Butler Family..Our American Story: Why Search Into the past?

Wilma Butler Burgin.... " the love of family is still in our hearts."

When I was born I had five grandmothers-two grandmothers and three great-grandmothers. The great-grandmothers did not die until I was in High School and I do remember them.
When Mama and Papa Butler moved to Atlanta and lived in the house on Leslie St. I often would ride my bike over to see and visit them. Some times Mama Butler would let me unbraid her hair and comb it. I loved doing this.. her hair was so long. I'd never seen anything like it. When we lived in the country before moving to Atlanta Mama and Papa Butler kept me while mother worked. I was so unhappy about being left I would sit on the back rock step leading into the house waiting for mother to come get me.
Mama Butler would call everyone of her children every night to hear from them. That was for those living in town. For the two out of state, she'd call them once a week.
I can never really remember Papa Butler having a conversation with anyone. But I do know that my mother said he was the smartest man she had ever known..especially with math. He could do figures in his head and have the answer before most could write the problem down. When the Butler children were in school, they were all considered to be the smartest..although the boys would get into trouble at times.
I have always loved being around family..both sides. After daddy died, I especially loved being with and listening to Mack and David. It was just like a visit with Daddy for me. They were all so close and so very much alike.
I remember during the war that David sent Aunt Jewell money to buy Martha a Christmas present from him. Aunt Jewell asked Mother to go with her to get and wrap the gift, then take it to Martha's family home. I remember sitting on a stone wall outside her house while Mother and Aunt Jewell delivered the present. Martha had to have been really surprised!
I also remember Mother and Daddy going with David when Martha had Lydia. They were so happy and proud for them.

Our Yankee Cousins........

Almost every summer when we were growing up in Brushy Fork Uncle Mac and Aunt Margaret along with Keith and Janice would come down to visit us from their home in Clifton NJ. After World War II Uncle Mac married Aunt Margaret who was the sister of his best friend in the army. She was from New Jersey, so Keith and Janice were our Yankee cousins. When they came to visit, we would start indoctrinating them into Southerness. First they had to go barefooted and start saying ya'll. They were not allowed to say "pop", it had to be "coke or co-cola". We had grits every morning for breakfast and homemade ice cream at night. They learned to say "yes mam" and" no sir" the first few minutes they set foot on the farm. We knew we didn't have long to help them connect with their Rebel roots so it was intense at times. They must have liked it because they kept coming back and they stayed for weeks at the time. Uncle Mac was proof that "you can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the boy." Lydia Butler Anderson

Brushy Fork........

1954 A red dirt road ran in front of our little house. Covered with black tar paper with a tin roof, it had once been Brushy Fork School House. It was moved to the top of the hill from the fork in the road and daddy had made it our home. He had put a large front porch across the front and a smaller one on the back. Outside he built a double hole outhouse about 100 feet from the back porch. The kitchen had a large white sink with running cold water from the well. The living room contained a wood/coal burning potbelly stove that was the only source of heat. There were two bedrooms, one next to the living room and one off the kitchen. A bare light bulb hung from the ceilings in each of the 4 rooms, with a string that pulled to turn it on and off. The nearest neighbor was about a mile away, and across from the house were the Cooper Woods, a 200+ tract of huge pine trees. There were so few cars that we could hear one coming a long time before we actually saw it. That gave us all time to run outside and wait to see who it might be. Usually it was just the mailman, but sometimes it was a car with people in it. The excitment of seeing a car drive down Brushy Fork Road had to rival any video game kids have today. At night the quiet breeze would blow through the pine trees making a sound that I haven't heard in a long time. Fireflies flickered at sunset, and in the summer the smell of the fields and summer rain through our open windows would soothe us to sleep. Lydia Butler Anderson

Band Of Brothers........

During WWII Four of Lydia & Tom Butlers' sons were serving in the conflict. Ed, John, Mac, and David. Ed and David in the Pacific and Mac and John in Europe. Bud a son in law was serving in Europe and Bill the other son in law was serving at home by growing food to feed the nation. While populations in Europe were starving, our farm families kept good food on the tables of America and food for the troops. Dennis was exempt because of a heart valve that was damaged from rheumatic fever as a teenager. I know my grandparents were comforted by Uncle Dennis being there for them during that difficult time. The wives and parents and others served also in the war effort supporting the fighting men so far from home.
My grandmother said she did not worry about her sons and son in law because "what is to be will be". They were in God's hands and she trusted him to take care of them and to give her strength no matter happened. Their stories of the war are full of miracles of survival. Mama Butler's faith and prayers were answered, because they all made it home safely and lived after the war to raise families and enjoy coming home to a grateful nation.

DNA Results

My Cousin , Gary Butler has his DNA results back and they are very interesting. We are definitely descended from Zachariah Butler b Va. 1736 in Hanover Co. He had sons James, Patrick, Nathan, and Joel. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Nathan b 1762 is the son we were descended from. He is in Walton Co . Ga. in1830 along with Papa Butler's gggreat grandfather, Patrick Butler b 1799.
Since there are no other DNA samples from Nathan yet..there was a partial match with Joel, and also Patrick. Further research on this is needed. I am going to find others from Nathan who will take the DNA test. I am also going to research Joel. I will keep everyone posted.
Again Thanks Gary for doing the DNA test.

Dare Butler Sells Recipes

Chocolate Pie
1 Baked Pie Crust 1 C Sugar
3 Tbls Flour 2 Tbls Cocoa
1 Stick Margarine 2 C Sweet Milk
3 Eggs, Separated 1 Tsp Vanilla

Mix suger, flour and cocoa together until well blended. Separate eggs. Beat yolks, adding milk and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Mix well. Add margarine, cook in saucepan until thick. Pour into baked piecrust. Top with meringue and brown in the oven.

Egg Custard
3 Egg Yolks 1 1/3 C Sweet Milk
1 Stick Margarine Nutmeg to Taste
1C Sugar 1 Unbaked Pie Shell
1 Tbls Self-Rising Flour
Mix first 5 ingredients together. Cook in top of double boiler until slightly thickened. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 450 until crust is brown and pie is thick

"The Greatest Generation",Tom Brokaw Journalist

The children of Tom and Lydia Butler have been called the greatest generation because of their saving the world from the evil of Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese war machine.
This writing is dedicated to that generation. You were our parents and grandparents. The world is a better place because of what you did and what you sacrificed in the years 1941-45. Most of you are gone now. We will never forget. Thank you. We love you. Your lives made a difference....dedicated to my father and mother:

David A. Butler and Martha Garner Butler

My Aunts and Uncles:

Ed Butler and Micky Butler
Jewell Butler Reynolds and Bud Reynolds
Dare Butler Sells and Bill Sells
Dennis Butler and Lyndall Brooks Butler
Mac Butler and Margaret Butler
John Eph Butler and Floy Norton Butler

Friday, October 21, 2011

Why Search Into the past?

Why did I start my long investigation into my Butler family tree? It started with a simple question to my father.."What were Papa Butler's grandparents names?" My dad didn't know, and I thought to myself then "I want to find out". Trips to the Atlanta Archives started and many hours of looking at microfilm records. This was before the Internet and just finding a census record was time consuming. The records were hard to find and even harder to read. One good thing about that time was that original records were used to verify information. When you find "facts" on your family tree, make sure there is an original document to back it up. The oldest member of your family is the place to begin. Asking these older family members about your family tree can give you great information that can be lost after they are gone.

After finding everything you can from an older relative you may want to start with census records. The census records give evidence of where families lived and how they migrated. Look for different spellings of both first and last names. I found that census takers sometimes spelled phonetically, so spelling can vary greatly from one census to the next.
Just these two sources will give you a lot of insight into your famly and yourself. Get started and have fun along the way.

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