MAGISTERIAL RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT AND OTHER RECORDS
MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1996

MARY JANE BUTLER'S GRAVE

(Page 59)

In Seale Johnson's article about Dr. William E. Butler he mentions the burial of Mary Jane, daughter of Dr. Butler, who was "said to have been the first to be buried" there (Riverside).

This statement is quite likely a fact. The current burial ground for the village of Jackson was located at what is now the northeast corner of Airways and Johnson, but it was not in the best topographical location and a new place for burial was selected on Shannon land, the cemetery that became known as Riverside. Certainly hers is the oldest tombstone, a slab monument, in this cemetery. It reads:

SACRED
TO THE MEMORY
OF MARY JANE
THE DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM E. BUTLER
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
SEPTEMBER the 12th 1824
AGED 8 YEARS, 2 MONTHS and 5 DAYS

This child is buried on Lot 349B in Riverside.

A touching obituary was published in the JACKSON GAZETTE, September 18, 1824 to the memory of this little daughter of Dr. William E. and Patsy Butler.

 

Dr. Butler and his wife and several others of the family are buried in a Henderson family lot in Riverside.

 

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