The intent of the project is to:

Connect Butson branches that pre-date parish registers.

Identify uniquely Butson Y-DNA configurations.

Add to the Butson One-Name Study information.

Here are some of the pre-parish register questions that may be answered by Y-DNA testing. (This project has now answered some of these questions.)

Did the first Muker, Yorkshire, Butson come from St Agnes, Cornwall? (Yes, via Y-DNA)

Was the first St Agnes Butson a child of the St Merryn-Padstow Butsons? (Yes, via Y-DNA)

Did the first St Merryn Butson come from Blackborough / Kentisbeare in Devon? (Not yet determined)

Are there Butson families with different Y-DNA origins? (Yes, via Y-DNA)

We have identified three different Y-DNA Butson families: one in Cornwall and Yorkshire, one in Devonshire and one originating in Somerset and also living in Devonshire.

Butson men, please do a Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA to help our research. The Big Y-700 test is the test that will tell us the most. The least expensive 37 marker test will tell you which Butson family (three different families thus far identified). The 111 marker test give a much better idea of how the Butsons fit together. You can start out at a lower level and later upgrade to a higher level, as your budget allows. But everyone should have the goal of eventually testing at the Big Y-700 level. Family Tree DNA does offer discounts for orders placed in connection with the project, and the Guild of One Name Studies offers a discount for 37 marker tests. Contact the Project Administrator for information before placing your order. (The discounted prices are generally not as good as the sale prices FTDNA offers for Mother's Day and Father's Day.)

The Butson Surname Y-DNA Project is part of the Guild of One-Name Studies Butson Study. The master lineage-linked database (which contains related families) is on Ancestry.com with a frozen snapshot rolled out to the public website at http://www.wwjohnston.net/famhist/celtic-roots-tree

See also the "Early Butson" website at http://www.wwjohnston.net/famhist/early-butson.htm

Wesley Johnston administers the Project and the One-Name Study. His 2nd great grandmother was Emma Butson, daughter of Henry Butson who was born 1831 at St. Blazey, Cornwall, to Solomon Butson and Jane Keam.

Wesley began Y-DNA work in 2009, since his Johnstons came through what is now Northern Ireland, and all records were destroyed when the Dublin Public Record Office was blown up in the 1922 Irish civil war. So Y-DNA was the only way to find his Johnston relatives.