H. Milton Butler, editor and proprietor of the Prairie Grove Banner, was born in Fairmount, Gordon County, Georgia, February 12, 1859, and is a son of James F. and Flora Ann S. Watts Butler, who were born in South Carolina. November 2, 1821, and Georgia, March 19, 1826, respectively. They were reared and married in the latter State, and at the breaking out of the late Civil War the father enlisted in the Confederate Army, and served as Corporal with Gen. Joe Johnston until the close of the war. He then returned to his home in Georgia, and in the winter of 1868 moved to Arkansas, and settled near Springtown, Benton County, where he still resides.

H. Milton Butler came to Arkansas with his parents, and received the advantages of a good common-school education, which he has since improved very much by self-application at leisure moments. At an early age he manifested a desire for reading, and the ablest newspapers of the day were eagerly devoured by him. After his marriage, which occurred September 14, 1879, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for about seven years, and then he and a brother began editing a paper at Springdale, Arkansas, but after a very short time he removed to Prairie Grove and established the Banner, which has a large and increasing circulation. The Banner is a neat, newsy little paper, and is published in the interests of the Democratic Party, and for the development and upbuilding of the beautiful and productive Prairie Grove Valley.

Mr. Butler is not a member of any church, but is a firm believer in the teachings of the Bible, and is ever ready to assist the cause of Christianity. He is an active worker in the Sabbath School, and was recently (May, 1888) elected secretary of the Washington County Sunday School Convention. September 30, 1888, he was elected city recorder of the incorporated town of Prairie Grove.

His wife, Susan A., is a daughter of James and Nancy Sparks Deatherage, of Benton County, and was born in Boone County, Arkansas, September 5, 1861, and is now the mother of seven children: Orlando E., Sylvester J., Ethel P., Talitha A., W. H. Milton, Bertha A. (deceased) and James G.
James Deatherage 1830-1897, son of Bird Deatherage and Elsie Mann...husband of Nancy Jane Sparks 1826-1906, daughter of Richard Sparks and Sarah Peterson... Nancy Jane Sparks was sister to Joshua Sparks, whose first wife was Catherine Edgmon...Nancy and Joshua Sparks were siblings of Abigail Sparks who was wife of Philemon Edgmon...Catherine and Philemon Edgmon were children of Thomas Edgmon and Nancy Percy.

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