University of Arkansas home page Special Collections
  bullet Library Home  Special Collections Home  Manuscripts Home

BUTLER-PAISLEY FAMILY PAPERS

Letters and papers, 1829-1890s
Manuscript Collection MC 514
RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
Return to Special Collections Home Page
Return to University of Arkansas Libraries Home Page

THE BUTLER AND PAISLEY FAMILIES

Emma Butler Paisley (1844-1887) was the daughter of Tulip, Arkansas, farmer and merchant Alexander Butler (1807-1881), and wife of William McLean Paisley (1842-1891), also a farmer and merchant.
BUTLER FAMILY
Alexander Butler, 1807-1881 (Theophilis Butler was his brother) married Mary Wyche Reavis. 1813-1890. They had thirteen children:
  1. Sarah Frances, born 1833, died of burns in childhood.
  2. Martha Wyche ("Mattie," "M. W. Hughes"), 1833-1912, married George Hughes and had three children: Walter (born 1855), West (died in his 80s in California), and George Reavis.
  3. Henry Alexander ("H. A. Butler"), 1836-1907, married Mary E. Coulter ("Mollie") and had five children: Coulter, May, Mattie, Nannie, and George. Henry was a merchant, for many years in partnership with his father.
  4. Mary Jane, 1838-1891, married the Reverend George Matthews, a Methodist circuit rider who had two sons, George and Herbert, from a previous marriage.
  5. Lewis Peter, 1839-1878, married Jennie Bowman and had two children: Jessie and Willard. Lewis, a lawyer, went to California for his health, but died shortly after his arrival there.
  6. George Emery, 1840-1891, married Julia Moores and had nine children: Moores, Alice, Lou, George, Anna, Julia, and three more. George was a Methodist circuit rider and emigrated with his family to California in 1870.
  7. Charles Albert, 1843-1924, married Kate Colburn and had eight children.
  8. Emma Eliza, 1844-1886, married William McLean Paisley ("Billy"), 1842-1891, and had nine children: John Alexander, William Butler, Emma, Henry Lewis (the donor's father), Mary Eliza, Martha Wyche, Lula Grier, Annie Orr, and James Ira. William, a merchant and farmer, married Martha Oliver Bland following Emma's death. They had a son, Edward Bland.
  9. John Reavis ("Johnnie"), born 1846, married Melinda Clardy ("Kellie"). John was a merchant.
  10. Anna Louise ("Annie"), 1849-1880, married Olin (Groening?) Moores and had three children: Edwin, William, and Annie. Olin Moores, brother of George Butler's wife Julia, was a merchant and drummer, and married his sister-in-law Alice after Anna Louise's death.
  11. Ira Wyche, born 1852, married Fannie John Smith. Ira, a merchant, also emigrated to California.
  12. Alice Palmer, 1855-1886, married Olin Moores following the death of her sister Anna Louise. They had two children: Alice and Olin.
  13. James Oliver, born 1857, married Maria Moores, a sister of Olin and Julia. They had three children: Walter Hughes and two others.
PAISLEY FAMILY
The Reverend John Paisley (died 1845) married Eliza Bradshaw (died 1880) and had two children: William McLean and Mary Ann. Following John Paisley's death, Elize ("E. D. Lipscomb") married Lorenzo Dow Lipscomb ("L. D. Lipscomb," called "Father" by William Paisley). They had five children: Willis, Claude, Emma (later Emma Lipscomb Harding), Eliza, and Ella.

John Paisley's brother James married Minerva ("Aunt Minerva") and had two children: D. Lacy and J. Porter.

For further genealogical information, see Tulip Evermore.

THE COLLECTION

Letters and papers pertaining to the Butler and Paisley families were donated to Special Collections by Elizabeth Paisley Huckaby, Little Rock, Arkansas, June 1984. Most of the material in the collection--family correspondence and business records--was received and saved by Emma Butler Paisley, the donor's grandmother.

The correspondence pertains primarily to family matters in Tulip and elsewhere, religious concerns, business and other travel, the Civil War, emigration to California and Texas, and business matters. The business records pertain mostly to William Paisley's general stores in Dobyville and Guerdon, Arkansas.

Much of the family correspondence has been published as Tulip Evermore: Emma Butler and William Paisley, Their Lives in Letters, 1857-1887, edited by Elizabeth Paisley Huckaby and Ethel C. Simpson (Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 1985).

Related material in Special Collections includes:

Most of the family correspondence (series 1 and 2) consists of letters written to and from members of the Butler and Paisley families. Other correspondents include Emma's cousins Mattie Phillips and Sallie Kittle ("Cousin S") and her friend J. A. Elliott.

RESTRICTIONS APPLY. No further publication from the Butler-Paisley Family Correspondence may be made without the written consent of the donor. At the time of her death, her literary property right to the materials shall pass to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Most of the letters are fragile and should be handled with extreme care. A number of them are in such poor condition that positive photocopies have been provided for research; use of originals requires special permission.

Processed by Ethel C. Simpson & Nan Lawler, March 1987. Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Series 1. Letters, mostly to Emma Paisley, published in Tulip Evermore. Boxes 1-3.

Letters written to Emma Paisley by relatives and friends, as well as letters written by Emma to her husband William Paisley. These letters, some of them edited, were published in Tulip Evermore, and are arranged in the same order as in the book, the range of dates given for each folder. Included are a few items that are not, strictly speaking, family correspondence. A number of letters are represented by copies only. In all cases but one, these were letters taken to Korea by one of the Butler-Paisley descendants and lost there during the Korean War. Fortunately, copies were made of the letters before they were lost. The one exception is a copy of a letter of Emma's, made by William Paisley some ten years after the original was written. The letters touch on national events (the Civil War, the Centennial of the United States), family matters, religious concerns (many of the Butlers and Paisleys were clergymen), and travel (for business, to visit family, or as part of the general move westward).
Box 1
  1. 12 March 1857 - 24 November 1862
  2. 30 December 1862 - 17 March 1864
  3. 9 June 1864 - 15 February 1865
  4. 16 February 1865 - 19 June 1866
  5. 25 June 1866 - [25 February 1867]
  6. 27 February 1867 - 5 June 1867
  7. 24 June 1867 - 7 November 1867
  8. 9 November 1867 - [15 April 1868]
  9. 19 April 1868 - 22 July 1868
  10. 21 August 1868 - 2 October 1868
  11. 2 October 1868 - 2 December 1868
  12. 9 December 1868 - 26 March 1869
  13. 28 March 1869 - 3 June 1869
  14. 3 June 1869 - 22 December 1869
  15. 24 January 1870 - 4 May 1870
  16. 4 May 1870 - 6 September 1870
  17. 8 September 1870 - [22 April 1871]
  18. 3 May 1871 - [11 December 1871]
Box 2
  1. 5 February 1872 - 12 September 1872
  2. 17 September 1872 - 23 June 1873
  3. 23 June 1873 - 28 May 1874
  4. 29 May 1874 - 16 February 1875
  5. 2 March 1875 - 30 August 1875
  6. 15 October 1875 - 16 April 1876
  7. 20 April 1876 - 1 November 1876
  8. 5 December 1876 - 19 March 1877
  9. 21 March 1877 - 28 September 1877
  10. 7 November 1877 - 27 February 1878
  11. 17 March 1878 - 19 May 1878
  12. 31 May 1878 - 6 May 1879
  13. 21 July 1879 - 27 July 1880
  14. 29 July 1880 - 15 April 1881
  15. 18 April 1881 - 24 November 1881
  16. 9 [December] 1881 - 19 April 1882
  17. 23 April 1882 - 27 June 1882
Box 3
  1. 28 June 1882 - 20 March 1883
  2. 8 June 1883 - 22 February 1884
  3. 1 March 1884 - 5 October 1884
  4. 25 October 1884 - 4 March 1885
  5. 26 March 1885 - 6 September 1885
  6. 20 September 1885 - 22 January 1886
  7. 23 January 1886 - 7 May 1886
  8. 7 May 1886 - 13 August 1886
  9. 26 August 1886 - 27 October 1886
  10. 8 November 1886 - 20 January 1887
    Return to "Contents of Collection"

    Series 2. Family correspondence not published in Tulip Evermore. Boxes 3-4.

    Family correspondence that was not included in the book, Tulip Evermore. For the most part, the correspondents and subject matter are much the same as in Series 1. The letters are arranged in chronological order, with the range of dates given for each folder. All of the folders include letters from William and Emma Paisley. Other correspondents (or, less frequently, recipients) are listed following the dates for each folder.
    Box 3 (cont.)
  11. 29 October 1829 - 26 December 1866. Frances C. Butler, Alexander Butler, George E. Butler, Henry A. Butler, R. G. Westmore, Mollie Butler, J. A. ("Louie") Elliott
  12. 1 January 1867 - 30 December 1867. Mattie Phillips, John R. Butler
  13. 2 January 1867 [1868] - 19 August 1868. Alexander Butler, Albert S. Butler
  14. 22 August 1868 - 26 April 1869. Mattie Phillips
  15. 27 April 1869 - 3 March 1870. Henry A. Butler, Annie Butler, Julia Moores Butler
  16. 7 March 1870 - 11 September 1870. Henry A. Butler, Mattie Phillips, Mary Butler
  17. [15] September 1870 - 26 November 1871. Henry A. Butler, Mary Butler, Ellen Phillips
  18. [March 1872] - 3 July 1873. Henry A. Butler, Mary Butler
  19. 16 July 1873 - 26 September [1874]. Henry A. Butler, Mattie Butler Hughes, Alice Butler, Lewis P. Butler, Mary Butler, J. E. Caldwell, Maggie Jones, Mary Wyche Butler
  20. 10 November 1874 - 8 August 1876. Russell Carothers, Henry A. Butler, Annie Butler Moores, Alice Butler, Mary Butler, Alexander Butler
  21. 11 August 1876 - 20 April 1877. Henry A. Butler, Emma Lipscomb Harding, Alexander Butler, Annie Butler Moores, Mattie Butler Hughes
Box 4
  1. 1 August 1877 - 21 February 1878. Annie Butler Moores, Mattie Butler Hughes
  2. 22 April 1878 - 6 May 1879. Sallie Smith, P. Wm. Provenchere, Alice Butler, Mattie Butler Hughes, Ira Butler, Annie Butler Moores
  3. 7 June 1879 - 4 April 1880. Alice Butler, Mary Butler, Mattie Butler Hughes
  4. 21 June 1880 - 31 January 1882. Henry A. Butler, Mattie Butler Hughes, John R. Butler, Alice Butler
  5. 6 February 1882 - 29 March 1883. Ira Butler, L. D. Lipscomb, Mary Wyche Butler, Mollie Butler Hughes
  6. 30 March 1883 - 2 February 1884. Alice Butler Moores, Mary Butler Matthews
  7. 5 February 1884 - 4 November 1884. James O. Butler, Henry A. Butler, Ira Butler, Mary Wyche Butler, John Carothers, Mary Butler Matthews
  8. November 1884 - 1 February 1886. Mrs. R. M. Smith, Ira Butler, Alice Butler Moores, Mary Butler Matthews, Mary Wyche Butler, Emma Paisley (daughter)
  9. 3 February 1886 - 17 May 1886. Dr. Chas. H. Cargile
  10. 20 May 1886 - 17 July 1886. John Paisley (son), Emma Paisley (daughter)
  11. 12 August 1886 - 14 August 1887, n.d. Ira Butler, Mattie Butler Hughes, Mary Wyche Butler, Mary Butler Matthews
    Return to "Contents of Collection"

    Series 3. Business and other papers. Box 4.

    Most of these papers pertain to William Paisley's general store (in partnership with James Doby from 1867 until about 1870) first in Dobyville, later in Gurdon, Arkansas. He apparently also bought and sold (or acted as agent for the sale of) locally-grown cotton.
    Box 4 (cont.)
  12. Memorandum, account books, notebook.
  13. Articles of Copartnership (l867): business correspondence, bills, receipts (1867).
  14. Business correspondence, receipts, bills, accounts (1868-1875).
  15. Business correspondence, receipts, bills, accounts (1876-1887, n.d.).
  16. Business index sheets (March 1877-June 1878).
  17. List of real estate and accounts (1887).
  18. Business advertising, cards, circulars, catalog.
  19. Miscellaneous correspondence (1866-1883): list of grand jury (1866).
  20. Church-related correspondence and petition (1885-1887).
Return to "Contents of Collection"
Return to Special Collections Home Page
Return to University of Arkansas Libraries Home Page