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The Butner family were prominent members of the Moravian Church
community in Salem, NC (present-day Winston-Salem).
The Moravian Church records have been collected in book form
and published in several volumes as Records of the Moravians in North
Carolina. It is a fascinating, detailed account of everyday life among
the Moravians. Throughout the records it is clear that the Moravians
had a very strong sense of community, and each member of that community
played a specific role in the society. Following are some examples from
the Records which deal with the Butner family:
May 2, 1786
The widow, Sarah Buttner, with her two sons, Jesse and
John, moved from Hope to Salem.
May 2, 1786
The widow Buttner and her two sons have not had smallpox
and wish to be inoculated.....
1788
John Buttner has entered the boys’ Anstalt [boarding school].
Feb. 13, 1788
Brother and Sister Tycho Nissen have taken the widow Buttner
into their house, because there is no other place for her at present, but
this gives then too little place for their children.
August 19, 1789
Little John Buttner went to Brother Rudolph Christ to learn
the potter’s trade. He will continue to live in the school and attend classes
in the morning.
November 18, 1795 Salem
The youths John Buttner and Christian Nissen shall be moved
to the Brothers’ room, a Brother being appointed to take special care of
each.
August 2, 1802 Salem
The married Brother John and Sister Anna Maria Buttner
moved today to Bethabara. He has bought the pottery from Gottlob Krause
and will continue the business.
October 18, 1808 Bethabara
Residents in the village and neighbors have often wished
that the town might have a Justice of the Peace, and many have suggested
Brother John Butner.
October 24, 1841 Bethabara
Baptism of the little daughter born on September 17 to
our neighbors Samuel and Martha Butner with the name Harriett Elisabeth.
Samuel Herman Butner was born May 19, 1817 in Stokes County.
He was the youngest son of John Butner and Anna Maria Knauss; John Butner
worked as a potter and was a distinguished person within the Moravian community.
(See ancestry
chart for Samuel Butner)
In 1839 Samuel Butner married Martha Hauser. The Hausers
were also members of the Moravian Church, and Martha was apparently the
daughter of Johann (John) L. Hauser.
John Butner died in 1857, and his son Samuel served as co-executor
of his will. (This will is located in the N.C. State Archives).
About 1857-1859 Samuel Butner and his family moved to the Toe River Valley
in western North Carolina; the reasons for this move are unknown.
Martha Butner died on February 2, 1880. On May 31, 1881 Samuel
Butner remarried Louisa McCourry; after Samuel's death, his widow brought
a court suit against his four surviving children and petitioned the court
to remain within the home; this request was granted.
Samuel Butner died on May 25, 1893. Both he and Martha Butner
are buried in Strawbridge Young Cemetery, Yancey County.
CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND MARTHA BUTNER
1. JOHN VIRGIL BUTNER (Nov. 14, 1840- January 1860) His
birth is noted in Records of the Moravians.
According to the mortality schedule of the 1860 Yancey
census, he died of pneumonia after being ill for sixteen
days.
2. HARRIETT ELIZABETH BUTNER (Sept. 11,1841- Feb. 18, 1907)
Married Joseph Tarpley Young on April 6, 1861. (See
article on JOSEPH TARPLEY YOUNG). Her dates
of birth and death are taken from her tombstone; according to Records of
the Moravians, her birthdate was actually September 17.
3. MARY LETITIA BUTNER b. November 8, 1843.
Her birth is recorded in Records of the Moravians.
She last appears with the family on the 1850 census, and then there is
no further record of her. Presumably she died in the 1850’s.
4. ELIZA A. BUTNER b. @ 1847.
Presumably she died in the 1850’s.
5. MARTHA BUTNER b. @1849
Married Francis Marion Edwards in Yancey County on
Nov. 4, 1877. The couple’s children included Yancey County newspaper printer
and publisher Lusk Edwards.
6. SAMUEL T. BUTNER b. @1851.
Stabbed to death in a drunken argument by Thomas Boone
on June 8, 1878 at Windom. Boone was tried and sentenced to death, but
then escaped, eventually moved to Oregon, and lived there under the alias
George Brown.
7. HENRY M. BUTNER (September 9, 1853- May 27, 1902)
Married Lucretia Boone on April 4, 1875 in Yancey County.
According to the Yancey County cemetery survey done by the WPA in 1940,
Henry Butner is buried in Boone Cemetery located on Boone Ridge in Burnsville.
8. LEWIS BUTNER (@1857- April 1, 1930)
Married 1st) Tempie Ann Tipton (1856- 1899) on
Jan. 1, 1878. Married 2nd) Annaliza Hollifield, on March 8, 1904.