Butler Cemetery Restoration Report

(Previously known as the Conner / French Cemetery)

Historic Prince William Inc.
P.O. Box 1731
Prince William, Virginia 22195

Prepared by David Cuff March 16th, 2020

Cemetery location:

Prince William Parkway, Manassas, VA 20111 (Image 1 below)

Need:

The cemetery hasn’t been maintained in years and suffered some damage from livestock decades ago.

Prior site visits:

This cemetery was not visited by Susan Morton in the late 1930s, nor was it visited by REN Conner III for his book, 100 Cemeteries in Prince William County. It was first surveyed by Ron Turner in 2001. Ron noted marked headstones for Mary F. Conner and Jane

C. French. (Image 2 below)

Three phase plan:

Phase 1 - Clear the underbrush and small trees that are throughout the cemetery area.

Phase 2 - Unearth the headstones and footstones, clean them, bond the broken pieces back together with two part epoxy, then bond the repaired section with the base in the ground. Resetting unbroken markers if needed

Phase 3 - Periodic maintenance.

Action taken:

Site walk through of the site. Work began on Sunday, Nov. 3rd. Small trees were cut and dead sticks were picked up and hauled to a brush pile on site. Branches on trees were cut within arm's length to provide a clear line of sight through the cemetery. The entire cemetery was raked and debris removed. Stones were located with a probe rod and uncovered. (Image 4 below)

The pieces for Lewis B. Butler’s headstone was taken to my house and washed, dried, dry fitted, and then epoxied together. Contraptions were used to hold the pieces in place while they cured and one of the contraptions was also used to transport the headstones back to the cemetery. The epoxy used hardens in 24 hours but the pieces were left in place to cure for at least one week. This headstone has an accompanying footstone, it’s damaged and the top is missing. It was left in place. (Image 5 below)

Daniel D. Davis’ brownstone headstone was broken in two pieces, at the base. The base was discovered (on Nov. 17th, 2019) (Image 6 below), dug up, taken to my house, washed, dried, and epoxied to the upper section. Once cured the complete headstone was transported back to the cemetery and reset in the location it was removed from. There is an accompanying footstone for this headstone of the same type and marked with “D.D.D.”. It was also reset.

Mary F. Conner and Jane C. French headstones were undamaged but their three sections were on the ground, scattered and partially buried. These were reset on level ground. Both have accompanying footstones that were reset. The footstones are damaged with edges missing. (Image 7 below)

Several fieldstones are at this cemetery. Most have a foot fieldstone of matching stone type. A few of these were realigned if the proper location was obvious. Some fieldstones were obviously out of place, but their proper location was not obvious, these fieldstones were left in their

as-found location.

A cemetery identification stone was carved from a rock purchased from a local garden center. It was placed on the west side of the cemetery. (Image 8 below)

The landowner, Kevin Eaheart has been very accommodating and appreciative of the work that has been done on the cemetery. His family has owned the property since 1965. Future site visits for maintenance should not be an issue.

Special Thanks:

I’d like to thank Kevin Eaheart for the opportunity to complete the project. Robert Moser for helping me clear some of the cemetery and Don Wilson for help researching the people buried in the cemetery and the previous owners of the land and Ron Turner for the vast collection of documents on his website.

Contact: Historic Prince William can be visited at www.historicprincewilliam.org
Historic Prince William can be contacted at info@historicprincewilliam.org
The webpage for the Butler Cemetery is: https://www.historicprincewilliam.org/cemeteries/cemeteries-in-pwc/butler.html
The cemetery map maintained by Historic Prince William can be viewed at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1nwAPoSshAbEr8f-FiDNdUho2Uq0

Site History:

William Butler established this cemetery prior to his death in 1854. His will was probated in 1859. Following his death the land went to his son, John H. Butler. John H. Butler and his wife, Susan F. sold the land to Elijah W. Moore in 1883. Following his death John B. Moore and his wife sold it in 1891 for $1,200 to Elizabeth A. Raymond who was born in Nottingham, England in

1852, then emigrated to Philadelphia, PA around 1875. The cemetery was noted in this deed. (Deed 41:344). Elizabeth A. Raymond died on May 2, 1925 and is buried in the Buckhall Methodist Cemetery, the land passed to her heirs. In 1949 three tracts of land totalling 123 acres was sold to Elton J. and Elizabeth Layton(Deed 137:249). Then the land was sold to Eaheart Building Corporation, Joseph C. Eaheart, Jr. and Shirley A. Eaheart on May 14th, 1965. The cemetery is also mentioned in this deed. (Deed 353:368). Eaheart Building Corporation was a subcontractor for Hylton Homes and worked on many of the houses in Dale City.

William Butler (died 1854) is likely buried in the cemetery, as well as his wife, Susan. There are no records of this but it’s likely the case. There is no one in the Buckhall Methodist Cemetery with the last name of Butler. There is also no grave in the county with the name William Butler with that death year or near it.

Lewis B. Butler, son of William Butler is buried in the cemetery and has a carved headstone. It’s likely his wife, Susan, (same first name as his mother) is also buried in the cemetery. There is a grave on the northside of Lewis B. Butler’s grave that is unusually close. I believe this is where his wife is buried, but again, there is no written record of this. This grave doesn’t have a carved stone but they had no children so a carved stone was likely not purchased for her.

In the August 6, 1852 issue of the Alexandria Gazette Lewis B. Butler is listed with others, as Magistrates for Prince William County.

Lewis B. Butler owned the plantation known as “Birmingham”, which included the Conner House in Manassas Park. He and his wife Susan sold 88 acres, which included the Conner house to Jonas Greene about 1869. During the 8 years or so prior to Lewis’ death he purchased several tracts of land in and around Manassas. Following his death in 1879, ownership was transferred to his wife and she slowly sold the land as needed to support herself. They had no children.

Jane C. French was the wife of John L. French. He was the baggage master at the railroad stop in Manassas. They were neighbors of John H. Butler (brother of Lewis B. Butler) and Lewis B. and Susan Butler. On the 1860 census it shows Jane is the mother of two young children, 1 year old John H. and 1 month old James. A 15 year old female is also living in the house named Jane M. Davis. She is likely a cousin or niece and is helping with the household and children as John L. French is working off the farm.

John H. Butler was 17 years younger than his brother, Lewis B. Butler. He was a Sergeant in the 15th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment service in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He and his wife, Susan sold this parcel of land in 1883 and likely moved to the Haymarket area. Just four years later on March 11th, 1887 at age 53, John Butler died. He is buried at the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery north west of Haymarket. One of his sons, William Wyatt Buttler was also buried at the same cemetery after his death in 1948.

Mary F. Conner is listed as 43 on the 1860 census. She lives with her 72 year old mother and two brothers, 35 year old Silas and 29 year old Elias. Silas’ occupation is listed as farmer and Elias is listed as constable. Starting around 1852 and continuing for many years Elias Conner owned and operated a general store in Buckhall under several names as E. E. Conner, Elias Conner General Store, Kincheloe & Conner, Conner & French, Conner & Davis, and Conner & Company. Elias sold everything needed for the growing community including whiskey and other spirits, dry goods, corn meal, tobacco, guns, ammo, farm implements, boots, shoes, teas, coffee, county produce taken in exchange for groceries. He was also one of the first people in Prince William County to sell fertilizer. He was also a long time constable in the county. Mary F. Conner lived to be 66 years old and doesn’t appear to have ever married.

Daniel D. Davis was born on July 11, 1855 to parents Rescio and Elizabeth Davis. On Oct. 1 1876, 21 year old Davis married 25 year old Willie A. Bradfield of Prince William County. She was the daughter of George and Eliza Bradfield. Just three years later on Aug. 11, 1879, at 24 years old, Davis died.

Census records show the French and Conner families are related and if a teenage Davis girl is living with Jane French, they are likely related as well.

There are approximately 23 graves at this cemetery with four of them having carved headstones with matching footstones. Most of the other 19 graves have a matching set of field head and foot stones.

Marked headstones are:

In Memory of our mother Jane C. French Died Jan. 16, 1875. Aged 47 years

Mary F. Conner, Born April 1818, Died April 5, 1884

In memory of Lewis B. Butler. Died Dec. 10, 1879, in the 63rd year of his [life].
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isai, 35 c. 10.

Daniel D. Davis, Born July 11th 1855, Died Aug. 11th 1879

Images

Image 1 - Location is south east of Buckhall. Deeded as one-half acre.

The area from a 1937 aerial image. Shows Buckhall at the bottom of the V in the road. Buckhall store and school are visible if you look real close. Cemetery is the red square on the right side of the image.

Image 2 - From Ron Turner’s survey found on his website. pwcvirginia.com

Image 3 - Picture taken Nov. 3rd 2019. This image shows what the cemetery looked like prior to the clean up. Compare to image 9 of the same area, below.

Image 4 - Shows the area after small vegetation was removed and the area raked. Also, shows Conner and French headstones as found, the Davis stone is seen in the upper left, as found and the Butler stone is in the upper right but is hard to see. Several field stones are present.

Image 5 - Shows the Lewis B. Butler headstone as found. Note the missing section in the middle. I suspect years ago this was arranged like this by a human and the middle pieces were small and lost. The bulk of the text is Isaiah 35:10 from the King James Bible. Damage to this stone is suspected to be from cows, not humans.

Image 5A and 5B shows the headstone repaired with a minimal amount of epoxy. There is a grave that is very close to Lewis Butler’s grave and marked with fieldstones. This might be his wife. They did not have children, this might be why the grave doesn’t have a carved stone.

Image 6 - This image shows Daniel D. Davis’ headstone as found. It was buried and only found after probing the area when I tripped over the footstone.

Image 6A shows Daneil D. Davis’ headstone and footstone repaired and reset. The headstone was moved and the base located. It broke below grade.

Image 7 - This image shows the Conner and French headstones after they were reset. No new concrete was used and the sections are not epoxied. Large animals are no longer on the property. The only threat to them other than humans are falling tree branches. If they are not completely rigid, they have a better chance of just falling over rather than breaking if struck by a large branch. The carved stones do retain their original alignment pins.

Image 8 - This image shows the cemetery identification marker placed on the west side of the cemetery. Also shows French, Conner, and Davis markers left to right.

Image 9 - This image shows the same area as image 3 above after the cleanup and restoration.