Stewart McLung
Butt II Family

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.a

Stewart M. Butt,II - 1851-1934