JOSEPH ETHER BUTTERS Born: 23 June 1862 Death: 10 April 19h5 Dearham, Nor£olk England Morgan, Morgan, Utah JS Arrived in S. L.C i ty, Utah 22 Sept 1869. He crossed the oeean when he was 8 years old, on the ship Manhattan. Married: Isabella Eliza Welch. 29 November 1883. History written by : Mae c. Butters and Lois BJ>eterson Year 1973 Granddaughter Lois Butters Peterson submitting history. 16 Oet 1981 Morgan County Camp. Member of South Morgan Camp • JOOEPH ETHER BUTTERS ISABELL\ ELIZA WELCH Joseph Ether Butters, son of William Butters and Mary John!on, was born in Dearham, Norfolk, England, 23 June 1862. He came to A~erica on the ship Manhattan, with other members of his family on 22 September 1869, when he was 8 years old. He remembered many things which took place while crossing the ocean, and often spoke ot the white caps and huge waves on the ocean. He was baptized 21 July 1871. I Ether Butters, as he was called, married Isabella Eliza (Lizzie) Welch, daughter of Thomas Robert Green Welch and Harriet Nash Welch, in the Salt Lake City Endowment House, 29 November 1883. To this union were born ten children, all born in Morgan, Ut. Their first child a son, Charles, was born 31 December 188u. He lived to be only three years of age and died 20 September 1887. The second child, a beautiful daughter named Harriet, was born on 20 November 1886, and lived to be only one year old; she died 3 November 1887 just six weeks after her brother, Charles. Three and one-half years later they lost their third child, a son, Joseph, who was born 27 September 1888 and died 2 9 May 1891, being only 3~ years old. What a sorrow this was to a young couple to have lost their first three children. Their other seven children all lived to manhood and womanhood and raised a family. Their children were: Butters & Welch (cont'd) Children: Charles Arthur Butters, born 31 December 188u; died 20 September 1887 Harriet Plessie Butters, born 20 November 1886; Died 3 November 1887 Joseph William Butters, born 27 September 1888; died 29 Ma.y 1891 Henry James Butters, born 21 October 1890; died 27 October 1965 Afton Louise Butters, born 5 September 1892; died 11 July 1969 Parley Nash Butters, born 21 September 189u Leo Welch Butters, born 25 April 1897; died 16 October 1971 Irvin Robert Butters, born 30 June 1899; died 4 March 1973 Elvera Welch Butters, born 2 November 1902 Glen Woodruff Butters, born 20 April 1909 J Mr. Butters worked as a farmer through his life, having the reputation of plO\'Ting the straightest furrel-TS without using lines to ~uide his horses. O!l day Ether and a farm helper ~rere working in the hay field, and they finally had the hay all piled ready to haul when he said, "We had better i;;o to dinner or we will have a cold dinner and a hot cook~ Just at this time a wind twister came up and blew hay all over the field a!?ain. Ether worked in the old quarry uo the canyon and would blast the rock out for the road and railroad to be built. l-Ie was defini.tely the best Quarry man this town ever had. Ether and his son, Henry, hauled coal from Coalville. One trip was made each day; they would go up one day and back the next day with a load of coal. They made eight trips at $13.00 a load, the snow was deep for the bob-sleigh and the weather mighty cold in the winter time. Ether was a guard on the railroad during the 1st World Was in 1917, and he rode a three-wheel hand cart. In the early days the Indians used to come to Morgan and ca:mp on Francis' slough where Dutch Porter's home now stands, and grandpa Butters, when he was a young man, used to go to this Indian Camp and wrestle the Indians. He was never known to be.pinned in any wrestling contest. He served as a mamber of the Presidency of the First Elders Quorum in Morgan Ward. At one time he was a co-owne~ of the Old Morgan Opera House, ori~inally known as "Simmons Hall", located across the street from his home where the Richard H • Rich home now stands. 2 •, • Butters & Welch (con•d) Ether and Isabella made home-made ice cream which they sold during intermission at dances in the Old Opers House. He was always a great step-dancer until past 80 years of age, always calling for faster music. He was a member of the Mora-an band, and played the bass drum. Baseball was the sport he enjoyed most and played on the Morgan team for man1 years. As a catcher behind the bat, he used just a little glove with the fingers cut off. He could throw a baseball for 100 yards, or a rock for a city block. He served for many years as field Superintendent for the Morgan Canning Company, traveling through Mor~a~ County on horseback. When Morgan was first occupied there was a Welch's corner in Monday Town, and that is where Isabella. lived with her mother, father and family. She was th~ first of the Welch's born on Welch's corner; later they moved down to Mor~an City when the City was laid out. Brie:ham Young came to Mo:-p.an and told them to move their town to what is now Morgan City where the Morgan City and County Building now stands. This was t he part of town t!-1::it wasn't under water. President Young he1_ped them lay out the tO".m in blocks. Isabella Eliza Welch was born 29 October 1865 in Morgan, Utah, and was baptized by Bishop Charles Turner on the 9 Au.i;;ust 187u. She was the only daughter in the Welch family of boys. They all thought she was a great blessing, and because of this the boys had great respect and love for her. The first little school house was on the courthouse block, Isabella went to school in the first school house; they held dances in this s~me school, and she attended dances there. During the later part of her lire there were only two brothers living, they 1iera Charles F. and aobert H. of Salt Lake City, Utah. The two would come to Morgan at least once a month to have a visit with their sister, and the custom was for her to ~ have a rice pudding to eat. The recipe for the pudding ~nded with her death. J Butters & Welch (con't) At one tL~e she and brother Charlie talked about their home life and she told him she had the clothes their mother used to have the children blessed in. Some time after this Charlie came up again and asked Belle, as sh~ was fondly called by everyone, for these clothes. The refused to part with them. They talked it over and agreed to cut the long dress, all children were blessed in long dresses, in half so each could have -part. What has become of the two pieces no one seems to know. Haw nice it would be now to have this dress for it would be over 100 yrs old. 157 After she was married they lived in their two room house on Field Street, and later added extra rooms to their home. She had a flowering tree, an oleander, growing in a barrel set on casters and kept it in the house in winter and outside in the surr.mer. Whenever an.vane -passed her house she waved and ~reeted them and was always hospitable to every-one. Sometimes she would go out to the street when she saw a wagon comL,g and sto~ whoever was in it so she could visit for a few minutes. This was mostly the way they ~ot the news from aroung town. Isabella (Belle) always kept a good, clean house. Her home and family were fore-most in her mind. (')ften she used to cook Yo!"kshire pudding on washda.ys because this pudding ' needed an extra hot oven, and washdays took a hot stove for the boilers to heat the wash water. She was a very friendly person and well known for her hospita-lity; very few, if any, who went· to her home \.rere not invited to hav.e dinner or lunch. She would always have some good food. Mor often she would have a rice pudding to serve because this was one of her favorite dishes. She was a good homemaker and loving mother. She was affectionately- known through all of Mor{!:an Stake as "Aunt Belle Butters". In her younger married years she worked in the YL..~IA, and was a visiting teacher in Relief Society for many years. She was also on the Relief Soeiety Stake Board from 1910 to 1921. On September 7, 1925 she was voted in as County President of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers for two years, then reelected for another two years more. She remained active in these organizations until the time of her death. • Butters & Welch (cont'd) Belle Butters was always helpful to anyone in need, and never turned away from her door that was hungry. She was thoughtful of the sick and would go in the ome where the sick were and help with the nursing. She always had lots of remedies for sick-ness and one was marshmallow root tea for kidney ailment; another was potato poultice for infection. One of Belle most pleasant afternoons would be spent visiting with Sister Hilma Rose and her husband, John Rose of Richville, Morgan Cou.~t7. Another human side of Ether and Isabella was they en.joy-ed many evenings playing Chinese checkers with their life l~n~ neighbors, Richard H. and Nettie Rich, who lived just across the street. They also spent lots of hours ~·1ith close friends A.A. Barlow and family- in North Morgan. Isabelle was kind to children and when they came to her home they could always find cookies, homemade bread and jelly, and other ~oodies in her kitchen for them. Then there was the orchard· they were allowed to pla.y in and pick al)oles. In the back yard was a root cellar where children spent many hours playing on the dirt cellar and sliding do~m the •N"ooden cellar door. In the early years of their married life she and her husband picked a many 100 pounds of green, string b~ans from their garden, slicing and salting them in a large wooden candy buckets and selling them to owners of the Culmer Paint and Oil Company of Salt Lake City at $5.oo a bucket. This took many hours of work during the hot summer. They also boarded many piano, organ and other salesmen, as in thos P days it was quite a busy game. This was one way of extra income for the family. Ether Butters furnished their transportation arou.~d Mor~an County with horse and buggy or bob-sleigh. One of the salemen, Mr. Rid~es, was a ~randson of the man who built the first Salt Lake Tabernacle organ • ; • • • )5 'I Butters & Welch (con 1d) They went through the hardship of the p.rasshopper time rememberin~ when the trees were stripped of their leaves. The grasshoppers ate the leaves of every gr~~ing thing they could get to. The railroad tr~cks were so thick with the hoppers that the wheels just wouldn 1 t turn, slipping and slipping like the tracks had been greased, until the train crew spread sand over the tracks before they were able to go one. During most of the cold winters Isabella and Ether used to only heat two rooms L~ their home, ever3one slept in a cold bedrooms, and many, many times they would wake up in the morning with frost on the blankets from their breath. Isabella and Ether rode in a one-horse buggy with a too on it in the summer ti~e . They re~embered one time coming nome from shonoing over t<rRil one day, drivinp. the hors~ and bu~f!Y up to the crabapple tree and helped their mother in the house with the groceries . They didn't tie the horse up, but just let her stand, and after they left her she went on under the tree and tore the top of the buggy off. This was one time when Ether as unset, to say the ~east. They would take some of their family, all could not leave at the same time because of the chores to do, and go to Kamas to visit with ~cle Jim Butters and Aunt Minnie Fitzgerald. They would leave at four o'clock in the morning and get their just before dark. Mother would take heated bricks and rocks wrapped in blankets to keep their feet warm under the covers in the bob-sleigh. Their 50th wedding anniversary was held at the family home on 29 November 1933 in South Morgan, Utah with their family including seven sons and dau~hters, husbands, wives and 16 t?rand children. Also a brother Robert H. Welch and his wife, Ardella of Salt Lake Citv, Utah. A lovely turkey dinner with all the tri"nlllings and a beautiful weddfag cake was served to all • Butters & Welch (con•t) Mr. and Mrs Joseph Ether Butters were honored Friday evening, 6 December 1940, with a surprise party in honor of their fifty-seventh wedding anniversary at the home of their son and daughter-in-law., Mr. and Mrs Irvin Butters. The long table was spread in the dining room with a centerpiece which was their original wedding cake 57 years ago. Fall flowere were used through the rooms for decorations. Covers were laid for Mr. and Mrs Irvin Butters, Mr. and Mrs Roscoe Brough, Mr. and Mrs Parley Butters, Mr. and Mrs. Milford Mecham, Mr. and Mrs Glen w. Butters all of Morgan, Mr. and Mrs Henry J. Butters of Ogden, Mr. and Mrs I.eo Butters of Preston., Idaho, and the guests of honor. Mr. and Mrs. Butters were 'Presented with a beautiful wedding cake especially prepared by loving hands, upon which was an arch fran which hung in gold letters "57'! This was presented to them by Mr. and Mrs Irvin Butters. At this writing, August 1973, Joseph Ether and Isabella have 14h decendants. 23 grandchildren, 71 ~reat grandchildren and 50 great, ~reat grandchildren • Isabella was a dear sweet person; she loved the Gospel and was a good mother and wife. She left you a herita~e to be proud of. We s hould rededicate our lives and do nothing that she would not want us to do. By repentance we can trim the wicks of our life to make our light shine brighter. Joseph Ether Butters died at his home in South Morgan, Utah on 10 April 19u5, and Isabella followed her husband in death in three years, and passed away at her home on 17 February 19u8. They were both buried in the South Morgan City cemetary, Morgan., Utah • 7