William H BUTLER William Morgan BUTLER Ross Almyr BUTLER India G BUTLER Mini tree diagram

India Lucetta SMITH4,3,1

18382,3 - after 18804

Life History

1838

Born in Virginia.2,3

about 1868

Married William H BUTLER in Arkansas County, Arkansas.4

17th Jan 1870

Birth of son William Morgan BUTLER in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.4,5,6,7,8,9,1,10,11

28th Oct 1872

Birth of son Ross Almyr BUTLER in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.12,13,5,14,15,4,11

Aug 1878

Birth of daughter India G BUTLER in Arkansas.5,16,17,4,18

after 1880

Died in Arkansas County, Arkansas.4

Fever

Other facts

 

Buried in Mt Pleasant Cemetery, Huckabay, Erath County, Texas.1

Notes

  • India Smith married William H Butler when she was about 30 years old.  There is no information about a previous marriage or children, but it is a late age to marry, especially in that era.  In the 1870 census, the last child Morgan appears t be India's first child, the older two children being sons of Frances E Spain.  The age of the second child Bernard indicates that Frances died sometime between 1862 and 1868.  India's son, according to this census report, was born in January 1870.

    1870 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 7 July, Prairie Township, PO St Charles, page 26, Hse/Fam #209
    Butler, William G (sic) 36 M W Farmer $500 Real Estate $600 Personal b Alabama Cannot read or write [b abt 1834]
    Butler, India 32 F W  Keeping House  b Virginia Cannot read or write [b abt 1838]
    Butler, Bernard 10 M W b Mississippi Cannot read or write [b abt 1860]
    Butler, Edward 8 M W b Mississippi [No report on literacy] [b abt 1862]
    Butler, Morgan 6 mos M W b Mississippi b Jan 1870
    Butler, Robert 26 F W b Tennessee Cannot read or write [b abt 1844]

    In family memoires compiled by William Morgan Butler's children, India is erferred to as Lucetta.  The child Lucy is said to be named LUcetta after her.

    William H Butler and family are reported in the Arkansas County, Arkansas Census of 1880 as resident in Prairie Township, which is around the community of Ethel, south and a bit west of St Charles.  The enumerator has reported birthplace of the children's mother as though India was the mother of all the children.  But BB (Bernard) is the son of Frances Spain.  Note that, from the birth state of the children, we can tell both children of Frances were born in Mississippi, as well as the first child of India.

    This indicates that Frances died in (Panola County) Mississippi, and William married India there.  I have not found the record of William's marriage to India.  We see that after the birth of Morgan in Mississippi, and before the birth of Ross (R A) in 1872, William moved his family to Arkansas.  Note that in 1870, Morgan is reported already with the family in Mississippi, and born in Mississippi.  Yet in the 1880 census, he is reported (W M) as born in Arkansas!

    India is reported in the 1880 census, with her four stepchildren, children of William H Butler and Frances Spain, and her daughter India Butler, who was born in 1874 or 1875.

    1880 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 21 June, Prairie Township, District 2, page 27, Hse #183, Fam #194
    W H Butler  W M  46    Married  Farmer  AL NC VA
    India Butler  W F  41  Wife  Married  Housekeeping   VA  VA VA
    B B Butler  W M  20  Son  Single On Farm  MS AL VA
    Ned Butler  W M  18  Son  Single On Farm  MS AL  VA
    W M Butler  W M  11 Son  Single At School  AR AL  VA
    R A Butler  W M  8 Son  Single At School  AR AL  VA
    India Butler  W F  5  Dau  Single AR AL  VA
    L W Smith   W M  28  Bro-in-Law Single On Farm MS VA  VA

    L W Smith is India's brother.

    I have not seen death information for India Smith Butler, but we know she died before 1885, when William married his third wife Louisa J Spain in 1885.  In the family notes, the only time frame for her death is after her daughter India married.  I have no date for that event.

    "The children grew up, learning how to farm and to make a living by growing cotton.  Ross and George moved to Mississippi, and India married.  Daddy [William Morgan] stayed home with William and Lucetta. Not long after this, Grandpa lost his Lucetta.  She became ill with what was diagnosed as a lingering fever, and she never recovered.  Daddy would sit by her bed day and night, giving her medicine and soothing her fevered brow."
    --  William H Butler Family Notes, private paper courtesy of Jack Dodson, 30 August 2011

Sources

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