Lavinia Matilda (Dunn) Butter (1881 - 1949)

Born 26 Aug 1881 in Forest Hill, Rapides, Louisiana, United States

Ancestors

Daughter of James Dudley Dunn and Sarah Frances (Henderson) Dunn

Wife of Henry Robert Butter — married 28 Feb 1895 in Forest Hill, Rapides, Louisiana

Descendants

Died 3 Feb 1949 at age 67 in Lecompte, Rapides, Louisiana, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Virginia Fields [send private message]

Biography

Native of Louisiana

Lavinia Matilda Dunn was born 26 August 1881 to parents James Dunn Sarah Henderson. She was never listed on a census record in the household of her parents since she was born after the 1880 census; the 1890 census was destroyed and she was married in 1895. That is the year she and Henry Robert Butter married.^[1] Henry was 25 and Lavinia was very young at 13 and a half years old. She was the third of fifteen children. She said her life was much easier being married and just taking care of her own home for the next few years. Sadly, her first baby, a girl, was stillborn when Lavinia was fifteen. Infant Daughter was born and died 23 December 1895. She has a small marker next to her parents in the Butter Cemetery in Forest Hill, Louisiana. Her next child was born when Lavinia was eighteen and was the first of her seven children who lived to adulthood.

Even though Lavinia was happy to leave her birth home to tend her own, she was very close to her parents and siblings as well as her husband's family. They all were born and reared in the same small community. Most of them married, raised their children in Forest Hill; when they died they were buried in the Butter Cemetery.

Lavinia and Henry R Butter are enumerated on the 1900 census along with their infant son, Howard Butter. ^[2]

The 1910 census has the family name as Button instead of Butter and has Lavinia as Lawnie. Lavinia and Henry now have four children listed on the census. The youngest son, Leo, has been left off. The family is listed at the bottom of the page and Leo should have been on the top line of the following page but he is not. Henry is listed as 40 and Lavinia as 27 years old. They have been married for 15 years. Lavinia has given birth to six children and five are living. Henry is a farmer and Lavinia is keeping house. ^[3]

The Butter family is missed by the census taker in the 1920 census. There would have been three more children in the family. They lived in the same place and still farmed. The family had changed by the 1930 census. They lived in the same community but had moved to the lake where Henry rented out boats and is listed as the janitor for the club house. While there, Lavinia would cook the fish brought in by the fishermen so they could enjoy eating their catch. Only two children were living at home: Dallas was 25 years old and working at the gravel pit; Doris, the youngest, was 12 and attending school. ^[4] While they were living at the lake, their house was rented out and it caught fire and burned down. Henry, besides being a farmer, was also a carpenter. He and son Dallas rebuilt their house in the same spot the original house stood. This second house was smaller and more modern since the family unit was smaller.

In the 1940 census just Lavinia and Henry are in the home and they have moved from the lake back to their property. They lived in the same place in 1935. Henry is 70 and Lavinia is 57 years old. This is the last census where either of them appear as Henry died in December 1941 and Lavinia died in February 1949. ^[5]

Lavinia died 3 February 1949 in Lecompte, Louisiana as that is where the nearest clinic was located. ^[6]

Lavinia Dunn Butter is buried in the Butters Cemetery in Forest Hill, Rapides, Louisiana where her husband, parents, inlaws, siblings, four children, and grandparents are also buried.^[7]

Lavinia Dunn Butter is named on death certificate for son Leo Butter.^[8]

Personal Notes

Lavinia Dunn Butter was my grandmother. As noted above she had 14 siblings and 7 children and 17 grandchildren. I did not get to know her for very long as she died when I was four and half years old. I do remember her. She had a great love for her family and she passed that trait to her children. She loved for her family to visit and she would travel by bus or train and visit them. She attended every birth of a grandchild. There were four us born in 1944 so she was busy that year! She loved to go shopping when she visited one of the children who lived in a town large enough to have nice stores. Mostly, she would just window shop. My mother, her daughter-in-law, once asked her if she ever thought she would get too old to wish for and admire things. She replied that anyone who did might as well be dead. I like that - she and I would have made a great team! Virginia Butter Fields 13 October 2019

Research Note

Lavinia and Henry had a full term stillborn baby girl on 23 December 1895. She has a small tombstone next to her parents in the Butter Cemetery. She was not named, the stone just says Infant Daughter of Mr. & Mrs. H.R. Butter.

DNA Research

• Maternal and Paternal relationships are confirmed by a GedMatch test match between Doris Butter GedMatch #T621269 and her niece Virginia Butter Gedmatch #653391. Their most recent common ancestors are the parents of Doris Butter and the paternal grandparents of Virginia Butter. Estimated number of generations to MRCA=1.5. 1853.3cMs across 56 half match segments.

• Maternal relationship is confirmed by a FTDNA test match between Virginia Butter Fields FTDNA kit#208714 and her 1C1R KH FTDNA kit #374673. Their most recent common ancestors are the 2x| great grandparents of Virginia and great grandparents of KH James H. Henderson and Sarah Frances Odom. Relationship based on sharing 237 cM across 25 segments.

• DNA confirmation for paternal 2xGreat grandparents of Virginia Butter Fields and CMD. Most recent common ancestors David William Dunn and Elizabeth Jane Hammock. Test through FamilyTreeDNA. 120 cMs 3rd cousins. Confirmed with paper trail.

• DNA Confirmation for paternal grandparents of Virginia Butter Fields through match with her aunt Doris Butter. Test through FamilyTreeDNA. 1,793 cM's. Predicted relationship Aunt which is confirmed by paper trail. Most recent common relatives Henry Robert Butter and Lavinia Matilda Dunn, parents of Doris Butter and grandparents of Virginia Butter Fields.

• Paternal relationship is confirmed by a GedMatch test match between Virginia Butter Fields Gedmatch kit #T653391 and her third cousin CMD Gedmatch kit #A594110. Their most recent common ancestors are their 2x great grandparents David William Dunn and Elizabeth Jane Hammock. Estimated number of generations to MRCA=3.6, based on sharing 96.1 cM across 7 segments.

• Paternal and Maternal relationships are both confirmed by an autosomal GEDmatch comparison between Doris (Butter) Denmon , GEDmatch kit # T621269, and Virginia (Butter) Fields, GEDmatch kit # T653391, her niece. Their most-recent common ancestors are Henry Butter and Lavinia Dunn, the parents of Doris (Butter) Denmon and grandparents of Virginia (Butter) Fields. Predicted relationship from GEDmatch: Aunt/niece, based on sharing 1853.3 cM across 56 segments.

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage "Louisiana Marriages, 1816-1906," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4C5-TVC : 10 February 2018), Henry R. Butter and Lavinia M. Dunn, 28 Feb 1895; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1,317,247.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS51-25V : accessed 14 October 2019), Lauvenia M Butter in household of Henry R Butter, Ward 4 Spring Hill, Rapides, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 129, sheet 21B, family 382, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,578.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPYB-1F6 : accessed 14 October 2019), Lawnie M Button in household of Henry R Button, Spring Hill, Rapides, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 87, sheet 4B, family 51, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 527; FHL microfilm 1,374,540.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMRR-CZN : accessed 14 October 2019), Lavenia M Butter in household of Henry R Butter, Police Jury Ward 04, Rapides, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 27, sheet 5A, line 20, family 87, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 816; FHL microfilm 2,340,551.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VY54-8MT : 27 July 2019), Lavinia M Butter in household of Henry R Butter, Police Jury Ward 4, Rapides, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 40-34, sheet 11B, line 65, family 220, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1442.
6. ↑ Death "Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3MR-XFK : 21 May 2019), Lavinia M Butter, 03 Feb 1949; citing Lecompte, Rapides, Louisiana, certificate number 141, State Archives, Baton Rouge; FHL microfilm 1,409,448.
7. ↑ Burial Find A Grave, database and images accessed 22 September 2018), memorial page for Lavinia M Dunn Butter (26 Aug 1881–3 Feb 1949), Find A Grave: Memorial #28212079 citing Butters Cemetery, Forest Hill, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA ; Maintained by Ginny Fields (contributor 47250976) .
8. ↑ "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3ZL-HTB : 13 March 2018), Lavinia Dunn in entry for Leo Edison Butter, 10 Sep 1958; citing certificate number 50611, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,115,591.