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Submitted by Delories Vaughn: I was wondering if
anyone has any pictures of the home that my Great Grandfather
Stewart McLung Butt II and family lived in. Gosh I would love to see
what it looks like. That is if it's still there. A little story
about my great grandfather and family:
Stewart sold their Iowa farm
before coming to KS. It is said that some members of his family
suffered from Consumption (TB) and that is why they moved to western
KS to a better climate for this illness. Stewart and his oldest son
John came to Meade Co., KS in early 1886 to build a house for the
family. In the spring the rest of the family came to Dodge City by
train. They rode the stage coach from Dodge City to Wilburn. The
family filled the stage coach and two of the older boys rode with
the driver. Stewart had 160 acres. His main interest was cattle. He
soon had large herds. There was free range and government land in
the sand hills of Clark Co. for leasing and some land for
Homesteading. Stewart bought cattle from local people. He rode
horseback thru the country buying the cattle. When the cattle were
ready for market, they were rounded up from the ranges and driven to
the railroad for shipment.
On Stewart's farm there were
two artesian wells. One was sulfur water and was used for the stock
water. The other well had good water. It was near the house. They
piped it to run in a trough in the cave or cellar to keep the milk
and butter cool. The artesian valley, NW of Fowler had larger wells.
The water was used for house water, water for livestock, gardens and
small fields. In the dry years of the 1930's the wells stopped
flowing. They do not flow now because of the irrigation wells.
Stewart's ranch was about 20 miles south and a few miles west of
Dodge City. Later Stewart moved from western KS to Jasper MO. This
was because of his losses due to cattle rustling. He remained in
Jasper MO until about 1900 when he moved to Kansas City KS. Both
Stewart and his wife Margaret Hickey Butt are buried in Jasper MO.
Stewart's father was murdered
in Peoria IL. His mother, Elizabeth Ann Lambert Butt Hurlbutt, was 5
months pregnant with Stewart II at the time. After the death of
Stewart's father, who was also named Stewart McLung Butt I,
Elizabeth remarried to a Dean Hurlbutt. Elizabeth had come to visit
Stewart and she died while there. She is buried at the McCauley
Cemetery. That left my entire family line resting on the fact that
Elizabeth, my great-great grandmother, was 5 months pregnant at the
time of Stewart's death with the one and only offspring that would
carry on the family line. If she had miscarried, from the shock of
hearing of her husband's murder, or if the baby had not survived
childhood (which was VERY common back then) and if Stewart II had
not married and had his 13 children one of which was to become my
maternal grandmother -- SOME OF US WOULD NOT BE HERE TODAY!
Stewart's only sibling, Alvertis, had died as a child in ILL.
I have attached two pictures.
One of just Stewart and the other of himself, wife Margaret Hickey
Butt and his family.
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