in British Honduras where John was to be a printer and missionary with a Baptist mission.

Nearly one year previously in 1843 Louisa Carey's father Jonathan, a widower lawyer home from India, married John Buttfield's sister Sarah; therefore, before his marriage to Louisa, Jonathan was John's brother-in-law. After John and Louisa's marriage, Jonathan was also his father-in-law. How confusing is this? There was some falling out between the two couples, which must have been very painful for both, which explains the opening of John's letter to his Sarah from Belize.

"Belise, British Honduras
Mar 20th, 1847

My precious Sister,

Never, within my recollection, have I felt greater pleasure on the receipt of a letter than in receiving from my beloved sister the kind and affectionate expression of her continued love now before me...Ah! Sister Sarah, the wide Atlantic now rolls between us and our attention is called forth by dear relationships & our time occupied by cares & pursuits that we little dreamed of as we journeyed together over Boxmoor to our Zion there...I feared, dear Sarah, that I should never hear from you again--I was apprehensive that the tongue of the slanderer had succeeded in depriving me of the happiness of my sister's consciouness of the rightness of my motives ... I feel grieved that your dear husband should maintain so long silence, especially toward my precious Anna..."

By this time John and Anna had a son named Edward, who was born in Belise in 1845, to whom John refers when he says, "If you were to see my little Edward you could not help loving him, but I suppose you would like your dear Douglas or Francis better?..I should like to have a peep at all of you. How do you like the sound of Edward John?"

John's work in Belise consisted of supervising the printing department, teaching a day school of 70 pupils plus a night class for Carib men, and preaching on Sundays and some weekdays. He did not, however, agree with Mr. Henderson, the superintendent of the mission. In September 1847 the British Missionary Society committee reported that John should be withdrawn from the Belize mission; consequently, the family sailed back to England on the Jane Morrison later that year.

By this time the Buttfields had a new baby because Emilie Anna was born eleven months after Edward. When back in England, John sought to seek a position as a missionary in Australia. He succeeded, and the little family sailed from London on the Baboo on a three mast ship rig of 423 t. under the command of Captain Barker. Anna, who was pregnant again, and John with two young children sailed for South Australia, where they docked on 5 December 1848.

Anna gave birth to Spencer Carey Buttfield on board the ship as it sailed through Spencer's Gulf enroute to Port Adelaide, or Port Misery as it was sometimes called.

The Buttfields first lived in Gumeracha, where John was the first paid minister of the Salem Baptist Church. Their fourth child, Herbert Pearce, was born there. They were in Gumeracha only a short time before doctrinal differences caused a split in the church, and many followed John to a new church in Kenton Valley.

In August 1851 the Buttfields moved again to Uley-One Tree Hill near Gawler, South Australia. There Anna gave birth to seven more children.

In Uley John was the first school teacher at the Uley school, as well as a preacher at the Uley Chapel and a farmer. He won prizes for his wheat in the Gawler and Adelaide Shows. He also liked to play cricket and was a member of the Munno Para Rifles Volunteers. He also travelled widely taking services and performing marriages. He was also a foundation member of a new Baptist church in Adelaide on Flinders Street.

John's world crashed during the winter of 1862 when his beautiful wife Anna died at the tender age of 36, having had her eleventh baby.

John stayed at Uley for another two years, then left for Port Lincoln on the Eyre Penninsula. The family probably travelled there by boat.

In a letter written by John to his parents in St Helier, Jersey, he says,

"My dear children are all well, and at home save Spencer and Percy - the former is gone to Batavia and Singapore in charge of 40 horses in the ship "Omagh" and the latter is still with his old foster mother Mrs Hewston...Our cottage faces Boston Bay, & the township & is about half a mile distant and at an elevation of 80 feet above the water."

The congregation in Port Lincoln was not large or wealthy enough to support a preacher with a large family; consequently the Buttfields had to leave. John's friend Police Commissioner Peterswald persuaded him to apply for the job of Sub-Protector of Aborigines and Special Magistrate at Blinman in the Flinders Ranges. John was successful and enjoyed a salary was £300 per year.

On 3 September 1868 John married Miss Jessie Hay Cameron, sister-in-law of John's good friend Edward Lomer Ifould. They were married at Toolunga, the Ifould home in One Tree Hill. At 20 years of age, Jessie was younger than some of John's children. He was 46 years old and probably in his prime. Despite her youth--or perhaps because of it--Jessie was able to be a step-mother to eight of John's children besides having eight children of her own in the next ten years. They all lived at Edith Cottage in Blinman, although the older children gradually married and moved elsewhere.

For the next eighteen years John led a very busy life, travelling extensively around the outback and holding court cases in Beltana. He also performed many marriages, including those of some of his own children.

John died on 14 July 1885 at Blinman and is buried there. He was 63 years old.

Part of John's obituary as reported in the Adelaide Observer of 18th July, 1885:

Mr. J.P. Buttfield was higly respected in the district in which his influence was brought to bear, and in his capacity as magistrate he acquired the confidence of the public by reasons of the fairness of his decisions no less than by his sterling qualities of heart. In the aborigines he had a charge to fulfill which was thorough in accord wit his humane disposition, and the natives were ever ready to show their appreciation of him. Deep regret is felt in the district, as for nearly twenty years he has been a leading resident.