Butler, John Ferguson

Birth Name Butler, John Ferguson
Gramps ID I87863603
Gender male
Age at Death unknown

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth [E0751] 16 September 1811 Henry County, Kentucky  
 
Death [E0752] 16 July 1861 Trimble County, Kentucky  
 

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Butler, Joseph Farley [I87866618]13 July 17873 February 1814
Mother Walden, Nancy [I87866619]about 1787after 1820
         Butler, John Ferguson [I87863603] 16 September 1811 16 July 1861
    Sister     Butler, Sophia [I87867036] 1809-05-27 25 August 1823

Families

    Family of Butler, John Ferguson and Farley, Frances Jane [F40458953]
Married Wife Farley, Frances Jane [I87863604] ( * 10 December 1814 + 23 March 1873 )
   
Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Marriage [E0972] 9 January 1831  
 
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Butler, Joseph Forest [I78155000]14 February 184215 April 1914
Butler, Mary Elizabeth [I87863639]22 June 183523 June 1836
Butler, William [I87863640]26 November 1837
Butler, Mary Frances [I87863649]21 March 18401860/1861
Butler, Martha Reeves [I87863659]23 April 18441925-05-20
Butler, Nancy Ann [I87863664]8 April 184619 November 1871
Butler, Eunitia Ann [I87863681]23 March 1848before 1876
Butler, Elizabeth Wright [I87863689]3 March 18507 April 1926
Butler, Sophia White [I87863701]27 November 1851
Butler, Ella Edwina [I87863706]16 April 1854
Butler, John Breckinridge [I87863710]8 September 1856
Butler, Edmonia Isabel [I87863721]5 February 1859

Narrative

John Ferguson Butler was named after the uncle who died on the Natchez Trace (or in Natchez, Tennessee).
John Ferguson was nineteen years old when he married sixteen-year-old Frances Jane Farley. They continued to live with William Butler (John Ferguson's grandfather who had married Frances Jane Farley's mother, Frances E., on 4 February 1825). So, that makes William Frances Jane's grandfather-in-law as well as her stepfather and Frances E. is John F's mother-in-law as well as his stepgrandmother. I don't know if that would make it easier or more difficult to exchange names for Christmas presents...

From: Mark Collis Butler, Jr. The Butler and Farley Families of Trimble County, Kentucky

"William Butler was 78 when his first great-grandchild was born and was still actively managing the farm, but time was beginning to take its toll. By 1844 his sight was gone. On 11 July 1849 his wife, Frances, died. In 1850, at the age of ninety, he finally applied for a Revolutionary War pension and later that year was granted $20 per year, retroactive to 1831. Even though blind and infirm, he sold his farm, probably to pay debts, and bought and moved to another, located just below Ewingford on the north side of the Little Kentucky River. In February 1853 William made his will and on 22 July 1854 he died. He left his real and personal property for the use of John F. and Frances Jane as long as they lived and then it was to be divided among their children.

From the will and other information the conclusion can be drawn that John F. was not a very good manager and perhaps had other problems as well. Seven years later, on 16 July 1861, faced with the outbreak of the Civil War, the possible loss of his slaves, and no one knows how many other difficulties, he shot himself. Frances Jane was left with eight children, all girls but one, possibly young William, then twenty-three, and a small farm. There is no record of how she managed to survive, but by 23 March 1873, when she died (no doubt from exhaustion), all her surviving daughters except two, Sophia and Edmonia, were married."

 

Pedigree

  1. Butler, Joseph Farley [I87866618]
    1. Walden, Nancy [I87866619]
      1. Butler, John Ferguson
        1. Farley, Frances Jane [I87863604]
          1. Butler, Joseph Forest [I78155000]
          2. Butler, Mary Elizabeth [I87863639]
          3. Butler, William [I87863640]
          4. Butler, Mary Frances [I87863649]
          5. Butler, Martha Reeves [I87863659]
          6. Butler, Nancy Ann [I87863664]
          7. Butler, Eunitia Ann [I87863681]
          8. Butler, Elizabeth Wright [I87863689]
          9. Butler, Sophia White [I87863701]
          10. Butler, Ella Edwina [I87863706]
          11. Butler, John Breckinridge [I87863710]
          12. Butler, Edmonia Isabel [I87863721]
      2. Butler, Sophia [I87867036]

Ancestors