My earliest Butler ancestor is James Butler, first mentioned in 1659 in the records of what is now Lancaster, MA. He subsequently moved to Woburn, then Billerica, MA, where he died in 1681. His burial records refer to him as an Irishman. His wife was named Mary and he is known to have fathered three girls and two boys. I am descended through his second son, John. His father may have been named Robert.