Pierce Butler
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Pierce Butler (1558 - 1627)

Pierce "of Nodstown" Butler
Born in Ballynenoddagh, Ardmayle, County Tipperary, Irelandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and
Brother of and
Husband of — married before 1586 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Father of
Died at about age 69 in Nodstown, County Tipperary, Irelandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 4 Jan 2018
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Note: The nickname "of Nodstown" (and its variations, including Ballynenoddagh) is an integral part of his name, and that of his father and male descendants. They were nearly always referred to as such, in order to distinguish them from the numerous other Butler branches (Cahir, Dunboyne, Boytonrath, Polestown, etc).

Contents

Biography

Pierce Butler of Nodstown,[1] grandson of James, 9th Earl of Ormond, was 2 years old upon his father Walter's death. He married his 2nd cousin Ellen Purcell,[2] who was the daughter of Thomas Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe,[3] and Joan FitzPatrick of the FitzPatricks of Ossory.[4][5]

Piers was known informally as Mac-Killine-Butler (from his father's nickname)[6] or Mac-Eillane-Butler (after his mother).[7]

Piers' eldest son James, who married Elenor, daughter of Sir John FitzGerald of Dromana, Co. Waterford, was father of Walter Butler, forfeiting proprietor 1641. Nodstown (800 acres) was granted to John Upton, who sold it to Giles Martin, who, being annoyed with his wife, left it to King’s Hospital, Dublin."[8]

Timeline of Key Events

  • September 1576: His paternal uncle Thomas, 10th Earl or Ormond, mentions "Pierce Butler, son of my brother, Walter Butler" as one of many beneficiaries in his will.[9]
  • 1580-87 (estimate):[10] Pierce unsuccessfully tried to claim the inheritance of his maternal uncle William Morres (William died without issue; he was the only son of Edmond Morres), but the lands legally remained in possession of Edmond's elder brother Oliver-Oge Morres.[11]
  • 1586: Pardon to Piers Butler FitzWalter, gentleman; Derbie O'Dowyr (Dermot O'Dwyer) [likely his brother-in-law], gentleman.[12]
  • 1586: Deed of Piers Butler Fitz-Walter of Ballynenoddagh, gentleman, and his wife Ellen Purcell, granting premises to two men: Thomas Wadding[13][14] of Waterford, gentleman, and [Ellen's brother?] Edmond Purcell of Ballinrie, Co. Tipperary, gentleman. Referencing the last will of Earl James, grandfather of Piers.[15][16]
  • 1592: A cess (tax) agreement is presented by Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, and signed by Pierce Butler of Nodstown and many other relatives and neighbours.[17][18][19]
  • 1593: "Piers Butler, son of Walter, late brother of said Earl, of Ballynenoddagh" is listed as heir to certain Ormond estates, in sequence after "William Purcell fitz Robert of Kilkenny, yeoman". Document prepared by Sir Richard Shee. Witnesses: Thomas Cantwell et al.[20]
  • 1594: Robert Rothe[21] of Kilkenny, son and heir of David Rothe, late of the same, deceased, has granted to Walter Butler of Kilcash [future 11th Earl of Ormond; 1st cousin to Pierce of Nodstown] the town and lands of Ardcollom, Co. KIlkenny ... with remainders over to Piers Butler fitz Walter of Moyally et al.[22]
  • 1598: Piers Butler Fitz-Walter of Moyallive [Moyaliff] in Co. Tipperary, gentleman, names his 5 daughters in a land transaction: Ellane, Johan, Ellinor, Margaret, Marie.[23]
  • 1599: "Piers Butler fitz Walter, nephew of the Earl" appears on a long list of potential heirs.[24]
  • 1601: "Piers Butler fitz Walter, nephew of Sir Edmund" is mentioned in Vol.6 of the Ormond Deeds as one of the heirs, in sequence, of the estates of his uncle Sir Edmund Butler of Cloghgrenan.[25]

Excerpted from History of Clonmel, regarding a Protestant crackdown on Tipperary Catholics in the 1610s:[26]

  • While the Ormonds retained the Palatinate, the Catholics of Tipperary experienced merely occasional outbursts [of anti-Catholic sentiment]. When, however, James I seized on the liberties and imprisoned Walter, 11th Earl, Piers' first cousin [1617], they felt the full stress of the storm.
  • The King's judges now came circuit to Clonmel, and at each assizes the Act 2 Elizabeth [sic] was given in charge. By this Act everyone was bound to attend the Protestant service in his parish church every Sunday and holiday. The penalty for absence was 12 pence, which in practice came to 10 shillings through the cost of the levy.
  • The names of the recusants — those who refused to go to church — were furnished by the Protestant ministers, and bills of indictment were framed thereon. But the Grand Jurors being at this period all Catholics, refused to take part in the persecution of their co-religionists and threw out the bills.
  • The law was now set in motion against the Jurors themselves. Among many cases we find the following:
    • November 1617 — Piers Butler Fitz Walter of Nodstown, Piers Hackett of Ballytrasny [27] and John O'Kennedy of Lackine, members of a grand jury impanelled before the above named justices at Clonmell in September last — to pay fines of 30 pounds apiece ... and all of them to be imprisoned during pleasure for refusing to present recusants.

Pierce died on 21 February 1627 and was buried in nearby Holycross Abbey,[28] Tipperary, as were at least 4 of his Morres ancestors.[29]

Children

Some of the known children of Piers Butler & Ellen Purcell.[30] [31]

  • Richard, of Rorane,[32] who married twice: 1) Fynola, daughter of Carroll O'Carroll[33] of Beaghagh, and 2) Ellen, daughter of Gerald Wale,[34][35] of Coolnemucky,[36] County Waterford. Richard and Ellen had a son Piers of Rorane.
  • Ellenor, who in 1618 married Nicholas Meyler, and received a cash gift from her uncle Sir Laurence Esmonde[39] (husband of her paternal aunt Elizabeth, with whom he had no children)
  • Margaret
  • Mary

Pierce Butler's death record (see image)[40] mentions his wife Ellen, daughter of "Thomas Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe", and the names of 2 sons (James, Richard) and 4 daughters (Ellen, Joan, Eleanor, Margaret).[41]

A possible 2nd marriage?

  • Burke's Peerage (2003)[42] indicates that Piers Butler FitzWalter of Nodstown married Giles Power -- daughter of John Mór, 3rd Baron le Poer, and his 1st wife Eleanor FitzGerald (died ca.1570).
  • While this marriage to Giles (ca.1600, allowing time for Piers' 1st wife Ellen Purcell to have 6 children, including heir James Butler in 1586) does not appear in Piers Butler's Funeral Entry (see image), it is entirely possible given the family connections: Both Piers and Giles were great-grandchildren of the earlier Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, and his wife Margaret FitzGerald. This marriage could also explain the existence of another possible son, John, who does not appear in the Funeral Entry:

Research Notes

Two Butler men who happened to be 2nd cousins -- James of Grallagh (b.1543) and Pierce of Nodstown (b.1558) -- each married a different woman named Ellen/Ellenor Purcell who was a daughter of "Sir Thomas Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe". Either these women were sisters with similar first names (very common in large families of the time) or they came from different generations, as there existed Sir Thomas Purcell the elder (b. ca.1470) and his grandson Sir Thomas Purcell (b.1538). Each Purcell man was Baron of Loughmoe in his day. Pierce of Nodstown definitely married a daughter of the younger Sir Thomas Purcell (b.1538). As for James of Grallagh: In The Butler Family of Lebanon, Connecticut, author Bryant Ormond Butler gives a marriage date of "before 1565" for James and Ellenor, which would place her as the elder Thomas' daughter. However, the author later refers to James as the son-in-law of the younger Thomas in 1579. Therefore, other possibilities are that the author 1) confused the two Purcell men or 2) miscalculated the marriage date of James and Ellinor -- which could have been no earlier than 1575 if Ellenor were daughter of the younger Thomas.[46]

Sources

  1. ↑ Nodstown Castle, County Tipperary, is in the countryside about halfway between Cashel and Thurles. Here are 2 photos from the website "Irish Castles":
  2. ↑ Pierce and Ellen were 2nd cousins via their common great-grandparents Piers, 8th Earl of Ormond, and Margaret FitzGerald, daughter of Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare.
  3. ↑ Lodge's Peerage (1789), Vol.4, p.28:
  4. ↑ Joan's father was Brian FitzPatrick, 1st Baron of Upper Ossory, one of the first Irish chieftains to trade his Irish title for an English one under the Tudor Surrender & Re-Grant program.
  5. ↑ From Lodge's Peerage, as cited in Edmund Hogan's Description of Ireland (Dublin: M.H. McGill, 1878), p.212:
    • "Piers B. of Ballynenodagh or Moyaliffe, son of W. Butler, and a dau. of McBrien Ogonagh, d. in 1627, and was buried in the Abbey of Holy Cross. His wife was a dau. of the Baron of Loghmoe ; his sisters were m. to O'Dwyer of Dundroney in Tipperary, to Sherlock of Mothe in Waterford, to Esmond Baron of Limbrick in Wexford."
  6. ↑ "Killine" is a possible reference to the township of Killinleigh, in the parish of Moyaliff:
  7. ↑ Hervey de Montmorency-Morres, p. xvii
  8. ↑ Source: Funeral Entries, Vol. V. p. 119. Falkner, Foundation of Hospital of King Charles II. See note 176 here:
  9. ↑ The Earl of Ormond wrote this lengthy will as he embarked on a trip to England, in the context of the brutal Desmond Rebellions.
  10. ↑ The date range of 1580-87 is based on 1) Piers' maternal grandfather Edmond Morres still being alive in 1580, based on his mention in the Ormond Deeds, and 2) the departure of Edmond's elder brother Oliver-Oge Morres ca.1587 for France, where he eventually died in 1595.
  11. ↑ Hervey de Montmorency-Morres, Genealogical Memoir of the Family of Montmorency (1817), ISBN 134133841X, Appendix XCV:
  12. ↑ Sir Michael O'Dwyer, The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh, (London: J.Murray, 1933), p.334:
  13. ↑ Thomas Wadding and Mary Walsh were the parents of no less than 5 Jesuit priests, including Catholic missionary Michael Wadding (1591-1644), who lived in Portugal, Spain, and Mexico; and theologian Peter Wadding (1583–1644), Chancellor of the University of Prague for 12 years. From the Dictionary of Irish Biography profile for Michael:
    • "Thomas was a successful lawyer who served as chief justice of Tipperary and as mayor of Waterford in 1596, and provided legal advice to Sir George Carew, Lord President of Munster. Thomas was a staunch Catholic and his houses in Waterford city and in King's Meadow, Co. Waterford, acted as sanctuaries for priests."
  14. ↑ Michael Wadding was the focus of a 10-page article by Rev. Edmund Hogan in the Journal of the Waterford & South-East Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol.4 (1898), pp.73-82:
  15. ↑ From the Calendar of Patents for King James I, p.173, item XCIII.
  16. ↑ Thomas Wadding, via his brother Walter Wadding, "a wealthy merchant" and Walter's wife Anastasia Lombard, was the uncle of the well-known Franciscan priest Luke Wadding (1588-1657), who spent the majority of his career in Spain and Italy; and his elder brother Ambrose Wadding (1583–1619), Jesuit and university teacher.
  17. ↑ Signatures:
  18. ↑ "Donal O'Meara", head of the O'Meara family in Lismisky, County Tipperary, had son & heir William, who had son Teige, who died 30 Apr 1636 and was buried in the Abbey of Clonmel. Teige married Honora, daughter of Robert Grace of Courtstown, County Kilkenny, and had 3 sons (Daniel, William, Patrick) and 2 daughters (Ellin, Elan):
  19. ↑ Donal (Daniel) O'Meara married Honora Morres, daughter of Sir John Morres (1545-1621).
  20. ↑ Ormond Deeds, Vol.6, item 85, p.60:
  21. ↑ Sir Robert Rothe MP was trusted advisor to Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, in the final decades of Ormond's life and documented much historical and genealogical information on the family. The 2 men were 3rd cousins via common ancestor Edmund MacRichard Butler (1420-1464) of Polestown. (This means Pierce Butler of Nodstown was also 3rd cousin to Robert Rothe, via the same common ancestor.) A great amount of Rothe's findings pertaining to Thomas Butler are cited by historian Thomas Carte (1686-1754) in his book The Life of James, Duke of Ormond, Vol.1 (Oxford University Press, 1851), starting in the Introduction (p. xcvii, Paragraph 98) and continuing for more than 20 pages:
  22. ↑ Vol.6 of the Ormond Deeds, item 98, p.71:
  23. ↑ From the Calendar of Patents for King James I, p.173, item XCV.
  24. ↑ Vol.6 of the Ormond Deeds, appendix, p.185:
  25. ↑ Vol.6 of the Ormond Deeds, item 139, p.113:
  26. ↑ William P. Burke, History of Clonmel (N. Harvey & Co., Waterford, Ireland, 1907), Chapter 4, pp.51-52:
  27. ↑ "Ballytarsney", on the southern border of Co. Kilkenny, is located between Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford city. What is interesting here is the geographical connection to William Fanning, whose great-grandson Edmund Fanning married the granddaughter Ellen of Piers Butler of Nodstown.
  28. ↑ Wikipedia: Holy Cross Abbey
  29. ↑ For context, Pierce's mother was a Morres, and his grandfather Edmond Morres owned part of the lands containing Holy Cross Abbey. Pierce's great-great-grandfather Sir John Morres, his great-grandfather Sir Oliver Morres, and his great-uncle Oliver Oge Morres, were all buried in the Abbey as well.
  30. ↑ Collins Peerage, Vol.9, p.100:
  31. ↑ All 5 daughters were named as main beneficiaries in a land transaction of "Piers Butler FitzWalter of Moyallive in Tipperary," dated November 1598, with secondary beneficiaries cited as Piers' "heirs male":
  32. ↑ From context, possibly Rorane in the civil parish of Terryglass, barony of Ormond Lower, Tipperary:
  33. ↑ Possibly the notorious Sir Charles (Calvagh) O'Carroll, who was murdered by rival O'Carroll factions in 1600.
  34. ↑ The surname Wale is variously spelled Val, Vale, Wall in other documents of the time.
  35. ↑ Another of Garret/Gerald's daughters, Ellice, married a distant cousin Sir Redmond Morres, 2nd Baronet of Knockagh, Co. Tipperary. The common Butler/Morres ancestor was Sir John Morres (born ca.1430s).
  36. ↑ A modern photo of Coolnamuck Castle and a map pinpointing its location, midway between the towns of Clonmel and Waterford. From the website "Irish Castles":
  37. ↑ For further exploration only: Unsourced Internet trees list her husband as "Blancheville".
  38. ↑ For further exploration only: Unsourced Internet trees list her husband as "Burke".
  39. ↑ "Having no issue by his 2nd wife Elizabeth Butler, Sir Laurence Esmonde bequeathed his immense property to Thomas Esmonde, the son of his first wife (O'Flaherty) whom he had repudiated. Thomas could not inherit the barony, since his father, while willing to name him as his heir, would not admit his legitimacy, but he had already in 1629 been created the 1st of the Esmonde Baronets: the title still exists." [in 2020]
  40. ↑ The death year of 1626 (old style) = 1627 (new style)
  41. ↑ "Funeral Entries, Vol. 17, containing armorial and genealogical notes made by officers of arms concerning deceased persons, with, in some cases, illustrations of their arms and funeral processions, ca.1450-1861", p.230:
  42. ↑ as referenced in The Peerage
  43. ↑ Cian O'Carroll is entry #125 in John O'Hart's pedigree of the "Princes of Ely O'Carroll" (Irish Pedigrees, 1892, Vol. 1):
  44. ↑ Sir Henry Blackall, "The Butlers of County Clare", first published in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 1952 (Funeral Entries, (G.O), Vol. VII p. 224):
  45. ↑ The reference to John being a younger son of Piers Butler of Nodstown comes from John's profile on The Peerage, citing Montgomery-Massingberd Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) as source.
  46. ↑ The Butler Family of Lebanon, Connecticut, p.10; pp.16-17:




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Funeral Notice: Piers Butler of Nodstown
Funeral Notice: Piers Butler of Nodstown
Butler, of Nodstoune, co. Tipperary
Butler, of Nodstoune, co. Tipperary
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Lynne Ford
Hi all, am just learning more about the "digital" world, so plse forgive me if incorrect. I think that I am a descendant of Pierce BUTLER, b 1558. My ancestry is through Joanne/Joan MEYLER born in about 1770. I would love to learn more about this family's fascinating history. Cheers, Lynne in Tasmania.
posted by Lynne Ford

This week's featured connections are Summer Olympians: Pierce is 32 degrees from Simone Biles, 25 degrees from Maria Johanna Philipsen-Braun, 18 degrees from Pierre de Coubertin, 19 degrees from Étienne Desmarteau, 20 degrees from Fanny Gately, 25 degrees from Evelyn Konno, 41 degrees from Paavo Johannes Nurmi, 19 degrees from Wilma Rudolph, 30 degrees from Carl Schuhmann, 16 degrees from Zara Tindall, 19 degrees from Violet Robb and 19 degrees from Mina Wylie on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.

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