Steven Butler's Family History Website - Bertie County NC Butlers

MY DILEMMA

More than thirty years after I learned that my family's roots are in Bertie County, NC, I am still struggling to break through a "brick wall" that has me stuck in 1824, the year my great-great-grandfather Alfred Butler was born there, according to his 1847 Mexican War discharge certificate.

In May 1846 Alfred Butler enlisted as a private in Co. D (Col. Sydenham Moore's Company), First Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, at Eutaw, Greene County, Alabama. Another man in his company was named Levin Butler. I have no evidence they were related but I am guessing that they were either brothers or cousins. Levin Butler was also born in North Carolina, about 1825.

For a long time I conjectured that Alfred and Levin were the grandsons of an Isaac Butler, who died in Greene County, Alabama in 1826. One of Isaac Butler's heirs was Kennard Butler, who according to the 1830 federal census for Greene County, had two sons the right age to be Alfred and Levin. Kennard Butler apparently died between 1835 and 1840, in which year his widow Ann Butler (a.k.a. Nancy Ann Butler) was enumerated in the 1840 federal census for Greene County, with two sons the right age to be Alfred and Levin. Unfortunately, neither the 1830 or 1840 census names anyone but the head of the household and I have been unable to find any evidence to confirm my supposition. Another problem is that it appears that Isaac and Kennard Butler were resident in Cumberland County, NC before migrating to Alabama, not Bertie County.