Charles and Cora Butler

Cora Melvina Wisemiller and Charles Llewellyn Butler
Lou's paternal grandparents
about 1940

Charles Llewellyn Butler (son of Henry Coddington Butler and Sarah Elizabeth Shockey) was born on Monday 26 May 1870, Lima, Allen County, Ohio, presumably in Perry Township. He was only four years old when his parents moved to Kent, Iowa and in his teens when they moved on to Nebraska, perhaps on the Oregon Trail. He was married on Friday, 26 December 1890 in Lexington, Dawson County, Nebraska, to Cora Melvina Wisemiller.

While in Nebraska (1880's -1908), the Butlers lived near the Platte River and would have witnessed the spectacular flocks of sand hill cranes which stop there each spring (March) and fall (October). The cranes no doubt fed in the fields of their farm, especially on left-over corn from the harvest. The sound of sand hill cranes, especially in these large migratory flocks, is unforgettable. The Platte River was a much grander river in those days. The name Nebraska is an Indian name meaning "flat water", referring to the shallow water of the Platte.

Grandfather Butler came from Ohio, and my Grandmother’s folks came from Michigan. There were very common, good folks. Everyone liked them. Grandma attended the Community Church and was a member of the Christian church.

The Butler Children - about 1905
back: Joseph - Louis Raymond - Sarah
front: Edwin - Bessie - Susie - Jesse - Ida
last child, Beulah, not yet born


Butler Family - about 1915
back: Ida Amanda - Bessie Evelyn- Louis Raymond - Edwin Murel- Joseph Henry - Sarah Edith - Jesse Llewellyn
front: Beulah Alice - Charles Llewellyn - Cora Melvina - Susie Belle

[In Haswell] the schoolhouse was about a block from the house, and we (Lou and his brother Chuck) used to go up there and play on the swings and teeter-totters. That was about all there was to do unless we took a bat and ball and played ball, but usually there was just the two of us and that wasn’t much fun.

Charles Butler was said to have been good-natured, often jolly, but he was often quiet too. He apparently like to just relax, sitting by the pot-bellied stove, and smoke his pipe. A photograph taken in Late December 1940 at their 50th Wedding Anniversary, shows that Charles was a bit plump and bald on top of his head.