Rufus Barton (1606 - 1648)

Born 1606 in England

Husband of Margaret Mary (Honeywell) Barton — married 1631 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died 1648 at about age 42 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island Colony

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Rufus Barton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Immigrated to Rhode Island, arrival prior to 1640.^[1]

Married Margaret Honeywell possibly about 1636 in Portsmouth. Source indicates birth of a first child in 1637. Margaret married second Walter Todd.^[2]

Passed away in 1648/9 and is buried in Barton Lot, Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island.^[3]

Rufus Barton died intestate in 1648, and at the time, the Warwick Town Council was assigned to take his estate inventory and distribute the his estate, and record the distribution and commit their decision as Rufus 'will' to be recorded by the town. Evidently the document was misplaced and in 1666/7, the Town Council reconstructed 'the will' as follows: ^{[4] [5]}

• son Benjamin L30 when he reaches age 21
• daughter Elizabeth L30 when she reaches age 18 or marries
• daughter Phebe L30 when she reaches age 18 or marries
• the houses, out houses and land assigned to Benjamin
• widow Margaret to have 1/3 of the housing and lands during her widowhood
• John Smith, Samuel Gorton and Randall Holden appointed to be guardians to the children and their inheritance
• Signed by the clerk to the Town Council, March 20. 1666/7. ^[4]

Unsourced Parents

Edward Barton and Margaret (Unknown) Barton

Rufus Barton and Sarah (Stone) Barton

Edward Barton and Elizabeth Barton

Research Notes

The Barton Historical and Genealogical Society lists the parentage of Rufus as unknown due to the following DNA testing which can be found here:

15 Dec 2002: The BARTON DNA Project (www.bartonsite.org) has established that Rufus Barton b. 1606 and Roger Barton (The Immigrant) b. 1628, alleged to be sons of Edward Barton b. 1559, may not be brothers since their descendants (according to current pedigrees) have different Y-Chormosome DNA.

Nov 2013 update: Rufus, Roger and Edward are three distinct yDNA profiles. If the three paper trails really do come together, there are at least two non-paternity-events (NPE).

This DNA result conflicts with many published genealogies which have been accepted as "fact" for decades. Here are some possible casuals: (1) either or both Roger and Rufus were Foster or Adopted sons of Edward, (2) either or both Roger and Rufus were not related in any way to Edward, (3) either Roger or Rufus was a non-paternity event (female infidelity) of Edward... but which one? (4) Both Roger and Rufus were sons of Edward but there was a non-paternity event downstream from one of them. Further research is needed to resolve this apparent conflict.

Sources

1. ↑ Place: Rhode Island; Year: 1640; Page Number: 201. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012.
2. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)

   • Page 49: "Barton, Rufus (-1648/9) & Margaret ?, m/2 Walter Todd; b 1637; Portsmouth"

3. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 89846657
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Settlement of Estates in Rhode Island in: New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 12, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 1858, p. 304-5
5. ↑ Anderson, Robert C. John Greene in: Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 2003, p. 147 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.)

• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)

• Vol. 1, Page 102: Barton, Rufus(1628-), Westchester, NY, & Mary ____; Westcheter, NY {NYGBR 54:284; TAG 27:137}
• Vol. 1, Page 103: Barton, Rufus (-1648/9) & Margaret ____, m/2 Walter Todd; by 1637; Portsmouth, RI/Warwick, RI {Greene (1903) 67; Blakeney-Sabin 50; Gorton 166; Davol-Willets 26; Clark (#4); Clark (#9) 39; Green (#2) 49; Shotwell 45; Sv. 1:134; Austin: GDRI 205, 250; Reg. 12:304}

• Phillips, Wendell. "Notices of the Greene Family", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1850) Vol. 4, Page 75
• Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Deaths (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001) Death: 1648 Warwick, Kent, RI, USA
• American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT, USA. Birth: 1610 Rhode Island
• https://www.geni.com/people/Rufus-Barton/6000000000426675765
• Find A Grave: Memorial #89846657
• The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1923) Vol. 54, Page 284: Information about Barton family members, but not Rufus.
• McCracken, George, E., Rufus Barton, Not Roger, in Manhattan 1642, The American Genealogist (The American Genealogist, Barrington, RI, 1951) Vol. 27, Page 137