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From: "Chriss Perkins" <>
Subject: [ALBUTLER] A trip to Butler County
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 13:06:01 -0400


I live in Savannah GA and had an opportunity last week to spend one weekday (i.e. busisness day) in Butler County. I asked this listing for suggestions on the best places to research and received some much appreciated help. Unfortunately, I learned two important "Don'ts" on this short trip. First, never take your aging mother; you will never get to your destination in a timely fashion. Second, never visit a great-aunt in great health at age 84. She will die on you the day after you leave.

I made it to the courthouse twenty minutes before closing time. I had heard there were two places in the courthouse to research records; the probate office informed me there was only one. I found a few ledgers listing births, all on or before 1908. I was looking for 1912.... However; even in that short amount of time I did manage (unexpectedly) to find an entry for the birth of a son for Pearl Taylor & James Williams on March 23, 1908. This was a great find, as I had found a headstone for an L.N. Williams at Sardis Cemetery (b. 3-23-08 d. 8-17-09) and suspected this to be a child of my grandfather's half-sister, Pearl. At last, I had confirmation. Thus, not a wasted trip.

I then went to the Genie Room at the library in Greenville. I had an hour to spend there before it closed.... I met Mr. Gene Raines in the library; he is researching graves at Brushy Creek Cemetery for historical (not genealogical) purposes. When I told him my grandmother was buried there in an unmarked grave he became very excited; he is trying to locate names for all unmarked graves. I was able to point out, on his drawings of the cemetery, the names belonging to several of the graves. He, in turn, looked through his obituary notes (culled from Greenville newspapers) and found this: "Mrs. Wilton Taylor died September 9, 1930 of typhoid fever at her old Mill Hill home. Husband, two children. Sick three weeks."

This is my grandmother, Elizabeth Beatrice Majors (Mrs. John Wilton) Taylor. I am trying to find her date of birth to confirm that she died a month before her 18th birthday. The 1920 census lists her as age 6. It lists her brother Guy as age 12 (he was b. 11-06-1906) and her brother Frank as age 10 (he was born 10-18-1909). A younger sister, Virgie, is listed as age 3-4/12s. I do not know her date of birth.

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