He was one of five sons of Henry Butterworth, a religiously-inclined blacksmith of Goodshaw, a village in Rossendale Valley, Lancashire; three of his brothers also became ministers of Baptist congregations: Henry was at Bridgnorth; James was at Bromsgrove; and Lawrence, who wrote two pamphlets against Unitarian views, was at Evesham.
[1] John was born 13 December 1727, and went to the school of David Crosley, a Calvinistic minister.
[2] About 1753 Butterworth was appointed pastor of Cow Lane Chapel, Coventry.
[2] The Encyclopædia Metropolitana considered it "for the most part, a judicious abridgment" of Cruden's Concordance.
[2] This was published under the pseudonym "Christophilus", and attacked the Unitarian views of Joseph Priestley.