Genealogy - Ella M. BUTLER (1886-1976)

Ella M. BUTLER

Ella M. Butler is my Great Aunt; we knew her as Aunt Nell. My sister, Ellen Mary is named after our Aunt Nell. Ella recalls her childhood "When I was a little girl I raced through the front door and called 'Mom' at the top of my voice. She was always there and I couldn't talk fast enough to tell her all the things that had happened to me during the day."

Just four years after the assassination of President Lincoln, Ella M Butler was born in May 1886 to Anna (nee Kenney) age 28 and Phillip Butler age 30 where the family lived in Orleans County, New York; a stone’s throw from Niagara Falls. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland. During this time the Oklahoma land rush started where more than 50,000 people raced for 160 acre parcels and the deadliest flood in American history occurs in Johnstown, PA when 2,200 people perished after heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to break.

St Andrew Roman Catholic Church 3546 N Paulina St, Chicago, IL 60657

Within a few years of Ella’s birth the Butler family moved to Chicago, Illinois in St. Andrew's parish on the city's north side where Ella’s 4 siblings were born:

1. Richard Michael b. 1888
2. Phillip Henry b. 1891
3. Annie Cecilia b. 1893
4. Veronica Perpetua b. 1896

In 1900 Frank Lloyd Wright established his Oak Park Studio, Kinetoscope parlors opened in Chicago where patrons could view films through a peephole viewer window at the top of the device and the Butler family lived at 639 School Street in Chicago along with John Wetzel, Ella’s uncle. Phillip and John both worked as printers. In the late nineteenth century, Chicago became a center for commercial printing in the United States second only to New York. Chicago printers worked closely with magazine and catalog publishers.

Good Shepherd Convent of the House of Good Shepherd at West Grace and North Clark 1909

At 18, Ella began working as a bookkeeper for a Chicago surgical supply firm where she was employed for five years. In 1908 at age 23 Ella joined the convent, ordained Sister Mary of Saint Perpetua Butler and assigned to the Good Shepherd School. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd lived and worked quietly inside the imposing four-story House of the Good Shepherd on Chicago's North Side where they cared for “abandoned women”, those accused of prostitution and children from Juvenile Court.

We have yet to uncover Sister Mary Perpetua's Mission in St. Louis ((1914-15) and  New Orleans (1915-16, 1922-26).

The 1930 US Federal Census has Sister M of St Perpetua Butler serving Our Lord at the House of Good Shepherd located at 1500 S. Arlington Ave., Los Angeles, California. In 1930 technology moves forward; Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food with his quick-freezing process and the analog computer is invented at MIT.

Sister Mary Perpetua’s father Phillip passed away in 1921 at the age of 64. 1939 was a heartbreaking year for Sister Mary Perpetua; both of her brothers, Phillip and Richard, passed from heart related deaths. Phillip died in January at the age of 47 and Richard died at age 51 in November.

Photo dated 1961, Sister Mary Perpetua age 75

In 1961 Sister Mary Perpetua was in charge of the clinic at the Good Shepherd Sisters' School for Girls in Phoenix Arizona. John F. Kennedy was elected president and held the first presidential news conference carried live on television, Minimum Wage was $1.15 and families were watching primetime: Sing Along With Mitch, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Car 54, Where Are You?. Sister Mary Perpetua was a teacher in Arizona, Maricopa County living at 1820 West Northern Avenue. Today the Good Shepherd Sisters' School for Girls stands dark and vacant for several years. Many heard whimpering sounds and crying down the long dark corridors and most are too afraid to venture deep into the basement where stories of torture and murder ran rampant. Sister celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1968; 50 years of service.

August 15, 1973 Sister was stationed at the Convent of the Immaculate Heart located at 7626 Natural Bridge in Normandy, Missouri.

While the Butler men died young, the Butler women lived long lives. Sister Mary Perpetua’s mother lived to the age of 88, her sister Veronica lived to 79, her sister Cecilia lived to 84 and Sister herself lived to be 90 years old.

Convent Record
New Card Received: November, 12, 1974
Baptismal Name: Ellen Mary (correction Ella M.)
Family Name: BUTLER
Date of Birth: April 30, 1885 (correction; May 1886)
Place of Birth: Albion, New York
Name in Religion: Sister Mary of St. Perpetua
Date of Clothing: November 19, 1908
Date of Procession: January 29, 1911
Mother's Name: Annie KENNY (correction KENNEY)
Mother's Place of Birth: Waterport, New York
Father's Name: Phil BUTLER
Father's Place of Birth: Middleport, New York
Missions - Length of time in each

• Chicago - 1911-14, 1916-19, 1930-37
• St. Louis - 1914-15
• New Orleans - 1915-16, 1922-26
• Peoria - 1919-22, 1937-51
• Los Angeles - 1926-30
• Phoenix - 1951
• Normandy - August 15, 1973

Deceased: October 9, 1976

Memorial

Convent of the Immaculate Heart

726 Natural Bridge

Normandy 21, Missouri

On October 9, 1976 our dear Sister Mary Perpetua Butler was called to her heavenly reward.

What a very full life Sister lived. Even at the advanced age of ninety-one (correction ninety), Sister was keenly interested in everything--she loved to hear the news, especially of all that was going on in the Congregation. She would read with interest the newsletter from Rome and kept abreast of current events.

In her long life in religion of sixty-five years, spent in the service of the Good Shepherd, Sister did excellent work with the girls. She loved them. She was very talented both in sewing and in art; and she was generous in sharing her gifts with others. Sister was a real disciplinarian and in her gentle way she could always win the girls--and they loved her dearly.

Towards her Superiors she was devoted and loyal and they found in her a wise counselor. To her sisters she was affable and obliging, profited by her talents. Of a very lively disposition, even to the last moments of her life, Sister would amuse the community and the nurses with her ready wit.

She has many friends and they remembered Sister by their messages of condolence expressing admiration of her. She was truly a real daughter of St. Mary Euphrasia.

May her dear soul rest in peace.