Hi all, There have been a number of attempts to trace John Dutton of Massachusetts back to the Dutton family tree in England. Recently I have seen him identified as a son of Sir Ralph Dutton of Shirborne. On the Dutton family tree that I have circulated to many of you, there is a John Dutton, son of Sir Ralph who seems to be the end of his line. His time period is about right to have emigrated to New England. Is it possible that this is the link? I have some material that I believe eliminates this possibility. The source for what I will quote is the "Supplement to Collin's Peerage of England", in particular the section titled "Dutton Lord Shirborne" which can be found at pages 412-424. I don't have a date for this but it appears to have been published not long after 1780. For those of you with the Dutton chart I mailed out, you can find the particular John Dutton and his father Sir Ralph Dutton in the lower right hand quadrant. He is about in the middle of that quadrant horizontally and at one vertical level above the John Dutton of Overton who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1682. On the chart this John Dutton's father is listed as "Sir Ralph Dutton Rt M P". While there is no line showing the relationship, above Sir Ralph is a second "Sir Ralph Dutton M P". So here is the scoop on the John Dutton from the text I have (pages 422-423). "Sir John Dutton, of Shirborne, Baronet, some time Knight of the shire for the county of Gloucester, who died February 1, 1742-43, aged 61, and was buried at Shirborne the fourth of the same month, having had two wives, first Mary, sole daughter and heir of Sir Rushout Cullen, of Upton, in Warwickshire, Baronet, but she died without issue, and was buried at Shirborne, on May 23, 1719; and by his second wife Mary, daughter of Sir Francis Keck, of Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, Bart. They had only a daughter, Mary, of whom her mother died in child-bed; and they were both buried at Shirborne, on June 15, 1729. Sir John having survived all his brothers, and dying without issue, the baronetage became extinct at his death." So the John Dutton on the chart was the end of a line - not an emigrant to Massachusetts. In addition he was the wrong age to have been in New England in 1630. Am I sure that the John Dutton quotation above is the son of Sir Ralph on the chart? Yes. This text starts with Leycester's Odard material and traces the line down the chart to Ralph Dutton of Chester who married "Elinor Da of Sir Richard Duleston" and their son "Richard Dutton of Cloughton" It includes Richard's son Thomas, then William to Sir Ralph, and then Sir Ralph (the younger) who was father of the John discussed above. So this descent pretty much matches what is on the chart right down to the John Dutton who died in 1742-43. Here is what it says about John's father, Sir Ralph Dutton (the younger). "Which Ralph, was some time Knight of the Shire for the county of Gloucester, and was created a Baronet of Great Britain, to him and the heirs-male of his body, by patent, bearing date June 22, 1678. He first married Grisell, daughter of Sir Edward Poole of Kemble in Wilts, Knight, and by her, who was buried at Shirborne, February 25, 1677, had two daughters, Elizabeth, baptized at Shirborne October 14, 1675, who became wife to William Green, of London, Esq; and Grisell, baptized February 18, 1677-78, and buried at Shirborne September 11, 1681. His second wife was Mary, only daughter of Dr. Peter Barwick, Physician in ordinary to King Charles the second, by who he had four sons and three daughters." One of those sons was John described above. Anyway, I hate to punch a hole in a balloon, but this material sounds pretty complete and authoritative. I would say this proves that the John Dutton of Massachusetts sometime in 1630 (according to Savage) cannot be the same as John Dutton, son of Sir Ralph Dutton. There are further problems with the genealogies that trace back through the Thomas Dutton of Woburn, Massachusetts. All that Cope can indicate is that Savage's "Genealogical Dictionary of New England" includes a John Dutton "arrived" in 1630 but of no know settlement and no known marriage or offspring. He guesses that Thomas was "perhaps a son of John". Until someone can find a good source, the statement that this John Dutton was married to a Mary Neeld seems to me nothing more than confusion with the Mary Dutton, husband of John of Pennsylvania who later became Mary Neelde when remarried. The New England Historic Genealogical Society has been engaged in a large project, "The Great Migration Begins" to trace the ancestry and location of all immigrants to New England from 1620-1633. Somebody should search that new database to find either John or Thomas Dutton. I am going to be away for a week, but I'd be interested in reactions to my thoughts presented here. I'll read them when I get back about July 13. Doug Hall