Person:Mary Williams (Butts) (1)

Mary Elizabeth (Polly), Williams, Butts married George W Payton after Dennis Butts death. Polly gave birth to three daughters with Payton, Elizabeth, Jessie and Amanda. According to Lucina Williams Butts journal, Polly died the Day after giving birth to a son, Jacob Samuel, 19 June 1888. Payton was an alcoholic. (according to Lucina Williams Butts father). The day Pollly died, George Payton, took her horse and buggy and was never seen or heard from again. Lucina’s journal indicates that the girls went to live with family in Decatur and the boys went to live with a Mormon in Moorhead Iowa. Jacob Samuel died on 19 of December 1888, but there was no mention of who he was living with at the time. A visit to the cemetery in Decatur, did not show a head stone for him. It is believed that the sons did not think much of their step father as Polly was buried under the Butts name in Decatur NE. Oral history from Mary E Ward (daughter-in-law to Jessie Payton Ward) indicates that the older Butts brothers came to Pierre at some time in Jessie’s adult life and told her that George was killed shortly after leaving Decatur. The story is that he overheard some “outlaws” planning to rob a bank and he turned them in to the local authorities. The “outlaws” upon discovering this, shot and killed him. There was no mention of where this occurred, nor where he is buried. Not sure if this was a true story or one the brothers made up. Perhaps, the daughters had some abandonment issues and the brothers, with whom they were very close, thought this would help the girls move on with their lives.