John B. Butler

John B. Butler married Bridget Kelly on February 12, 1878 in Iowa County, Iowa. They lived in Iowa from before January 1877 and remained until at least February 1878 but left before September 1880. They lived in Saline County, Nebraska from after February 1878 but before September 1880 until before October 1889, whereupon they moved to Parnell, Fillmore Township, Iowa County, Iowa (probably after 1885). They had five children. He died in 1936; she died in 1938. Butler family initially settled in English Township, Iowa County, Iowa, just southwest of Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a city located in the Troy Township of Iowa County, Iowa, 12 miles southeast of Marengo and 30 miles from Cedar Rapids, on a bend of Old Man’s Creek. Williamsburg was a small Welsh community until the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad built the Southwestern branch from Cedar Rapids to Ottumwa in 1884. This railroad appears on a map of Iowa County, Iowa dated 1910, oriented generally in a north-south direction as it navigates through the township. Almost overnight the community grew from 150 hardy souls to 1,100, and in 1885 the town was incorporated. Williamsburg’s roots are primarily Welsh, Irish, and German. Settlements of Welsh pioneers just east of Williamsburg and settlements of Irish in the same area led to a gradual influx of those people into the city. More Irish settlers arrived after the coming of the railroad.