Eliza Butler was born May2, 1838 in Yorkshire, England. Eliza's siblings were all baptized in Wentworth Chapelry and listed there abode as Barley Hole but she didn't appear in those records which indicates that the family had moved from Barley Hole by the time of her birth. Family traditions records that the family was from Doncaster, England and she may have been born in that area. Her parents were Matthew and Sarah "Allott" Butler and Eliza was the eighth of eight children born.
When Eliza was about eight years old, she came to America with her parents and five brothers and sisters. Eliza's father had been a coal miner in Yorkshire and that was the occupation he followed after coming to America. For a while the family lived at Worthington, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania and then they moved to Brady's Bend, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania where her father worked on a coal bank. Eliza attended school in England and also in Brady's Bend.
It is not clear what drew members of the family to the Jefferson County, Pennsylvania area but even though the parents apparently remained around Brady's Bend, several of the children show up in Jefferson County. Perhaps they knew some of the families before their immigration?
When Eliza was about eighteen, she married Samuel Holt at Sugar Hill, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Toy, a Presbyterian minister. They apparently set up house keeping on Samuel's father's farm and continued to live there the rest of their lives.
Samuel Holt was born in December 17, 1832 in Yorkshire, England, son of John and Jane (Schofield) Holt. When Samuel was nine years old, he came with the family to America, living a few years in Philadelphia, where his father followed the occupation of a spinner in a cotton mill. When Samuel was fifteen, his father brought the family to Jefferson County and he located on a tract of 160 acres at Sugar Hill, Snyder Township and engaged in farming.
When John Holt died in 1880, Samuel became the owner of the family farm. Two of Samuel's siblings reached adulthood but both had died earlier.
Eliza and Samuel had fifteen children; Matthew (Abt 1857), Sarah A. "Shaw" (Abt 1858), Jeannie (1860), James (Abt 1861), Hannah E. McCauley (Abt 1863), William B. (Abt 1865), Louisa "Nofsker" (Abt 1865), Elizabeth J. "Marshall" (Abt 1866), Samuel H. (Abt 1868), Susanna (1869), Caroline "Longwell" (Abt 1872), Mary E. "Bartlett" (Abt 1874), Essie B. "Penfield" (Abt 1877), Emma J. "Alshouse" (Abt 1878) and John R. (Abt 1881). According to the 1910 Census, Eliza related that she had 17 children and 14 were living.
Samuel died on his farm when eighty-one years old. His death occurred June 1, 1913, when he was past eighty years of age. He is buried in the Episcopal graveyard at Sugar Hill, having been a member of that church. Politically he was a Republican.
Eliza died on the farm in 1917. Most of Samuel and Eliza's children remained in the area when the County History was published.
References
- 1850 Census, Franklin Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania
- 1860 Census, Snyder Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
- 1870 Census, Snyder Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
- 1880 Census, Snyder Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
- 1900 Census, Snyder Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
- 1910 Census, Snyder Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
- Samuel Holt's Biographical Sketch in History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Published 1917)
- "Tombstone Hoppin, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania" (Published 1981)
- Butler Family Bible? and Family Researchers
Transcribed Documents Associated with Eliza Butler
- Samuel Holt's Biographical Sketch in History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Published 1917)
- Eliza Butler Census Information
- Butler Family Bible
- Area of Eliza's Birth in England (Map)
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