Volume 5, Number 8 - Summer 1975
"ELIAS BUTLER’S WILL"
Copied by Edna Hazel McCullough Lowery
(Source: page 66, Will Book of Carroll County, Tennessee)
In the name of God Amen - I Elias Butler of the County of Carroll & State of Tennessee taking into consideration the mortality of my own body a that it is appointed for all men once to die - do make a ordain this my last will a Testament - Principally & first I give my soul to the hands of the Almighty God that gave it a my body to be buried in a christian like manner at the disentian (discretion?) of my executors - As to all my worldly goods which it hath been pleased God to bless me with I dispose of them in the following manner viz
First I loan unto my beloved wife Sarah every part a parcell of all my estate which I now own or possess during her life time - (what I have already give to my children in no wise herein included) and after the death of my said beloved wife Sarah I give & bequeath unto John Butler James M. Butler Elias Butler Joshua Butler Neally Butler my five sons - my daughter Mary Queen Judah Boyd Elizabeth McAuly & Sarah Boyd each of them the one tenth part of all the above mentioned estate (page 67) by that may this will Loaned to mySaid wife Sarah as much as may be remaining at her my said wifes death to them & their heirs forever - and I give & bequeath unto the three children of my son Reuben Butler Deceased Viz Susannah Lucy a Sarah to be equally divided between them the one tenth part of all the above named estate to them & their heirs forever - a I do hereby constitute and appoint my two sons Neally Butler a Joshua Butler executors to this my last will & testament.
"In witness of this being my last will & testament I the said Elias Butler hath hereunto set my hand a seal this 6th day of March 1830 - revoking all other wills hereto fore made by me
"Signed published & declared to be the last will of the Testator in presence of us
Isaac Kerby
Thomas Butler
"Elias Butler Seal
"State of Tennessee:
"Carroll County Court: February Term 1838
"This day the last will & Testament of Elias Butler was produced in open court a the execution thereof was duly proven by the oath of Isaac Kerby a Thomas Butler to be his act a deed for the purposes therein set forth & ordered to be recorded.
"A copy Test
"George Hem Clerk
"By J. R. Smith DC"
Elias Butler, progenitor of the Butler family in Carroll County, Arkansas and stone County, Missouri was born about 1756-57. 1/ He was enumerated by James Butler in the Montgomery County, State Census for North Carolina on July 3, 1787 residing adjacent to Thomas Butler. These three Butlers may have been brothers. From data given by descendants on places of birth, It has been deduced the family moved to Carroll County, Tennessee between 1825 and 1828. Elias Butler died in Carroll County, Tennessee about January-February 1828. Elias Butler died in Carroll County, Tennessee about January-February 1828 as seen from will above. Widow Sarah Butler is enumerated in the Carroll County, Tennessee census of 1840, age 70 to 80.
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Vouchers in the Comptroller’s Office of North Carolina, Box B-1, certificate no. 1,5749, show that Elias Butler served during the Revolutionary War in the Continental Line of North Carolina from the Salisbury District. No pension or land grant records for such service has as yet been found.
Neeley (Neally) Butler, who served as one of executors of his father’s estate, was born in North Carolina on January 15, 1796. 2/ He married Amy (Anna or Irenee) Ozier (perhaps, the daughter of William Ozier of Montgomery County, North Carolina), born in North Carolina on February 28, 1799, about 1815.
Neely Butler died between 1877 and 1880, his wife died prior to May 28, 1877. Both are buried in the Blue Eye Cemetery, one-fourth mile west of Blue Eye, Missouri. A complete listing of their children is not available. However, other than those listed in the census of 1850, known children include:
1. Wilson Sutton Butler, born in North Carolina, August 23, 1819, married Margaret P. Dedman (June 1, 1827-June 17, 1887), daughter of Seneca and Bedy Dedman) in Wright Co., Missouri. He died December 3, 1881, and both are buried in the Blue Eye Cemetery.
2. Melissa Ann Butler, born in North Carolina, ca. 1822, married in Carroll County, Arkansas, in October 1840, George Washington Baines, a Baptist minister; this family removed to Texas and were the ancestors of President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
3. It is believed that Martin J. Butler, a Baptist Minister, born ca. 1816 in North Carolina, and who about 1850 married in Carroll County, Arkansas, Elizabeth J. (Davis) is another son. He later emigrated to the same area of Texas as the Queen(e) and Williams families.
Susan Morris (believed to be the widow of Reuben Butler) and her husband William Morris, were residing in 1840 in Carroll County, Tennessee, but prior to 1850 came to the east side of the Kings River, White River Township (near present day Royale Point), Barry County, Missouri. About 1852 or 1853, they sold this property to her daughter Sarah Butler Hale and Sarah’s husband, Turner Hale who had removed from Carroll County, Tennessee.
The 1850 Census for Carroll County, Tennessee indicates that daughter Judith Butler Boyd, and her husband John Boyd, and Sarah Butler Boyd and her husband Thomas Boyd were residing among the numerous Butler families remaining in Carroll County, Tennessee.
1 / Census records for Elias Butler:
1787 (State Census), Montgomery County, North Carolina.
Elias Butler, 1 white male age 21 to 60.
3 males, either under 21 or over 60
1 female
1 slave
1790, U.S. Census, Salisbury District, Montgomery Co. North Carolina
Elias Butler, 1 male age 16 & up.
3 males, under 16
2 females
1 slave
1810 Census, Montgomery County Salisbury District, North Carolina: p. 56.
Elias Butler, age 45 plus
1 male, age 1-10 years.
1 male, age 10-15
1 male, age 16-25
1 female, age 1-10
2 females, age 12-25
Elias Butler, age 26-44
3 males under age 10
1 female, age26-44
2 females, underage 10.
Census for 1800, Montgomery County, Salisbury Dist., North Carolina.
Elias Butler, age 26-44
3 males under age 10
2 males age 10-15
1 male age 16-25
1 female (Sarah) age 26-44
2 females under 10
1 female age 10-15
Census 1820, no records.
Census for 1830, Carroll County, Tennessee p. 170
Elias Butler, age 70-80; female (Sarah) age 7;-80)
1 female age 10-15
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2/ Neeley Butler. p. 161, Census 1830, CarrollCounty, Tennessee.
Neeley Butler, age 30-40 (born 15 Jan. 1796)
1 male, age5-10
3 males, age 10-15
1 female (Arina, lrene) age 20-30 (b. 28 Feb. 1799)
1 female, age under 5
1 female, 5-10
1840 Census Carroll County, Arkansas: Prairie Township. p. 11
Neeley Butler, age 40-50
2 males under 5
1 male, age 5-10
1 male, age 15-20
2 males, age 20-30
1 female, age 40-50
1 female, age under 5
1 female, age 10-15
1 female, age 15-20
1850 Census Prairie Township, Carroll County, Arkansas -393/393.
Neely, BUTLER, age 54, b. N. Car.
Anna Butler, age 51, B.N. Car.
John Q. A. Butler, age 19, b. Tenn.
Joel 0. Butler, 16, b. Tenn.
William 0. Butler, 12, b. Arkansas
Anna (Anna) A. Butler, 8, b. Arkansas
NeelyT. Butler, 7, b. Arkansas. (died during Civil War)
The above data compiled by Edna Hazel McCullough Lowery, 209 Noland Street, Falls Church, Virginia.
Sources: Records at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
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