From Talitha Butler Patience's History of the Butler Family (1963)

"There were ten children in the family of Peter and Rachel Butler and each was given a farm of 160 acres when he started out for himself. One of the younger sons, John, was given a farm located on Section 36, Monmouth Township. This was in 1838 and part of it is still in the Butler name.

On this farm, John built a frame house which is still in use. The frame was cut and hewn from the timber on the place, and the windows and finishing lumber were bought in St. Louis and hauled to the farm from Oquawka. There were six children born to John and Eliza Butler, Ralph Otis being the youngest. His mother died when Ralph was three weeks old, and her sister, Matilda Smith, came to the home to take care of the small children.

In 1860, John built an addition to the house, making it one of the finest and largest homes in this part of the country. John was stricken with typhoid fever and died April 8, 1864, and Ralph was left the house and twenty-three acres of timber pasture land to which he has added from time to time, until now he owns and operated 300 acres, all farm land except ten acres of timber."

"The cemetery lies almost directly back of the site of the old Patterson house, in the rear of a cornfield. It is perhaps 60 by 80 feet in size, is marked by large oak trees, and has ten graves marked by stones, and several unmarked.

The markers record the following deaths:

John M. Butler, son of Peter and father of Ralph O. Butler, who lives near by, died April 7, 1864, ages 45 years; his wife Eliza died May 1, 1858, aged 40 years; her mother, Elizabeth Howard wife of Godfrey Smith, died September 23, 1851, aged 71 years; Mrs. Butler's sister, Matilda Smith, died August 29, 1881, aged 75 years; McDowell, son of J. M. and E. Butler, died July 27, 1842, and Mary Ann, daughter of J. and Sarah J. Butler, died March 17, 1861, aged 11 years; Frances J. daughter of E. and E. A. Ground, died August 31, 1840, two years.

Mrs. Eliza Butler and her sister Miss Matilda Smith were daughter of Godfrey Smith, a Revolutionary war veteran, who died in Kentucky, his widow and the daughters coming to this county later.

Linda Jenkins Werts
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