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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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William L. Butler, planter, Poplar Bluff, Ark. The industry, perseverance and close attention to business which a person displays in the management of any particular branch of trade results largely in their personal popularity. And in the case of Mr. Butler this is certainly true, for he has adhered so closely to farming that high esteem has been placed upon him. He was born in Perry County, Ala., on April 5, 1836, and was the son of Leonard and Judith (Williams) Butler, natives of South Carolina, and the grandson of Dr. Ephraim Butler. The Butlers are of Irish descent, their ancestors having come to America under the leadership of Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore) 1643 to 1649 to escape persecutions, religious and political. They seem to have drifted south, for we find one of them, Pierce Butler, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from South Carolina, and who, in the name of his State, was a signer to the constitution. Going still farther south we find William O. Butler at one time on the ticket with Lewis Cass for Vice- president. He was a major-general in the Mexican War. Another one of this family was from South Carolina and colonel of the Palmetto Regiment. The father of our subject came from South Carolina when a boy, located in Alabama, and his death occurred in Perry County in 1852. The mother died in Texas in 1868. Both were honored members of the Baptist Church. They reared a family of eight children, four of whom are now living, the sister, the wife of Capt. Clark of Ashley County, and the two brothers, Abner R. and Leonard E., are in the Lone Star State. William L. Butler passed his boyhood days on his father’s plantation in Alabama, and was educated at Howard College in the same State. In 1856 he came to Ashley County, Ark., bought land, farmed on this until 1860, and then returned to Alabama, where he married Mrs. M. J. Atkin, a lady of Knickerbocker descent. To this marriage were born four children, one now living. The war breaking out, Mr. Butler sided with the Confederacy, and in May, 1861, enlisted in Company K, Eighth Alabama, and was made first lieutenant of same. He was in no special battles, but was on the peninsula around Yorktown. He remained with that regiment until April, 1862, when he was elected captain of Company A, Twenty-eighth Alabama Regiment. He was then in the battle of Corinth, then to Tupelo, then operated in Tennessee and Kentucky, and was in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, New Hope, Marietta, and Atlanta. On the day that the battle of Murfreesboro was fought he was commissioned major. From that time on he was commander of the Twenty-eighth Alabama, and the only field officer with the regiment. After the battle of Chickamauga he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and after the battle of Atlanta he was given the colonelcy. He was at the battle of Franklin, and early in that engagement took command of Manigault’s brigade, the general and senior colonels having been previously killed or badly wounded. All day long he rode where the fight raged fiercest, and when the battle closed he reformed the shattered lines of his gallant brigade within the Federal works. Col. Butler commanded this brigade from then on until he was wounded and captured, which occurred soon after at the battle of Nashville. He was confined at the hospital for some time, and in April, 1865, was taken to Fort Delaware, where he remained until the latter part of July. He was then paroled, took the oath of allegiance, and returned to Alabama, where he remained one year. He then moved his family to his plantation in Arkansas, and here has resided since. Until lately he has planted on a large scale, farming from 400 to 500 acres, but now is not farming so extensively. Mrs. Butler died on July 6, 1884. In May, 1889, Mr. Butler married Mrs. L. J. Norwood. Socially Mr. Butler is a Mason and a K. of P., and holds his membership in both orders in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Butler lived through the reconstruction period, and then it was that the citizens of his vicinity suffered more from the depredations of the State Militia than they did during the war.

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This family biography is one of 97 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Ashley County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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