Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Christopher Columbus Butler

Male 1810 - 1858  (48 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name Christopher Columbus Butler  [1, 2, 3
    Alternate birth 1806  Rutherford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Birth 20 Mar 1810  Montgomery, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 5, 6
    Gender Male 
    Alternate birth 20 Mar 1810  Gibson, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [7
    Death 26 Mar 1858  Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
    Burial Chapel Hill Church Cemetery, Milan, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 7, 9
    Person ID I6467  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of PNH
    Last Modified 8 Feb 2024 

    Father Elias Butler,   b. Abt 1745-1761, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1821, Rutherford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 59 years) 
    Mother Deborah Simmons,   b. Abt 1780, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1837, Rutherford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 57 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1797  [5
    Family ID F5738  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Ann McHaney,   b. 12 Apr 1817, Wilson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1880, Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 64 years) 
    Marriage 19 Nov 1836  Wilson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 10
    Children 
     1. William Elias Butler,   b. 8 Mar 1837, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Apr 1878, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 41 years)
     2. James Madison Butler,   b. 1840, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. John Franklin Butler,   b. 11 Dec 1841, Marion, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aug 1906, Gibson, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 64 years)
     4. Thomas Van Buren Butler,   b. 1844, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1880 (Age > 37 years)
     5. Benjamin Riley Butler,   b. 8 Dec 1846, Gibson, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Mar 1927, Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     6. Ann Butler,   b. 1848, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location
    +7. Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler,   b. 8 Aug 1851, Coffee County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Dec 1926, Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)
    Photos
    Butler-McHaney marriage record
    Butler-McHaney marriage record
    Family ID F3051  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 26 Sep 2020 

  • Notes 
    • Death date: Judge Butler says 26 Mar 1857. The Find A Grave page shows a gravestone that clearly says "Mar 20, 1810, DIED Mar 26 1858".

      From The Descendants of Thomas Pincerna, Progenitor of the Butler Family:

      "Christopher was in the 1840 Rutherford County, Tennessee, census in the 30-40 age group. His wife was in the 20-30 age bracket. They had two sons, both under 5 years of age.

      "Christopher C. Butler was apparently named after his grandfather. He was listed in the 1850 Gibson County, Tennessee, census, as C. C. Butler, age 40, from North Carolina, a farmer. His wife was Mary, age 32, from Tennessee. The children were all bom in Tennessee. At home were William, 12; James, 10; John, 8; Van Buren, 6; Benjamin, 4; and Ann, age 2. Nearby were living James Butler, age 48 from North Carolina (and a son named Christopher); Elias T. Butler, age 33 from Tennessee; William Butler, age 61 from North Carolina, and next door to him, W.G. Butler, age 20 from Tennessee; and another C. C. Butler, age 23, from Tennessee.

      "One well published history of Gibson County, Tennessee [History of Tennessee, Nashville: Goodspeed, 1887, p. 865] contained the following account of Christopher Butler's family:

      "'J. F. Butler is a son of C. C. and Mary A. (McHaney) Butler, who were bom in Rutherford County, Tenn., in 1806 and 1818 respectively. They moved to Marion County, Ill., and became the parents of seven children. The father was a farmer, and came to Gibson County, Tenn., in 1846, where he died, in March 1857. He was a Democrat, and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church....'"

      *****

      Note that Judge Butler's birth date and place for Christopher C. Butler (20 Mar 1810, Montgomery, NC) differs from that given in the History of Tennessee that he himself quotes (1806, Rutherford County, TN). Unfortunately this is far from the only place where Judge Butler's massive Butler book contradicts itself.

      Judge Butler also has Christopher C. Butler marrying one Eliza Jane Sexton, as his second wife, on 8 March 1851 in Gibson County, TN, which contradicts all the other evidence we have that he was outlived by his wife Mary McHaney. We begin to suspect that we have a case of two C. C. Butler's being conflated. UPDATE, 2 April 2015: Further information from Malania Reynolds, aunt of a person Patrick initially emailed about the parentage of Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler, indicats that it was a Christopher Lafayette Butler who married Eliza Jane Sexton, not the Christopher C. Butler who married Mary McHaney. Malania Reynolds also says she has found no evidence that our Christopher C. Butler's middle name was Columbus.

      However, to the question of his middle name, sometime in the 1970s, Patrick's mother interviewed his father's aunt Neville Workman (1904-1986) about her forebears, and we have her pencilled notes from that conversation. Neville stated quite clearly that her mother's mother's father was named Christopher Columbus Butler, and as of 2014 Patrick's mother remembered Neville being quite firm on that point.

  • Sources 
    1. [S109] Find A Grave Index, U.S., 1700s-Current, on ancestry.com.

    2. [S2228] 1850 United States Federal census, on ancestry.com.

    3. [S285] Notes and records of Jeannette (White) Hayden (1935-living), mother of Patrick Nielsen Hayden., first and last name only.

    4. [S96] A History of Tennessee from the Earliest Times to the Present. Nashville and Chicago: Goodspeed, 1886-1887.

    5. [S117] The Descendants of Thomas Pincerna, Progenitor of the Butler Family by Judge Edward F. Butler, Sr. Dallas, 1997, 1999.

    6. [S1058] Findagrave.com page for Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler Jacobs Hammonds., year only.

    7. [S7371] Find a Grave page for Christopher Columbus Butler.

    8. [S74] Correspondence with Connie Sabo, a descendant of Mary Ann McHaney and John Reynolds.

    9. [S117] The Descendants of Thomas Pincerna, Progenitor of the Butler Family by Judge Edward F. Butler, Sr. Dallas, 1997, 1999., town only.

    10. [S131] Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950, on familysearch.org.