Pre-1850 census records in the United States are notorious for only indicating the names of heads of households.
The 1845 Michigan State Census for St. Clair County, Michigan lists adjacent entries for Benjamin Butler and Anson Butler in Wales Township. Benjamin’s entry indicated the presence of one male under 10, one male over 21 and under 45, and a female over 21 and under 45. This makes it appear that Benjamin’s household is that of a fairly young couple. The household of Anson Butler has a male over 10 and under 21, one male over 21 and over 45, one male over 45, one female over 21 and under 45, and one female over 45.
The far right hand column of the census indicated who the males over 21 in the household were. For Benjamin that was just him. For Anson’s household it was Anson and a man who appears to be Abner Fitch.
One may speculate that Abner Fitch is a son-in-law of Anson Butler, but more work needs to be done in order to determine how reasonable that speculation is.
Abner could be a hired man, a nephew, or someone else. 
3 Responses
What happens in the 1850 census? Is Fitch still in Anson’s house or elsewhere?
He is elsewhere. We’ll look at him in a followup post.
He appears to have remained in Wales Township, St. Clair County, through his apparent death there in 1901. He apparently marries by the 1850 census and neither of his two wives have any apparent relationship to the Butler family. The Butler family leaves St. Clair County by 1850. At this point, I’m not researching him further as there does not appear to be any connection between he and the Butlers. I’m guessing that he was some type of hired man and that there was no “close” biological relationship.
However….Fitch does appear to have connections to Otsego County, New York and it is possible that they knew each other there or that his parents knew the Butlers.