According to a WorldConnect database, Mary was the daughter of Littleton Loven Sumpter and Martha Case. She married 4 times: James Layton ( ) in 1866; William Butler (1850-1892) in Clinton Co. in 1881; Solomon Witt in 1894; and Hiram Beeson Mendenhall in 1906. She had children Logan Layton (1868-1945); and Walter Kim Butler (1886-1947).

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Mary Ellen was born to Littleton Loven Sumpter and Martha Case 30 Oct 1850 in Clay County, Indiana. When she was seven years old her mother died. Then when she was 11, her father died in February of 1861. The Courts provided Mary Ellen and her 3 siblings with guardians. She was "assigned" to William Payne. He was to provide her "with clothe and board her, give her one years schooling, and at the end of said time to furnish her with one good bedstead, bed and bedding, and one cow and calf, and instruct her in the business of housekeeping." By 1866, she had left Clay County and married Dr. James F Layton in Park County. They set up their residence in Clarks Hill, Tippecanoe Co where son Logan S. was born. Son Harry was born 22 Oct 1878 in Clinton County. James Layton is not found in the 1880 census where Mary Ellen Layton and Harry Layton,age 2, were living with a Rose family. In that family there is a William Rose who is five years her junior. Family tradition states that a Rose family raised William Butler after his parents died. Is this William Rose possibly William Butler? Mary Ellen married William Butler 26 Nov 1881 in Clinton County, Indiana. They had a son Walter Kim Butler born 15 May 1886 in Stockwell, Tippecanoe Co. William died in 1892 in Manson, Perry Township, Clinton Co Indiana. His grave site has not been found. In 1900, she married Solomon Witt and was living with him and her son, Walter Butler, in Lebanon, Boone Co. Solomon Witt died in 1902 and by 1906, she married Hiram Mendenhall and was living in Mooresville, Morgan Co Indiana. Mr Mendenhall died in 1918, and Mary Ellen lived the next years with friends and family. She became ill, probably with cancer, and died 18 Aug 1936. She is buried in the Mooresville Cemetery.

1. 1870 US Fed Census, IN Tippecanoe Clarks Hill , pg 4, line 8. 2. Indiana Marriages 1861-1900 Parke County, Indiana Rockville, Indiana retrieved from ancestry.com (transcript). 3. Letter from Violet Butler Dirks Hill (Lexington Virginia) to Suzanne Young Brayer, ca 1988; held by syb Scottsdale, AZ 85260). a handwritten genealogy of the Herzog family. 4. from personal knowledge of W. Roberta Butler Young. 5. Mr William Butler and Mrs Mary Layton marriage, 26th Nov 1881, Justice Court, Clinton County Indiana. Certificate held by Clinton County Indiana Archives. 6. Boone County, Indiana, Index to Marriage Record 1844 - 1920 viewed at the Lebanon Public Library, Book C-11, pg 18. 7. Hiram (Haruns) Mendenhal, 1910 US Census, Mooresville Brown Twp Morgan County Indiana, ED 54, SD 5, Sheet 3A, line 20 (ancestry pg 5);. 8. Logan S.Layton, 1930 US Census, St Louis Missouri, ED 389, Sheet 2B, Line 69, 4 April; ancestry.com (image 4). 9. "US City Directories", database, ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (ancestry.com : accessed 19 September 2012), Pg 1483; citing "Gould's City Directory St Louis for 1917 (St Louis: Gould Directory Co, 1917)." 10. 1930 US Census, St Louis Missouri, ED 389, Sheet 2B, Line 69, 4 April, image 4. 11. Logan Layton, death certificate #25880 (17 August 1945), State Board of Health of Missouri, , online http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/.