BUTLER and SEARS (Cortland, NY)

RALPH A. BUTLER (click for larger)

Identification on photo: Ralph A. Butler
Photo taken: Electro Photo Company, Cortland NY, circa 1898
Purchased: 2017 Aug Madison-Bouckville Antiques Week

At the 2017 Madison-Bouckville Antiques Week, I found a booth selling lots of old photographs, many of which were locally sourced, and nearly all were identified. Needless to say I bought up all the identified photos and came away with 55 photographs from that single booth.

And of course, I find that some of them are of related people, probably coming from the collection of the same household.

The three photos I am researching at present are of related people. The first is Ralph A. Butler. The photo of him is rather pale, likely bleached by too much sunlight, so I have tweaked it in my photo program to bring out more features. Bother versions are shown above.

Ralph A. BUTLER (1888-1977) a son of Ralph Butler Sr. (1848-1922) and Adeline "Addie" Mott (1851-1940). His siblings are:
 1871 - Elmer Butler (d. 1875, age 4)
 1874 - Edmund Butler (d. 1877, age 3)
 1876 - Bertha Butler (d. 1936)
 1880 - Leva J Butler (d. 1961) m. Sears
 1885 - Mabel Butler (d. 1887, age 2)

Ralph married Bessie Andrews, daughter of Samuel Andrews and Mary Elizabeth Peacock. (NOTE - I also purchased a couple photographs at the same booth with surname PEACOCK.) Bessie Andrews was a member of several civic clubs in Homer, Cortland County, and also served as the Homer Historian. It may have been her hand who wrote the names on the back of these photographs.

Ralph's sister Leva married Albert SEARS (1875-1964) and had several children:
 1905 - Alberta Sears (d. 1988)
 1908 - Esther Mary Sears (d. 1993) m. Alton Haight
 1910 - Francis Ralph Sears (d. aft 1977)
 1916 - Thelma C. Sears (d. 2006) m. Lumgair
 1920 - Douglas B. Sears (d. 1921, age 1)

ALBERTA SEARS

Identification on photo: Alberta Sears, 2 or 3 yo
Photo taken: E.H. Hyatt Studio, Cortland NY, circa 1907-08
Purchased: 2017 Aug Madison-Bouckville Antiques Week

Alberta lived to age 82 and is buried in the Cortland Rural Cemetery with much of her family, and her stone shows her surname as Sears, so it appears she never married or had offspring. This letter to the editor of the Ithaca Journal appeared in the issue of 28 July 1972. I include it here because it popped up while I was researching Alberta Sears, and I found it to be a wonderful memory of Alberta and her friends; one not likely to be recorded in any other documents of her life.

MARY BUTLER

Identification on photo: Mary Butler, daughter of Aunt Ruth
Photo taken: Evans Studio, Cortland NY, autumn 1885
Purchased: 2017 Aug Madison-Bouckville Antiques Week

I find that Ralph Butler Sr. (Ralph A. Butler's father) had an older brother, Charles F. Butler, who married Ruth L. Yates. The couple had several children:
 1876 - Harry Monroe Butler (d. 1943)
 1878 - Daniel A. Butler (d. 1918) m. Grace Rogers
 1885 - Mary Butler (d. Nov 1885, age 9 months)
 1886 - Louise May Butler (d. 1907)

All the clues point to this image being that of the ill-fated Mary Butler whose life spanned a short 9 months.