Being Thankful....

Make a list of what you are thankful for and you will quickly feel better. First I'm thankful I live in the United States of America. Is our country perfect? Of course not, but I wouldn't live anywhere else.
I'm thankful I live in this time in history. I don't think I would have done very well in the Bronze Age.
I'm thankful I have the choice to worship where I want and the freedom not to.
I choose to worship the creator of our universe and all others (if there are any), the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob,the God of Israel, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.
He's the only one that makes any sense. He has it all together. (Some of His followers don't, but He does)
Looking back I can see that my life has been a tapestry of starts and stops, and I'm finally starting to see a pattern. When ever I've trusted God, he's never let me down. When I tried to fix things or be in control, things didn't turn out well. I am beginning to understand "The just shall live by Faith"
I am thankful that I am finally learning how to love unconditionally without judgement or criticism. I know my friends and family are very thankful for that.

Time Stood Still....11-12-11

Time stood still as around 100 descendants of Zachariah Butler  stopped to pay respects to him and his son Patrick in a small grove of tall poplars and oaks in Elbert County Georgia Saturday, November 12, 2011. As the Georgia SAR Color Guard marched in slow cadence to face the graves of these two Patriots, I marvelled at the meaning of it all.
Just as if on cue from a Hollywood director, a shower of brown leaves from the water oaks in the small circular cemetery began to twirl down around us.
The horses in the pasture just beyond the graves ran back and forth after the 21 gun musket salute, their graceful running breaking the silence.
This beautiful day, I will remember the rest of my life.

Zachariah Butler's land In Elbert Co Ga....

Next Saturday I will be standing on the very land that my colonial grandfather received for his service in the American Revolution. I found a copy of the plat. Located in Elbert County Georgia,  the boundary is marked by the trees along its border. Hickory, pine, dogwood, and oak trees towered above the Butler family when they reached Georgia in 1785. Along the banks of Wachatchee Creek, a branch of the Broad River, they set up camp that summer and started to erect a shelter before the Fall.
I've tried to think what they ate that first year. Living off the land until the first crops could be harvested, they had fish, deer, raccoon, possum, turkey, rabbit, squirrel,and bear for meat. Acorns, muscadines, blackberries, mulberries, paw paws,wild persimmon,wild blueberries,and many other wild vegetation that I don't even know are edible. If they had some chickens and a cow, they had milk and eggs. I don't think a cow could walk all the way to Georgia from Virginia, so maybe they bought or traded for one when they reached Petersburg, Georgia. Petersburg was a settlement that thrived during the 1700's when people were pouring into the state. This settlement is now covered by Clark Hill Reservoir.

 Patrick Butler's Plat

 

                                                                                                                                   

Freedom .........

Connection between Zachariah Butler, James Butler and Patrick Henry

Our Colonial grandfathers were neighbors of Patrick Henry. Zachariah was the same age and born in the same county (HANOVER) in Va.
 I received an e-mail from Rev Thomas Maxwell of Anderson S.C.

His ancestor Rev Thomas Maxwell of Culpepper VA was defended by Patrick Henry after being arrested and thrown in jail for preaching without a license.  He then came to Elbert Co Ga. With other Va. settlers. Falling Creek Baptist Church was founded by Rev. Maxwell. Some of the Butler family were members there.

 This was the reason the founding fathers included the separation of Church and State in the Constitution. It was to insure the Freedom to worship NOT the Freedom from worship. The State can not tell us which church to belong to. The State can not sponsor a denomination to the exclusion of others. I wonder what Patrick Henry would think about the notion that the State has excluded all worship and discussions of faith from the public square. This seems to me to be an perversion of the original intent of the founding fathers. What if we could freely discuss and learn about all denominations, faiths and religions?  Then each citizen could learn and compare and freely choose what they believed. Instead of expanding our freedoms it seems to me that we have lost some.

Dear Lydia,

You are correct, He started a few others, The cases of the preachers that Patrick Henry and James Madison defended were used to establish religious freedom in Va. 

One of the daughters did marry into the Henry family. The grave of  Rev. Maxwell is about 150 feet from twin line dairy just off old Maxwell farm road. The acts of our elders proved what some men with convictions for God can do. 

Prayerfully,

Dr. T

On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 6:15 PM, Lydia Anderson, butlerfamilyhist@aol.com> wrote:

Dear Dr.T.,

My son and his family live in Westminster on Lake Hartwell. They are members of Foothills Community Church in Seneca.

Patrick Henry defended other pastors as well as Rev. Maxwell. .my Colonial grandfather Zachariah Butler was born the same year and in the same county as Patrick Henry…they were neighbors.

After the Revolutionary War, Rev Maxwell must have come to Ga. with other Va. Settlers. .and Falling Creek was not the only church he started.

I seem to recall he founded other churches in Ga. and Tenn.

Some of his daughters married men with the last name Henry.. but I don’t know if there is a connection to Patrick Henry or not.. that would be interesting for you.

God Bless,

Lydia Butler Anderson