I realized in March that I’ve written very little about my female ancestors. While I wrote several posts then in honor of Women’s History Month, I’ve decided to continue with a new series focusing on the timelines of my female ancestors. I’m starting with my great-grandmothers and working backward. The first article was about Lizzie West Kendrick and now the series continues with Maud Whitener Butler.
1885 – Maud Angeline was born on August 27, the first child of William Everett Whitener (1855-1937) and Mary Elizabeth Patterson (1867-1920). William had been married previously and had five children with his first wife. I think she was born in Murray County, Georgia, where her parents were living in 1900, but it could easily have been in adjacent Gilmer County, where they were both from and where they were married in 1883.
1899 – Brownlow Whitener (1878-1899), Maud’s half-brother, died at Guantanomo, Cuba while serving in the Spanish-American War.
1900 – Maud, a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl, lived with her parents, her half-brother, and three younger siblings on a farm in the Doolittle District of Murray County.
1906 – Maud became the bride of James Benjamin Butler in a civil ceremony on February 8.
1906 or 1907 – Maud and Jim moved to Texas, where they lived for about ten years.
1907 – One June 26, Maud gave birth to her first child, Floyd David Butler, in Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas.
1910 – Maud’s second son, James Benjamin Butler, Jr., was born, also in Quanah, Texas. I can’t find the family on the 1910 census, which is a big hole in my research; in addition to the standard searches, I’ve browsed each page of the censuses in Hardeman County, Murray County, Georgia, and Rogers County, Oklahoma (where Maud’s parents were living in 1910). If anyone knows the census location for this family in 1910, please leave a comment.
1912 – George William Butler, Maud’s third son, was born in Texas on January 28.
1914 – Finally, a daughter! Edna Josephine Butler was born in Quanah, Texas on March 24.
1916 – Maud gave birth to her fifth child, Luke Hemphill Butler, on April 23, in Quanah. Luke was Maud and Jim’s last child to be born in Texas.
between 1916 and 1918 – Maud and her family returned to Georgia.
1918 – John Taylor Butler, Maud’s last son, was born in Ramhurst, Murray County, Georgia.
1920 – Maud, Jim, and their six children lived on the family farm in the Ball Ground District in Murray County. Maud’s mother died on April 6 in Oklahoma, where she was still living.
1921 – Maud’s second daughter was born in Ramhurst, Georgia.
1924 – On December 24, Maud gave birth to a daughter, Beulah Maude, who died the same day.
1926 – Maud’s ninth child, another daughter was born.
1928 – Maud gave birth to her last child, a daughter.
1930 – Maud and her family lived in Chatsworth, in the old jail, because Jim was Sheriff. Eight of the children were still living at home. The census also reports a “lodger”; I wonder if he was really a prisoner?
1937 – Maud’s father died on January 5 at the age of 88. He had moved back to Murray County after his wife died and was living there at the time of his death.
1944 – Maud became a widow at the age of 59, when Jim died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 29.
1966 – Maud lived in Chatsworth when her sister, Beulah Whitener Harrison, died. Coincidentally, she was living with another of my great-grandmothers from my mother’s side of the family.
1972 – Maud’s third son, George, died on May 19th.
1975 – Maud died of congestive heart failure on April 7 at the age of 89. She is buried at Ramsey Cemetery in Ramhurst, Georgia.
Next research steps:
- Ask my grandmother why her parents moved to Texas. I always assumed it was to be near Maud’s parents, but they were in Foyil, Oklahoma, which is 320 miles away. Also see if she has any pictures or mementos.
- Continue looking for the family on the 1910 census.
- Look for Maud’s obituary on microfilm at the Murray County Library.
- Look for references to Maud in other articles from The Chatsworth Times, particularly Social News.
To see other articles in the Women’s Timeline Series, click here.