Thanks
to Sarah Finch Maiden Rollins who has granted permission to have this excerpt
about the Butt family in Botetourt County, Virginia reproduced and made
available on the internet in the interest of sorting out the Botetourt County
Butts. Ms. Rollins may be reached at 777 North Post Oak Road, Residence 312, Houston,
TX 77024-3826, 713/686-1950, jgr@excelonline.com . The book is no
longer in print. Ms. Rollins' work was scanned and formatted by Tom Butt (g-g-g
grandson of Addison Butt, married
Elinor Glenn in Botetourt County, 1802), 235 East Scenic Avenue, Richmond, CA
94801, 510/237-2084, tom.butt@intres.com.
It is hoped that this will lead to further identification of the Butt lines the
shared residence in Botetourt County, VA in the early 19th Century.
RICHARD Butt, who lived the last thirty-five
years of his life in Botetourt County, Virginia, was born 22 November 1775 and
died 28 January 1837. His wife, Margaret Black, was born 25 May 1785 and died
in Botetourt County 8 February 1838.[1]
Richard Butt was born in Berkeley County,
(then) Virginia, or across the Potomac River in Frederick County, Maryland. If
it was in Frederick County, Maryland, it was in that part that became
Montgomery County in 1776, the year after he was born. The birthplace of
Margaret (“Peggy”) Black is unknown.
Richard Butt married Margaret Black in
Botetourt County, and the date accepted by the family is 29 April 1803.2[2]
That is the date on the “Minister’s Return,” which was the list of marriages
the Reverend John Helms, Methodist minister, returned to the Botetourt County
courthouse to be recorded on that date. A notation beside Richard Butt and
Margaret Black’s names showed the marriage was “by Publication” (of banns).
Richard and Margaret Butt had nine children, all born in
Botetourt County, Virginia.3[3]
Children of Richard Butt and Margaret (Black):
1. Sarah (“Sally”) Butt: b. 28 December 1807; and her middle name was for good friend and neighbor, Robert Greenwood. Born in 1807, Sarah was not Margaret (Black) and Richard Butt's oldest child, but was their oldest daughter. On.14 October 1824, Sarah married Christopher Lee Kessler (b. 28 August, 1802, d. 13 February 1869), son of neighbor John Kessler, Sr., of Cedar Ridge, and his wife, Nancy Waskey. The Kesslers were members of Zion Hill Baptist Church, and lived all their lives in Botetourt County, VA. Sarah died 25 April nb1852. They appear in the 1830 Botetourt County Census, p. 290, and in 1840, p. 274. (Sally is listed in the wrong age group in the 1840 census.)
Children:
1. Rebecca Jane Kessler - b. 16 March 1826; m. 6 October 1842, Joel Mays (b. 5 May 1817). They moved to Summersville, Nicholas County, WV. Children: Jubal Hiram, Amanda Jane, James C., Sarah Haseltine, William H., Mary (Margaret?), A.C., Joel, F.J., Elizabeth C.
2. Archibald Washington Kessler: b. 9 March 1828; m. 8 September 1853, Mary Catherine ("Kate") Peck. They moved to Summersville, WV. (They are the ancestors of Conrad B. Riffle, 5355 Donner Drive, Clinton, OH 44216) who sent me the information on Sarah Butt and Christopher Kessler, from a family Bible and other records)
Children:
a) Samuel: died young
b) Sally Ann: m. Harrington C. Martin, MD, Rainelle, WV, and had 13 children.
c) Grace R.: m (1) Otto Gray, m. (2) John Baller Keeney. Children: Enna Maude Keeney, m. Wm. Herbert Jones, had 10 children, the eldest of whom was Edith Mary Jones, the mother of Conrad B. Rifle [who sent this information]; Archie Kessler ("Kessie") Keeney (female).
3. Richard Butt Kessler: b. 8 November 1830, d. 8 February 1834.
4. Elizabeth A. Kessler: b. 825 September 1831.
5. John Wesley Kessler: b. 6 May 1833, d. 26 February 1834.
The Zion Hill Baptist Church's Minutes Books are in the Virginia State Archives, Richmond, VA. The oldest book is dated 1834. Some pages from the 1851-1855 book were sent to me by Conrad Riffle, mentioned above. Some of the names mentioned in those pages are Kessler, Hill, Huff, Mays, Hamilton, Austin, Kelly, Japling, Ritchie, Brougham and John M. Maiden. [page 632, MAIDEN Book]. It is most likely Margaret and Richard Butt and their children belonged to Zion Hill Baptist Church, too, in the 1820's and 1830's.
2. Shannon Butt: b. 4 January 1806; m. (1) Mary Jane (Reece) Murphy,4[4] in. (2) —; d. 15 November 1863, Monroe County, West Virginia (separated from Virginia during the Civil War). There were 5 daughters born of the 2d marriage (no names given), 2 living in 1912. Some of Shannon’s line spelled Butt with an s.
Children of 1st marriage:
(1) Henry Clay Butt: d. ante-1840
(2) Ann Eliza Butt: b. 1834, in. Pembroke Peck, d. ante-1912
(3) Dr. Archibald Henry Butts, b. ca. 1836; in. Mattie Hines
(b. Ca. 1844 in Palestine, Greenbrier County, [now] West Virginia), daughter of Charles Hines. Henry was a surgeon in the Confederate Army; d. 7 February 1906.
Children: 1. Hettie Butts m. Dr. B. F. Kebler;
2. Dr. Charles S. Butts, living in Newport News, Virginia, in 1913; 3. Dr. J. Fleetwood Butts, dentist and businessman;
4. Dr. Frank R. Butts, b. 1873, living in Greenville, West Virginia, in 1913; 5. Mary Butts in. Dr. W. W. McDonough, a dentist; they moved to Oklahoma
(4) Richard Shannon Butts: d. y.
(5) Rev. Fletcher Shannon Butts: b. 1839, in. Fannie Alexander, d. ante-1912
(6) Rev. Leonidas Butt: b. 1841, m. Sarah Elizabeth Parker (b. 1848); d. 1912. Children: 1. Dr. Arthur P. Butt, b. 1871; 2. Mary Catherine Butt, b. 1873, in. Charles L. Stevens (Mrs. Stevens recorded family information Ca. 1912); 3. Roberta S. Butt, b. 1875; 4. Bessie Butt, b. 1877; 5. Daisy Butt, b. January 1880, d. 1908 at Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia
(7) Jane Ellen Butt: b. 1843 (from 1850 Greenbrier County, Virginia,
Census, p. 385) or born in 1847 (from
1880 Census, p. 228, of
Summers County, West Virginia);
m. Paul M. Knight. They lived in the Talcott district of
Summers County, just across the
Greenbrier River from
Monroe County, West Virginia.
Children: 1. William S. Knight, b. 1867; 2. L. Reece
Knight (fern.), b. 1870; 3. M. S. Knight
(fern.), b. 1872;
4. A. Gertrude Knight, b. 1874; 5. Mattie Butt Knight,
b. 1876; 6. Annie Knight, b. 1878;
7. H. Leonidas Knight, b. 1880
3. Mary Margaret (“Peggy”) Butt: b. 1808 (according to
1840 Botetourt County Census); m. 6 March 1826, William Kelly
Children (from 1850 Census, p. 145, two households
from Morgan Utz, Botetourt County merchant):
(1) Mary Kelly, b. 1831
(2) Mary Margaret Kelly, b. 1833. She was the 1st
wife of Henry Alderson Maiden (q.v., p. 658), 6th son of John and Susanna
(Landis) Maiden.
(3) Rebecca Jane Kelly, b. 1836, and possibly named
for her young aunt, Rebecca Jane Butt (my ancestor)
(4) William H. Kelly, b. 1838; (5) George W. Kelly,
b. 1840;
(6) Sarah V. Kelly, b. 1842; (7) Shannon Kelly, b.
1844;
(8) Elizabeth A. Kelly, b. 1846; (9) Joanna Kelly,
b. 1850
4. Archibald P. Butt: b. Ca. 1809. Unmarried in
1838 when he sold Christopher Byerly, his brother-in-law, the land he had
inherited from his father, Richard Butt.
5. Richard Wesley Butt: b. 1810, called Wesley in some
records and Richard W. in others; m. 25 February 1836, Eliza Elizabeth Maiden,
oldest daughter of John and Susanna (Landis) Maiden. Wesley and Eliza married
in Botetourt County, and in 1843 moved to Washington County when the John
Maiden family moved there. d.15 February 1847, in Washington County, Virginia.
Children
[for detailed information on these children, see chapter on Wesley’s wife,
Eliza Elizabeth Maiden, pp. 637—643]:
(1) Mary Ann (“Molly”) Butt,
(2) William Addison
Butt,
(2) John W. Butt,
(3) Eliza Jane Butt,
(5) Sarah Susan (“Sally”) Butt,
(6) Samuel Fletcher
Butt
6. Mary Ann (“Polly”) Butt: b. 1816, d. 1881; m. 20
August 1835, Christopher Byerly, son of Magdalena (Landis) and Jacob Byerly, by
Methodist minister Jacob Carper. Richard Butt signed their 12 August marriage
bond. Chris Byerly was a nephew of Susanna (Landis) Maiden. The Byerlys moved
toGallio County, OH.
7.
Hiram Butt: b. 17
September 1819; d. 2 July 1886, Orlando, Florida
m. (1) ca.
1840/43, wife’s name unknown;
Child: (1)
James Allen Butts, b. 1844
m. (2) 28 August 1851, Martha Frances Barton (1834—1884), in Monroe
County, Missouri.
Hiram’s line spelled Butt with an s.
Children (most
were born in Shelbina, Missouri):
(2) Shannon Taylor Butts, b. 22 August 1852, d. 22
June 1933
(3) Margaret Butts, b. 10 May 1854, in. —
Cartright, d. 14 June 1912
(4) Richard Giles Butts, b. 14 March 1856, d. 1924
(5) Sarah Butts, b. 1858, m. — Foreman
(6) Mary Belle Butts, b. 30 September 1860, d. 11
February 1898
(7) Elizabeth Lee Butts, b. 1862, in.
— Whitehead
(8) Joseph Barton Butts, 1864—1894
(9) William Hiram
Butts, b. 13 February 1866, d. August 1932
(10) Austin
Fletcher Butts, b. 20 March 1868
(11) George
Elijah Butts, b. 11 April 1870; in. 21 February 1893, Willimine Lenore
(“Willie”) Munsey (1870—1961), daughter of Margaret Susanna (Maiden) and Frank
Munsey. [For more detail see Margaret Susanna Maiden (pp. 682, 683), oldest
daughter of William Lee Maiden and Rebecca Jane (Butt) of Washington County,
Virginia.] Children: 1. William Hiram
Butts, 2. Susanna Frances Butts, 3.
Elbert Muncey (sic) Butts, 4. Georgie Ella Butts;
5. Bessie Archer Butts; 6. Robert Shannon Butts
(12) John Thomas Butts, b. 9 January 1872
(13) Archie Frances Butts, b. 6 November 1873, m. — Mills Probably named for her father’s brother Archibald.
(14) Alice Lloyd Butts, b. 22 September 1876, m. — Hardy
(15) Birdie May Butts, b. 17 September 1877, m. — McCabe, d. 9 July 1929
8. REBECCA JANE BUTT MY DIRECT LINE
Born: 13 May 1822
Married: 23 November 1837, William Lee Maiden, in Botetourt County, oldest son of Susanna (Landis) and John Maiden
Died: 11 October 1893, in Washington County, Virginia
Children: George H., M. Susanna, E. Virginia, W. Henry, Elizabeth J., Aaron H., Francis M., J. Milton (my line), twins Mary E. R. and Sarah A. C., King H.
[See Rebecca Jane Butt chapter]
9. Virginia Butt: b. Ca. 1826; m. 9 September 1845, John S. Huff
There is nothing concrete to present about Richard’s parents or Margaret’s, and
this will be discussed in the Excursus following this chapter. The first record
I have for Richard after his 1803 marriage in Botetourt was seven years later,
when he was enumerated in the 1810 Botetourt County Census.
White settlers had lived in the Botetourt County area where Richard Butt settled, since before the Revolutionary War. What came to be called “the Fincastle Community of the Upper James River” was described as including the valley of Looney’s Mill Creek, Catawba Creek, and Craig’s Creek.[5] In this area had roamed great herd of deer, buffalo, and elk. The black bear, wolves, and foxes made their lairs in the numerous ravines and mountain ridges. Smaller animals such as rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, wildcats, and groundhogs were in abundance. . . . Oak, walnut, pine, cedar, hickory and the now extinct chestnut trees covered the area. The huckleberry, blackberry, wild grape, chinquapin and other nut and fruit bearing vines and shrubs grew wild and in abundance. . . . [M]any trout swam in the creeks and smaller streams. Smaller game birds and the wild turkey thrived on the fruit and nuts and found refuge in this land of plenty.”[6]
The 1800 census is not in existence, and the first time Richard Butt’s name appears in a federal census is that of Botetourt County in 1810,[7]and it presents a little mystery. There are two males under 10 years, and that would be Shannon and Archibald. The male 26—45 would of course be Richard. The two females under 10 would be Sally and her sister Margaret. The female 16—26 would be Richard’s wife Peggy, as she was 25. Who was the female 10—16? (Richard and Peggy had been married only seven years.) And who was the female 26—45? There is no way now of knowing who those two females were. One slave was listed in the household too.
There were only two other Butts enumerated in the Botetourt County census in 1810.[8] One was Regnal Butt, who was in the same age group as Richard (26—45 years), and the other was Archibald Butt, who was in the “45 years and up” group, as was a female listed in his household. It should be noted that Richard Butt named his second son (born ca. 1809) Archibald.
Even if the name Richard is not unique, one might think that the names Archibald and Rignal (sometimes Regnal) might be. However, in the Butt family— whether in Maryland or in Virginia—those names recur with unrelenting and confusing frequency.
It would be interesting to know where Richard and Peggy were living in 1810. For the next twenty-seven years of their lives we know just where they were—about eight miles northwest of the town of Fincastle. On 26 November 1811 Richard put out a lot of money and bought a lot of land. For $2299 he bought from the eight heirs of Samuel Baldwin a 418-acre tract on Catawba Creek, a branch of the James River.[9] Neighbors with adjoining land listed in the plat description were Matthew Harvey,[10] William Greenwood, Kessler, and Sivert. Twenty years later Richard would buy an additional 152 acres (one record says 165 acres) adjoining his 1811 purchase. The 418-acre tract had been owned by Samuel Baldwin since 1779, and upon Baldwin’s death his children had moved to Montgomery County, Kentucky, and wanted to sell the land they had inherited.
In the next federal census, 1820, there were still three Butt households in Botetourt County, but only Richard Butt’s name was the same.[11] Regnal Butt had died before 16 April 1812,[12] and Archibald had probably died too.[13] The other two Butt households in addition to Richard’s that were listed in 1820 were Sarah Butt, who was Regnal’s widow on Gaion (Gain) Ridge, and Michael Butt, relationship unknown, who lived on Catawba Creek.[14]
An intriguing piece of information about Richard Butt was revealed by an advertisement he placed in the weekly newspaper published at the county seat, the Herald of the Valley dated 16 November 1822.[15] Richard advertised the sale of “the 418-acre plantation he now lives on . . . about 8 miles from Fincastle” because of a “determination to remove to the West.” Six weeks later his neighbor Robert Greenwood advertised to sell his “160 acres because he is going West . . . land adjoining Richard Butt on the Warm Springs road . . . six miles from town.”[16] Some of Robert Greenwood’s family later moved to Greene County, Ohio, but for some reason Richard Butt and Robert Greenwood changed their minds about “going West,” and Richard remained where he was the rest of his life.
The 1830 Botetourt County Census[17] reveals that Richard and Margaret’s older children were no longer at home. Their two oldest daughters were married and lived nearby—Sally was the wife of Christopher Kessler, and Margaret (called Peggy like her mother), was the wife of William Kelly. Only the youngest son, Hiram, and some daughters were still at home. There is no inkling where Shannon, Archibald, and Wesley (who were 24, 22, and 20) were the year of 1830. The only other Butt family listed in the 1830 Botetourt County census was Michael Butt,[18] relationship unknown, who was about ten years younger than Richard and had a wife (30—40) and six children.
On 29 October 1831 Robert Greenwood sold Richard Butt 165 acres adjoining the 418-acre tract Richard already owned.[19] The land was described as situated on the headwaters of Lapsleys Run, a branch of the James River, and a road ran beside one line of the tract. Now Richard had land on both Lapsley and Catawba creeks. Adjoining landowners were Surber, Waggoner, Rudisell, heirs of Samuel Baldwin, and heirs of Samuel McFerran.
Richard Butt’s
land now totaled between 550 and 600 acres. There is no information on Richard
or Margaret for the next six years, and then there is a spate of records.
Richard Butt died 28 January 1837, two months past his sixty-first birthday.
Margaret (Black) Butt died 8 February 1838 at the age of fifty-two.
Because Richard died intestate, administrators
of his estate were appointed by the Botetourt County court. The two
administrators were Shannon Butt, Richard’s oldest son, and Jacob Rudisell,
neighbor. Commissioners William Anderson, John Snider, and James Ritchey were
appointed by the court to evaluate and divide Richard’s land. “Having Considered
the Situation of the above land, the Quality of the Soil, and the
improvements,” the three commissioners divided Richard’s land, presenting the
plat and survey on 26 August 1837.[20]
[See previous page]
The commissioners
laid off the widow’s dower, designated as no. 10, to Peggy (sic) Butt. It
consisted of 39 1/2 acres including the dwelling house and necessary outhouses,
a spring and spring branch. The family graveyard on Rudisell’s line and “a
prize chestnut tree” are mentioned. Numbers 1—9 were laid off for Richard’s
nine children, with size varying from 39 to 87 acres, apparently to equalize
the shares according to soil, creeks, and improvements.
At first there
seems to have been a little problem concerning the administration of Richard’s
estate. On 14 August 1837 the Butt heirs and distributees brought suit against
the administrators.[21]
On motion of the plaintiffs Ferdinand
Woltz is appointed guardian for the infant defenders [three underage children]
to defend them in this cause, and the answer of said guardian being filed this
cause came on this 14th day of August 1837 to be heard upon the bill of
complaintants the answer of Peggy Butt, and the joint answer of the infant
heirs by Ferdinand Woltz [guardian] ... whereof the Court doth adjudge order
and deem that Shannon Butt and Jacob Rudisell, adm. of Richard Butt, pay over
to the said Peggy Butt widow the sum of $550.00 and deliver up to her the Negro
girl Caroline ... and assign the widow the mansion [dwelling] house.
The land division
was completed in late August 1837 but not recorded until the January court term
in 1838, shortly before Richard’s widow died. In the lengthy inventory of
Richard’s estate[22] it is
stated that the appraisers—Jacob Surber, James Ritchey, and (Anderson)
Thompson—had been appointed at the February term of court for 1837, the month
after Richard’s death, and that Shannon Butt, administrator, said Peggy Butt
(his widowed mother) had on 25 July 1837 received from the estate $350 and the
Negro girl Caroline, appraised at $400.[23]
The appraisers did their work speedily, and the estate sale was held 23
February 1837.[24] There is a
wealth of information to be gleaned from the large inventory and estate sale,
as those records show the personal property listed and the names of family and
neighbors who bought various items. An interesting line in the list of
thirty-four notes and due bills was “Regnall Butt $2.50 June 2, 1835—$4.50 pd.
for Hiram’s fare to Lewisburg leaving balance of $2.50.”[25]
Hiram, the
youngest son of Richard and Margaret, had apparently made a trip to Lewisburg,
in Greenbrier County, Virginia. (The boundaries of Botetourt and Greenbrier
counties touched until Allegheny County was created between them in 1822.) This
is pointed out because, although I can find no records for Shannon Butt in
Greenbrier County in the mid-1830s, I think he was there and that Hiram had
gone to visit him and his family. Shannon had married Ca. 1830 or 1831.
However, Shannon came back to Botetourt County when his parents died in 1837
and 1838. Virginia, his youngest sister, who was orphaned at about twelve
years, was made Shannon’s ward; and Hiram chose Shannon for his guardian.[26]
The child between Virginia and Hiram, my ancestor Rebecca Jane, was not quite
fifteen when her father Richard died. She married William Lee Maiden on 23
November 1837 at the age of fifteen and a half, and her widowed mother gave her
consent on the marriage bond. My ancestor, William L., was the oldest son of
John and Susanna (Landis) Maiden.
When Margaret
(Black) Butt died a year and ten days after her husband’s death, Shannon was
again appointed administrator. Peter F. Nace, John Snider, and James Ritchey
were appointed to appraise the personal property that Shannon showed them, and
on 14 March 1838 the estate sale for Margaret Butt, deceased, was held.[27]
Again, you can imagine yourself at the sale, an unseen visitor seeing family
and neighbors making their choices and paying for their purchases.
The reader can get
an idea of the way the Butts had lived, a prosperous farming couple in the
1820s and 1830s, by a partial reading of their personal estate. There were the
usual kitchen tools (a “crout cutter” for cabbage, skillets, kettles, coffee
mill, biscuit maker, spice mortar, pots, riddle [sieve], candle molds) and
farming implements (plowshares, harrow, log chains, two McCormick plows). There
was a rifle gun, shot guns, saddles and saddle bags, and twenty-six gallons of
cider. There were dried apples, beans, corn, flax seed, wheat, rye, oats, and
tobacco. Animals included cows, calves, heifers, steers, bulls, mares, horses,
fillies, colts, hogs, sheep, geese, ducks, turkeys, and hens. Their two slaves
were Caroline and Jackson. There were tall ladders, planks, shingles, kegs,
tubs, and kettles. Furniture included four “beds and bed clothes,” a trunk,
five tables, cupboards, bookcase, bureaus, chests, an armchair and chairs,
three sets of chairs (two sets Windsors), two waiters, serving stand, and two
looking-glasses and a shaving-glass. There were odds and ends such as “1 lot of
plunder on mantel piece,” sundries on porch, set of andirons and tongs, clocks,
books (Bible, seven books, two lots of books, and two sets of books), window
curtains, bag of feathers, lamps and a lantern, quilts and blankets, and a
“smoothing iron.” Harrison Butt, relationship unknown, paid $7.25 for a silver
watch, and Shannon bought a set of silver teaspoons for $3.60. A meadow went
for $15.00 and an orchard for $29.11.
How little we know
of Richard and Margaret (Black) Butt. There are more records for them after
they died than when they were living. By 1839 Shannon Butt was back home in
Lewisburg, the county seat of Greenbrier County,[28] and although it
was only approximately thirty-five miles between Lewisburg and Fincastle, the
county seat of Botetourt County, that was “as the crow flies.” It was a much
longer trip across the rugged Allegheny Mountains by horse, and the Botetourt
County Court ordered that Shannon’s administration of Richard’s and Margaret
Butt’s estates be referred to a Master Commissioner. John T. Logan was
appointed, and it was he who used the vouchers and accounts furnished him by
Shannon so that records could be filed with the Botetourt Court. Accountings
for both estates were presented and recorded at the December 1839 Term of Court,[29]
and at the November 1840 Term of Court.[30]
Between 1837 and
1847 debts were settled, notes due to the estates were paid, money was loaned,
interest was added, the slaves were hired out, and farm land was rented. All
the names on the estate papers were familiar—family, neighbors, and friends. On
15 September 1846 Richard’s estate amounted to $2607.67 and Margaret’s to
$1346.78. The bookkeeping got too involved for me and I “lost” about $900
somewhere, but the records show[31]
that in the final accounting and settlement of the estates, recorded in the
December 1847 Term of the Botetourt County Court, that each of the nine heirs
had received a total of $336.77.
Soon after they
had received their share of their father’s land, three of the children sold it.
On 29 September 1838 Shannon and his wife Jane sold no. 8 (his 56 acres) and
Archibald sold no. 9 (his 56 acres) to
their brother-in-law Christopher Byerly and his wife Mary Ann (Polly).[32]
Shannon and Archibald were both described as “of Greenbriar County.” The same
day Christopher and Mary Ann (Butt) Byerly sold no. 5 (her 49 acres) to her
brother-in-law William Kelly and his wife Margaret (Peggy).[33]
A few days later, on 3 October 1838, Christopher and Mary Ann (Butt) Byerly
sold Isaac Austin the 56 acres they had bought from Archibald.[34]
Richard and
Margaret Butt’s sons did not stay in Botetourt County, as was mentioned
earlier. The oldest son, Shannon, was enumerated in the 1840 census in the town
of Lewisburg, Greenbrier County,[35]
Virginia (West Virginia since the War Between the States). He and his wife Mary
Jane were in their early thirties. A second male was listed in their household
in the 30—40 age group and I strongly suspect this was Archibald, Shannon’s
next younger brother. Besides Shannon’s own three children under ten years of
age, there is a female listed in the 10—15 year column, and there is a
possibility this could be Virginia, Shannon’s fourteen year old youngest sister
who was his ward. Two in the household were listed in “manufactures and trade,”
and that would be Archibald (?) and Shannon. Also a female slave is in the
household. In the 1850 census Shannon, his wife, and his five children were
living in Monroe County, the county adjoining just south of Greenbrier County.
In this census, Shannon gave his occupation as doctor and preacher.
I have no
information on Archibald, Richard and Margaret’s second son, except the record
of his selling his inherited share of land to his sister Polly (Mary Ann) and
her husband in 1838. When Shannon and Archibald, and possibly Hiram, were in
Greenbrier County during most of the decade of the l830s,
Richard’s other
son, Richard Wesley Butt, seems to have remained in Botetourt County. On 25
February 1836 he married Eliza E. Maiden, oldest daughter of John and Susanna
Maiden, and they lived on Lapsleys Run near his family. In the 1840 Botetourt
County Census Wesley and Eliza were enumerated in the household next to his
older sister Peggy and her husband, William Kelly. In the spring of 1843 the
John Maiden family moved from Botetourt County to Washington County, Virginia,
and Wesley and Eliza decided to move there too. On 27 November 1843 Wesley
(Richard W.) sold the land he had inherited from his father to Isaac Austin [36]
The youngest son,
Hiram, was seventeen when his father died, eighteen when his mother died, and
he went to Greenbrier County like two of his older brothers. On 6 September
1845 “Hiram Butt of Greenbrier County” sold no. 7, the 56-acre tract of land he
had inherited from his father, to his brother-in-law William Kelly, husband of
his older sister Peggy (Butt).[37]
The land was described as adjoining the lands of James Ritchey, Isaac Austin,
John Kessler, Sr., and William Kelly’s own land. When Shannon Butt and his
family moved to adjoining Monroe County, Virginia, Hiram stayed on a little
longer in Greenbrier County. In the 1850 census of Greenbrier County[38]
Hiram was listed with the household of Royal Fleshman and his wife and small
child. Several others lived with the Fleshmans, including a carpenter and a
wagoner. Hiram Butt’s occupation was listed as sheriff, and his age as
twenty-five. We. Descendants of Hiram give his birthdate as 17 September 1819,
so actually Hiram was thirty when enumerated. He was unmarried at the time, but
would move to Monroe County, Missouri, and remarry the next year.
We see that none
of Richard and Margaret Butt’s Sons stayed on to live in Botetourt County where
they had been born and had grown up on Catawba Creek, but Richard and
Margaret’s three oldest daughters did remain there. Sally Butt had married
Christopher Kessler, and the Kessler family was an old family in the county.[39]
The same held true for Peggy Butt, who had married William Kelly. Like her
older sisters, Polly (Mary Ann) Butt, who married Christopher Byerly, was
married and settled before her parents died. Polly and her husband owned
Shannon’s share of her father’s land. Polly’s in-laws, Jacob and Magdalena
(Landis) Byerly, had come to Botetourt from Augusta County ca. 1815.
My ancestor,
Rebecca Butt, lived in Botetourt County only about five years after her 1838
marriage to William Lee Maiden, whom she had married in the year between her
parents’ deaths. The Maidens had moved to Botetourt County from Augusta County
in late 1824. William Lee’s mother was the youngest sister of Magdalena
(Landis) Byerly, whose son Christopher married Polly Butt. Al] these families
lived in the Catawba Creek area northwest of Fincastle and knew one another
well. Rebecca and William Lee, planning to live in Washington County the rest
of their lives, sold her share (no. 6, 72 acres) of inherited Botetourt County
land to Peggy (Butt) and William Kelly on a deed dated 25 December 1843.[40]
Richard and Margaret Butt’s daughter Peggy and husband William Kelly eventually
owned at least four shares of Richard’s land—Peggy’s own share, and the shares
of Shannon, Rebecca, and Hiram. I have no information about Richard and
Margaret’s youngest daughter, Virginia. She was not quite in her teens when her
parents died and she became a ward of her oldest brother. Her marriage to John
S. Huff is recorded in Botetourt County, with the minister being Lewis P.
Fellers, on 9 September 1845.[41]
The 30 August marriage bond was signed by Ferdinand Waltz. Ferdinand Woltz’s
father, Dr. Jacob Woltz, was born in Maryland and lived his long adult life in
Botetourt County. He and Richard Butt, who had died when he was only sixty-one,
were contemporaries.
When Rebecca Jane
Butt married William Lee Maiden in 1838, the Butt name as a surname disappeared
from my family line. Knowing her parents, my desire to find who her
grandparents were has been one of my goals, and unfortunately a goal
unfulfilled.
I found a plethora
of Butts who “could be” Richard Butt’s father, and a dearth of Blacks who
“could be” the father of Richard’s wife, Margaret Black, whom he married a
month before her eighteenth birthday.
The Black surname
is traditionally Scotch-Irish, coming into Scotland from the areas of
Northumberland Leicestershire, and Rutlandshire in England.[42]
(Also, there were Schwartz families of German extraction who changed their name
to Black.) There were few with the surname of Black in Botetourt County—Jacob,
John, Samuel, Christian, and Frederick—and no common information for the right
years to tie Margaret Black to any of them. If Margaret’s father lived in
Botetourt County, Frederick Black would be the most logical one to have been
her father. However, Richard and Margaret did not name a child Frederick, nor
were there any Blacks who attended the estate sales of Richard (1837) and
Margaret (1838). There were also Blacks in Rockbridge, Greenbrier, and Berkeley
counties whom I tried to check out, but I could make no connections. I will not
go into detail on my search for Margaret Black’s parents, but in the Excursus
that follows will mention my unrewarding search for proof of Richard Butt’s
parents.
[See Rebecca Jane Butt—daughter]
BUIT EXCURSUS
BUTT~ EXCURSUS
contains information that I cannot connect to my family line, but the data is
recited here as a starting point for whoever might want to research further.
There is no proof as to who was the father of Richard Butt or who was the first
immigrant of his family line. It is frustrating to know there is a connection
between the various Butts who lived in Botetourt County in the years between
1803 and 1840 and not to be able to verify the connection or have strong proof
or enough logical evidence to take Richard’s line back one more generation. My
research over the past several years has not proven anything and has raised
more questions, but the search has been fun.
There are several
unconnected family stories. Some say the immigrant Butt of our line came to
Norfolk County, Virginia, from Wales prior to 1745. However, Butt is considered
an English, not a Welsh, name.[43]
Others say two brothers went from England to the Barbados, and in the 1650s
came to [Lower] Norfolk County and settled there. No names are given and it is
all rather vague. Supposedly a descendant of one brother was Joshua Butt
(1714—1780) who married Mary Portlock, daughter of a colonel in the British
army. Their son Josiah (d. 1811) married Mary Bouch, daughter of Col. Samuel
Bouch of Norfolk. Later they went to distant Berkeley County by way of Harper’s
Ferry (at the juncture of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers). This Josiah was
eventually in Greenbrier County.[44]
A descendant of the other unknown immigrant brother is said to be William Moses
Butt (b. 1745) who married Susan Eldridge Ross. I repeat that I am not aware of
any proof that ties these people to our Richard Butt.
I have many pages
on Butts from Norfolk County from 1715 on. A final sweep was done by Elizabeth
B. Wingo, author and genealogist, who is a Butt descendant herself. No actual
proof could be found that our line started in Norfolk County, although it is
most likely the case. Family stories mention the Barbados and the Somers
Islands (Bermuda), and there were Butts there, but no more proof of connection
than with the well-known Presbyterian minister Josiah Mackie’s 1716 will in
which he left legacies to several Butts in Norfolk County.[45]
For months a
Berkeley County record searcher, Don C. Wood, checked Butt records for me. I
have many pages of information on Butt marriages, tax lists, deeds, wills, and
families connected with the Butts, such as Franceways, Rays, Greens, and
Swearengens. There was nothing concrete to tie our Richard to any of these
Butts. Most of the Berkeley County Butts were related, some moved to Botetourt
County and lived in the same area, and some attended Richard’s and Margaret’s
estate sales. But no document showed exactly how Basil, John, Jacob, Archibald,
Richard, Michael, Addison, Harrison, or Rignal were related to the Richard Butt
who married Margaret Black. [See “Rignal Butt Sub-Excursus,” Appendix F.]
Concerning the
family story that our Butt ancestor came from old Norfolk County and settled in
Berkeley County, it is easy to see why this is assumed as there were literally
dozens of Butts in Norfolk County. Because in the last quarter of the
eighteenth century there were likewise so many Butts in Berkeley County, it is
a natural assumption to think our first colonial ancestor was one of the many
Norfolk County Butts and that he or his descendants ended up in Berkeley
County.
Research shows
there were also many Butts in the western Maryland counties, and they needed
only to cross the Potomac, at Harper’s Ferry for example, to go to Berkeley
County, Virginia. I am not aware anyone has any documentation to show whether
our Richard, who was born in 1775 (and this is in old family Bibles), was born
in Berkeley or Botetourt County, Virginia, or in western Maryland. We
descendants know Richard was in Botetourt County by 1803 when he married
Margaret Black, but cannot be sure where he was from 1775 to 1802. There is
even a Rockbridge County, Virginia, marriage bond dated 7 March 1797 for a
Richard Butt to marry Mary Dickey, daughter of Robert Dickey[46]
Rockbridge had been created from southern Augusta County and northern Botetourt
County in 1778. Richard (b. 1775) could have married in the very southern part
of Rockbridge County and lived there a few years. Upon the death of his wife
Mary (Dickey), he could have gone south a few miles and been in Botetourt
County and married Margaret Black there in 1803. There were Blacks in
Rockbridge as well as Botetourt and Berkeley counties. I have no proof at all
that our Richard had a brief first marriage and have never heard this as a
family story, and merely add this as one more thing that could have happened.
There is no will
that places any Butt in Botetourt County, Virginia, from 1770 to 1801[47]
nor any evidence indicating Richard inherited any Botetourt land. (Richard
seemingly had some means at his disposal, however, as his 1811 land purchase
was sizeable.) The 1790 census shows the Butts were elsewhere.[48]
In Virginia twenty-six were Heads of Households in Norfolk County and adjoining
Princess Anne County, and three were in Rockingham County: Wendle, John, and
Adam. Also, there were Butts in Maryland.
I subscribe to the
idea that our Butt ancestors lived first in Norfolk County, Virginia, and that
they went from there up the Chesapeake Bay to live some years in Maryland and
then crossed over into northern Virginia. As early as the decade of the 1650s
many Virginia families moved into Maryland because they were unhappy with the
way the Church of England was controlling Virginia. (The Act Concerning
Religion had passed in 1649.) For the next hundred years, though, the settlers
clung to the land along the many watercourses of Maryland.
Frederick County,
Maryland, was created from Prince George’s County because in the 1740s so many
settlers were going on into the mountain regions— Cacoctin, Blue Ridge,
Allegheny. The English, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish were moving up from the
Maryland counties of St. Mary’s, Charles, and Prince George’s, and large groups
of Germans were coming down from Pennsylvania.
There were many
Butts on Maryland census records from 1776 on, and if there were an extant list
of men in large Frederick County (organized in 1748), Maryland, surely Butts
were there by then. It always helps to look at old maps; and checking a map of
Maryland for 1748 shows that all of what is now Garrett, Allegany, Washington,
Frederick, and Montgomery counties, was Frederick County, Maryland, in 1748.
Some of the Butt names that appeared on census lists in Montgomery County
(formed in 1776 from Frederick County) in the upper western part of Maryland in
1790 were Archibald, Aron, Rignal, and Hazel;[49]
in 1800 Axon, Rignald (sic), Hazel, and Aaron;
[50]
in 1810 Rignal, Hazel, Proverb, and Aaron.[51]
On 28 April 1715 a
Richard Butt’s will was probated in Kent County, Maryland, naming children
Richard, Thomas, Dinah, Mary, Samuel, and Nicholas. Samuel Swearengen was a
witness.[52] This is
mentioned because a Richard Butt had been a witness for a Thomas Swearengen’s
29 July 1798 will in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Later Butts and
Swearingens (sic) were together in Berkeley County, Virginia, as well as Greens
and Rays, as shown by Berkeley County marriages between these families.
There was a Samuel
Butt of Montgomery County, Maryland, who wrote his will 28 August 1785
(illegible, possibly 1783), which was probated 6 September 1786.[53]
(If—and there is no proof—this Samuel were the son of Josiah Butt and Mary
[Bouch] mentioned on the first page of this excursus, we could surmise he was
named for Mary’s father, Cal. Samuel Bouch.][54]
Samuel Butt by his 1786 will left his wife, Elizabeth, a life estate in his
real and personal property, and named all his children as legatees. After his
wife’s death certain special bequests were to be left to:
Mary: a cow and calf and a desk
“Keziah Butt now
Harding”: 1 cow and calf and 3 pounds current money of Maryland
Hazel [male]: 1 negro boy named Ben, 1 bed, bedstead and furniture, and 1 cow
Swearengen:1 cow
Richard:1 cow
Samuel:“5 shillings and no more~
“Ann Butt now
Green”: “5 shillings and no more”
“Lidia Butt now Hawkins”: 5 shillings and no more”
“Lidia Butt
now Hawkins”: “5 shillings and no more
“Elizabeth
Butt now Ray”: “5 shillings and no more”
Then, after his wife’s death Samuel directed that, except for the above-mentioned bequests, his entire estate should be divided among:
Sons: John, Aron, Rignal, Basil, Swearengen, Hazel
Daughters: Mary, Keziah[55]
It would appear
that Samuel, Ann, Lidia, and Elizabeth, who were left “5 shillings and no
more,” had been given their share of Samuel’s estate before he wrote his will.
Later, six other sons and two other daughters were to share the estate remaining
after their mother died. This leaves one child, Richard, receiving only a cow,
which is very curious. I am especially interested in this particular Richard
because he might be my ancestor Richard (b. 1775). If so, being only about ten
years old when the will was written, he could hardly have had time to displease
his elders too much, yet he did receive much less than the other children.
In family stories
the names of Richard, Basil, Rignal, and John have been tied together because
they were listed in an 1810 Berkeley County, Virginia, will, which was written
by a Richard Butt. He mentioned his wife Mary and the four nephews he “raised,”
Richard, John, Regnafl (sic), and Basil.[56]
After Mary’s death the remainder of his estate was to go to the nephews. He did
not mention the boys’ mother or father, so their names are not known, nor can
we determine whether the boys had other siblings who were not brought up by
Richard and Mary. The logic of dates excludes my Richard (b. 1775, d. 1837)
from being either the author of the will or one of the nephew legatees. If my
Richard (b. 1775) and Rignal (b. 1802/3) [see sub-excursus, Appendix F] were
two of the nephews, the twenty-seven or twenty-eight year spread between their
ages is too great for both of them to have been “raised” by their uncle.
Descendants of that Rignal (b. 1802/3, who was in Washington County Ca. 1840)
believe that he was one of the four nephews, although he would have been only
about seven (so hardly “raised”) when his uncle died. Actually, for my Richard
this is not pertinent anyway, but the paths of Richard and other Rignals
crossed in Botetourt County, and no doubt before, and I have not pinned down
the relationship.
My Richard Butt
married Margaret Black in Botetourt County in 1803.[57] About this same
year another Rignal Butt (no connection to “the nephews”), who I believe was
related to my Richard, moved from Berkeley County to Botetourt County with his
wife Sarah (last name unknown) and several children, the youngest of whom was
also named Rignal.[58]
Rignal (the elder) was enumerated in the Botetourt County 1810 Census, in which
both he and his wife were in the 26—45 years category.[59]
To have had two children between 16 and 26 years of age would seem to show that
this Rignal was probably a little older than my Richard who was born in 1775
and also listed in the 26—45 category in that census. This Rignal (the elder)
does not appear in other records, as he died Ca. 1811, but marriage bonds from
1812 to 1825 identify the following children as his:[60]
Abraham Butt m.
Margaret Crowl in Botetourt County
Polly Butt m.
Daniel Lanius in Botetourt County
Melinda Butt m.
Adam Fizer in Botetourt County
Regnal Butt m.
Sarah Bondurant in Franklin County
Mary Butt m.
William Rodeheffer in Botetourt County
There was no
Rignal Butt in the Botetourt County 1820 Census, although a younger Rignal was
in the Berkeley County census of 1820 and 1830.[61]
In 1840, however, a Rignal Butt who was 30—40 years of age was enumerated in
the Botetourt County census.[62]
He was probably twenty-five to thirty years younger than the Rignal Butt who
died Ca. 1811 and also my Richard Butt, and somehow related to them. After
Richard’s death this Rignal (of the 1840 census) attended Richard’s estate sale
on 23 February 1837[63]
and on 31 December 1837 an estate record showed Rignal had been repaid for
lending a small amount of money in 1835 to Hiram Butt (Richard and Margaret’s
youngest son) for “fare to Lewisburg,” a town where thirty-one year old Shannon
lived.[64]
In another December court record Rignal and Michael Butt are both listed in the
settlement of small debts owed by Richard’s estate.[65]
This Rignal’s wife is shown to be another Sarah (again, surname unknown), when
in 1840 Rignal and Sarah sold the lot they owned in the town of Fincastle which
they had bought in 1825.[66]
There were other
Butts in Botetourt County who were probably related to Richard, but the
connection is not known. Archibald and Michael were mentioned in the previous
chapter on Richard Butt, and I will list three others.
There was Addison
Butt who married Eleanor Glenn 19 May 1802 in Botetourt County.[67]
My Richard Butt’s son, Wesley, named a son William Addison, and he was called
Addison. The same Methodist minister, John Helms, performed the marriage
ceremonies for Addison Butt and for Richard Butt within a few months of each
other. It is tempting to think Addison and Richard were brothers, but proof is
lacking.
There was John
Butt who on 12 June 1804 bought 90 acres of land on Mud Lick branch of the
Roanoke River from Joseph Day.[68]
On 8 August 1809 John Butt and wife Mary conveyed that land to Christian
Snider, and in 1810 a John Butt (later records show his wife was Mary) appeared
in the Washington County census,[69]
near Abingdon, in the same age group (26—45 years) as Richard and Rignal of the
Botetourt County 1810 Census. John was the first Butt in Washington County, and
later other Butts would live in the same area near Abingdon.
There was Harrison
Butt who made purchases at Richard Butt’s estate sale in 1837. [70]
Harrison, Sr., in the 1840 Botetourt census was 60—70 years old. Richard Butt
would have been 65, if still living.[71]
It is easy to
speculate that some of my Richard Butt’s siblings were Rignal (d. ca. 1811),
John (who moved to Washington County), Addison, Michael, Archibald, and
Harrison. Richard named a son Archibald, but he did not name one for any of the
others, nor did he name one Samuel (if Samuel was his father). It is
frustrating and tantalizing to know that these Butts were related, but not know
how. As stated at the beginning of this excursus us, this is information I have
collected in trying to discover the parentage and background of Richard Butt
(1775—1837). II someone has been successful in this effort, I hope he will
share the proof with other interested descendants.
APPENDIX F
RIGNAL
Butt SUB-EXCURSUS
This sub-excursus,
to create a term, is presented because I did a lot of checking on the name
Rignal Butt since it often showed up where my Richard Butt was. I hated to
discard what had been discovered with such effort, although none of this helped
me prove whether my Richard Butt was or was not a brother of Rignal no. 1
(infra), which was my original specific goal. I did sort out a few of the
Rignals, and maybe other researchers can shed light on Richard Butt’s parents
and siblings. If they are successful, as I was not, or if they already have
proof of Richard’s family, I hope they will share that information.
To simplify things
I am consistently spelling Rignal with an i, and that is what most records
show. This unusual name is apparently not a corruption of Reginald. Often the
name was spelled Regnal, and less frequently Rignall or Regnall.
Following is a
précis of three separate Rignals, all with wives named Sarah. Most of this
appendix is about the second Rignal. I am not recording the other Rignals who
stayed in Berkeley County, Virginia, and in the western Maryland counties of
Frederick and Montgomery.
No. 1. Rignal
Butt, father of Rignal listed as no.2 below. Parentage, date and place of birth
unknown; married Sarah (last name unknown); moved from Berkeley County to
Botetourt County after son Rignal was born in 1802./a and before 1810; was in
Botetourt 1810 Census; died in Botetourt County by April 1812 as evidenced by
subsequent marriage records of his children. This Rignal was the approximate
age of my Richard. [I believe he was my Richard’s brother but have no proof.]
No. 2. Rignal
Butt, son of Rignal listed above. Born 10 August 1802/3 in Berkeley County,
Virginia; lived in Botetourt County until 1820; married Sarah Bondurant in
Franklin County, Virginia, in 1821/22 and lived there until ca. 1840; moved to
Washington County, Virginia; died there.
No. 3. Rignal
Butt. Date and place of birth unknown; wife Sarah (last name unknown); bought a
town lot in Fincastle, Botetourt County, in 1825; mentioned in 1838 estate
papers of my Richard Butt (money he loaned to Hiram Butt; also purchaser at
estate sale); appeared in Botetourt County census for first time in 1840; sold
Fincastle town lot; date of death unknown.
This Rignal was
younger than Rignal no. 1 and probably a little older than Rignal no. 2.
Rignal Butt (no. 2
supra) was the son of Rignal Butt and Sarah (—) Butt. He was born in Berkeley
County, Virginia, 10 August 1802 or 1803, but as a child was soon living in
Botetourt County, Virginia. His father died in Botetourt County ca. 1811. A 10
October 1815 record in the Botetourt County Minute Book of 1815 showed a
“Regnal Butt, son of Reginal Butt,” orphan, with the Methodist minister John
Helms appointed his guardian. By 1820 Rignal had moved to the most southeastern
part of Franklin County, Virginia, where in 1821 or 1822 he married Sarah
Bondurant, daughter of Jane (Prunty) and Jacob Bondurant, who was of Huguenot
descent.
In the Franklin
County 1820 Census, p. 135, Jane Bondurant (Sarah’s mother and Rignal’s
soon-to-be mother-in-law) was enumerated as Head of Household with 8 males and
3 females in her household, four of whom were in agriculture,” and 5 slaves.
(Through deeds dated between 1829 and 1847 I have learned who six of Sarah’s
siblings were—see p. 770.) Jane was the widow of Jacob Bondurant. Since the
youngest child, Jacob Jackson Bondurant, was born in 1818 and Jane was a widow
when the census was taken, Jacob’s death could be estimated to be about 1819.
On 15 August 1821 Jane Bondurant wrote and signed her permission (since Sarah
was under age) for Sarah to marry Rignal Butt. On the same date Rignal signed
the marriage bond, clearly spelling his name with an i. His future
brother-in-law, Thomas Bondurant, went on the band with him. Some of Rignal’s
descendants in Abington, Virginia, give his actual marriage date as 4 March
1822, not August 1821.
A 5 August 1829
Franklin County record (Deed Book 12, P. 344) shows that Thomas Bondurant (who
was special guardian for youngest brother Jacob Jackson) and Joseph Bondurant
(“now of full age to act for himself’) asked the court to appoint Rignal Butt
as their attorney to recover and receive for them as heirs and legatees of
Jacob Bondurant, deceased, all monies due them from John Bondurant, who was
administrator of Thomas Bondurant, deceased, late of Buckingham County, and to
release their interest in the dower of said Thomas’ wife Rhoda. (Thomas
Bondurant, deceased, late of Buckingham County, appears to have been the father
of Jacob Bondurant, deceased, and the grandfather of brothers Thomas, Jacob J.,
and Joseph, mentioned in that 1829 Franklin County instrument.)
Rignal Butt and
his wife Sarah on 23 February 1830 for $350 conveyed to Thomas and John Bondurant,
two of Sarah’s brothers, 75 acres of land on the waters of Snow Creek (Deed
Book 12, p. 594). I could not find Rignal as Head of Household in the Franklin
County 1830 Census. Sarah’s mother was enumerated by name in the household of
her son Thomas.
Marshall
Wingfield, a Bondurant descendant and author of several books including Pioneer
Families of Franklin County, Virginia (1964) and Franklin County, Virginia—A
History (1964), wrote that in the early days Franklin County had a score of
tobacco manufactories, including one that Preston Bondurant (unidentified) had
at Snow Creek and Shady Grove. (Bondurants and Wingfields still lived in
southeastern Franklin County when he wrote these books in 1964.) I mention this
because of the coincidence that in the 1860 Washington County Census, P. 191,
Jacob J. Bondurant (Sarah’s youngest brother) was listed as a tobacconist and
had possibly learned the trade in Franklin County before moving to Washington
County in the late 1840s.
On 10 September
1839 (Franklin County Deed Book 16, pp. 184—185) Robert Bondurant and his wife
Ruth of Henry County conveyed to William J. Mitchell [brother-in-law] and
Thomas Bondurant [brother] for $160 their part in the dower share of Jane
Bondurant, widow of Jacob Bondurant, deceased, “which is the tract of land she
lives on” and two other tracts adjoining on the headwaters of Crab Tree and
Beaver Creeks, six slaves, and all Robert’s interest in the estate of Robert
Prunty, deceased, and of Thomas Bondurant, deceased. (Robert Prunty was Robert
Bondurant’s maternal grandfather, and Thomas Bondurant his paternal
grandfather.)
When the 1840
Franklin County Census was taken, Rignal Butt and Sarah (Bondurant) were
enumerated, p. 291, and they were the only Butts in the county. Rignal’s occupation
is shown as in ‘manufactures and trades,” as he was a hatter, and he was listed
in the 40—50 age group, although he was actually only 37 or 38. His wife, Sarah
(Bondurant) Butt, was shown in the 30—40 age group, and there were six children
in their household and one female slave. On the next line in the same census
enumeration Jane Bundrant (sic), Sarah’s widowed mother, was listed in the
60—70 age group with one male in her household who was 20—30, probably 22 year
old Jacob Jackson Bondurant, thought to be her youngest child. Other Bondurant
households were headed by her sons John and Thomas, both in the 30—40 age
group.
Probably not long
after the 1840 census was taken, Rignal and Sarah (Bondurant) Butt and their
six children moved from southeast Franklin County to Abingdon, Washington
County, on east Main Street near Town Creek. In 1847 Sarah’s mother, Jane
(Prunty) Bondurant, died, and the 1850 Washington County Census, p. 201,
reveals that Sarah’s brother, Jacob Jackson, had moved from Franklin County and
was living with Sarah and Rignal’s family’. He was listed as Jackson and was
called Jackson.
Between 1850 and
1860 sons of a Mary G. Butt of Buckingham County moved to Washington County and
were enumerated in the 1860 census: Mariontine M. (b. 1825), Pleasant Lafayette
(b. 1827), and John W. (b. ca. 1829?). I have no further information on them,
but am aware Sarah (Bondurant) Butt’s grandparents had lived in Buckingham
County too. Also in the Washington County 1860 Census were John B. Butt and wife
Leanna, possibly the same John B. and Leannah (Coffman) who were married in
Botetourt County 2 May 1837 (Botetourt Marriage Register 1 770—1853, p. 641; p.
66, #2809 of original register). I do not know John B.’s parentage.
Sarah (Bondurant)
Butt died of consumption 29 December 1857 and was buried at Sinking Spring
Cemetery in Abingdon. Rignal married Abigail B. Sutton on 30 December 1858
(Marriage Book 1, p. 29), and the record listed him as 55. In the Washington
County 1860 Census, p. 284, Rignal Butt was listed as a farmer, 57, with his
wife Abigail, 46, three children, and three Rodefer (was Rodaheffer?)
grandchildren in the household. In the first census after the Civil War, 1870,
Rignal was listed as a hatter and farmer with $20,000 real property and $1200
personal property.
Following is a
partial list of the children of Jacob and Jane (Prunty) Bondurant of Franklin
County, and following that is a list of the children of their daughter Sarah
(Bondurant) and Rignal Butt of Franklin and Washington counties.
Children of Jacob and Jane (Prunty) Bondurant, order uncertain:
1. Mary (“Polly”) Bondurant: m. William J. Mitchell (b. 1797), son of Archibald Mitchell, on 12 October 1819. They had 4 sons and 2 daughters. William Mitchell, appointed acting commissioner by the Franklin County Court, on 28 September 1847 sold to the highest bidder all the lands in the estate of Jacob Bondurant, deceased, indicating that Jacob’s widow, Jane, had probably died in mid-1847. Deed Book 20, pp. 136—139 shows that tracts of 97 acres, 140 acres, and 23 1/4 acres were sold on the headwaters of Beaver and Crab Tree creeks, land Jacob had originally bought from Benjamin and Josiah Cook when he first bought land in Franklin County, that date not given.
2. John Bondurant: b. 1800—18 10; m. 4 November 1828, Nancy Finney, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Prunty) Finney. Administrator of his grandfather (?) Thomas’ estate after his own father, Jacob, had died. In 1845 sold his interest in his father’s estate that was still in his mother’s possession to his brother Jacob Jackson Bondurant (Deed Book 20, pp. 173, 174).
3. Thomas Bondurant: b. 1800—1810; m. Jane —; d. ca. 1846 in Franklin County, leaving 7, maybe more, children.
4. Robert Bondurant: m. Ruth Meredith. By 1839 Robert and Ruth were living in adjoining Henry County, and sold their interest in his mother’s dower share to his brother-in-law William J. Mitchell and to his brother Thomas Bondurant (Deed Book 16, PP. 184—186).
5. Sarah Bondurant: b. 8 October 1806; m. Rignal Butt, mentioned supra.
6. Joseph Bondurant: b. ca. 1808. By 1844 Joseph was in western Kentucky, in Marshall County, and sold his interest in his mother’s widow dower to his brother Jackson Bondurant.
7. Jacob Jackson Bondurant: b. 22 June 1818. By 1850 he was in Washington County. m. 29 December 1852, Catherine Price, daughter of Lodowick Price and Mary Jane (Lynch) of Washington County. One of their nine children, Thomas James Bondurant, born in 1860, would marry Mary E. Rebecca Maiden, daughter of my ancestors William Lee Maiden and Rebecca Jane (Butt) Maiden. Thomas James Bondurant was called Tom by his peers, and later “GrandTom” or “GranTom” by his Bondurant grandchildren who are referred to on pp. 707—710 of this book.
[Some of the information on the children came from Marshall Wingfield’s Pioneer Families of Franklin County, Virginia, (1964), and his Marriage Bonds of Franklin County, Virginia, 1786— 1858, (1939, repr. 1973).]
Children of Rignal Butt and Sarah (Bondurant), order of children 2—6 not certain; all married in Washington County:
1. Thomas J. Butt: b. 1823; m. Mary Garner; farmer and Methodist Protestant minister; d. 25 July 1853
2. Frances
Butt: b. 1826?; m. Emanuel Rodefer, son of Ara and William Rodefer of Abingdon,
Virginia
3. Sarah
Butt: b. 28 January 1827. On 3 December 1862 she became the 2d wife of Samuel
Landis Maiden, son of my ancestors John Maiden and Susanna (Landis).
4. James
H. Butt: b. 16 October 1828; m. Mary E. 0. Price, daughter of Lodowick Price
and Jane C. W. (Lynch). Like hi~ father, James was a hatter. During the Civil
War they manufactured for the Confederate Army.
5. Mary
Butt: m. George Mantz and moved to Missouri
6. John W.
Butt: b. 1835? He was accidentally killed when thrown from his horse in 1864 in
Russell County, Virginia. (Lyman Chalkley lists a J. W. Butt: Confederate
soldier, private in the Washington Mounted Rifles.)
7. Henry
Clay Butt: b. Ca. 1842?; m. Letitia Branson; 12 children; Methodist Protestant
minister and chaplain in the Confederate Army. In trying to discover the
relationship between Rignal (no. 2) and my Richard Butt, I have corresponded
with three of Henry’s descendants: Misses Edna and Lillian Butt of Abingdon,
daughters of Charles Henry Butt, a son of Henry; also, Lucille (Mrs. Robert
Lee) Butt of Abingdon, whose husband is a son of Arthur Stewart Butt, another
son of Henry.
8. Joseph
M. Butt: b. ca. 1845; m. (1) Thryza Lyon, and (2) Frances Drinkard. In the
Civil War Joseph was a 2nd Lieutenant in 13th Battalion Virginia Reserves, Co.
E, in the Confederate Army. Note: An 1889 biographical sketch in Dr. R. A.
Brock’s Virginia and
Virginians, vol. 2, p. 706, states that his father Rignal was “late of
Berkeley County” [his 1802/3 birthplace at least] and his grandfather Rignal
was also late of Berkeley County near Harper’s Ferry, and came of German
ancestry. This is the only “German ancestry” statement I have ever seen.
Some
siblings of Rignal Butt (no. 2):
I have found
marriage records in Botetourt County that indicate Rignal (no. 2), who married
Sarah Bondurant and Abigail Sutton, had a brother Abraham and sisters Folly,
Mary (possibly the same sister, as Polly is a nickname for Mary), and Melinda.
There may have been other siblings, but these are the ones I found in John Vogt
and T. William Kethley, Jr.,’s Botetourt County Marriages 1750—1850, vols. 1
and 2 (1987), pp. 202, 210, 234, 306; also, from Mormon Library film 030731 of
Botetourt County, Virginia, Marriage Register 1770—1853.
16 April 1812: Abraham Butt m. Margaret Crowl, daughter of Henry Crowl, by Methodist minister John Helms. (In 1790 Henry Crowl was listed in the Frederick County, Maryland, census.) Sally [Sarah] Butt testified (indicating she was a widow) that her son Abraham was over 21.
10 February 1813: Polly Butt m. Daniel Lanius. Abraham Butt, the older brother of the bride, testified that the bride was over 21, and was security.
5 March 1816: Melinda Butt m. Adam Fizer, by Methodist minister John Helms. Sarah Butt testified Melinda was over 21. The record stated that the bride was the “Daughter of Regnal, dec’d., and Sarah Butt.”
14 September 1825: Mary Butt m. William Rodaheffer. Adam Fizer (see above) testified the bride was over 21. The record stated that the bride was the “Daughter of Regnal Butt, deceased.”
It seems very
possible that the just-named Mary Butt and William Rodaheffer are “Ma” (also
“Ary”) and William Rodefer who were living in Washington County in 1827. A biographical
sketch of J. Alex Rodefer in Brock’s Virginia and Virginians, p. 753, states
that J. Alex was a son of William Rodefer of Abingdon, “formerly of Shenandoah
and Botetourt counties, Virginia, who was a contractor and carpenter from 1827
to the opening of the [Civil] war, and was post quartermaster at Abingdon
during the war. Brock also states that the mother of J. Alex was Ara, daughter
of John Butt, Esq., of Berkeley County, (then) Virginia.” [emphasis added] This
does not agree with the family story of the Butts of Abingdon who thought Ma
was the sister of their ancestor Rignal whose parents were Rignal (no. 1) and
Sarah (—) Butt.
If Dr. Brock is
correct in the information he presented, Ary was the daughter of John Butt of
Berkeley County and Rignal was the son of Rignal Butt of Berkeley County, and
they therefore could not be brother and sister. Having seen several spelling
variations of Rodefer, however, one suspects Rodaheffer is the same name, and
Ary is Mary, and Dr. Brock might have been incorrect in stating Ary was the
daughter of John Butt. After Mary Butt and William Rodaheffer married in
Botetourt in 1825, they do not appear in any more Botetourt County records.
However, Ary and William Rodefer were in Washington County in 1827. Variations
of the surname appear in 1790 and 1820 (none in 1810) censuses: Rodiheffer,
Rodyheffer, Rodifer (Shenandoah County); Rhodefaffer and Rodifor (Bath County);
Rodiffer (Ohio County).
I have gone into
all this concerning Rignal (no. 2) and his family because I spent so much time
sorting out the many Rignals I found, thinking he or one of them would give me
a clue to my Richard’s parentage. Unlike Rignal, Richard is a common name and I
followed all leads, although in the end it really led nowhere. I hope some
descendant of Richard Butt has or finds proof of Richard’s parentage.
REBECCA JANE BUTT
was the eighth child and the fourth daughter of Richard Butt and Margaret
Black, and she was born 13 May 1822 in Botetourt County, Virginia. By the time
she was four her two oldest sisters were married. The Butt farm was on Catawba
Creek about eight miles from Fincastle, the county seat, on a branch of the
James River. When Rebecca was nine, her father acquired additional land on
nearby Lapsleys Run.
Rebecca’s father
died in January 1837. On 23 November of that same year she married William Lee
Maiden, the oldest child of neighbors John Maiden and Susanna Landis. Because
Rebecca was under age, her mother was legally required to give her written
permission. Six months later her mother died too.
The John Maidens
lived farther up on Catawba Creek, and this was where Rebecca and William L.’s
first two (and possibly three) children were born. In 1843 most of the Maiden
family moved from Botetourt County to settle in Washington County in southwest
Virginia. Here Rebecca and William lived the rest of their long lives, through
the Civil War and the soul-trying Reconstruction times and into the last decade
of the nineteenth century. Of their eleven children, eight lived to adulthood
and gave Rebecca and William L. fifty-six grandchildren.
Rebecca’s life would
have been that of a typical Virginia farmer’s wife of that period. She had a
large family, a large house on Maiden Creek, and busy years. She and her
husband were devoted Methodists. By reading the following chapter on William L.
Maiden, a clearer picture is given of what kind of home life Rebecca had.
Rebecca Jane (Butt) Maiden preceded her husband in death, dying 11 October 1893
at the age of 71 years 4 months 28 days. She was buried in Maiden Cemetery.
