Samuel Stieger Butler
1862~1864

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Samuel Stieger Butler was his name, and he was our great-grandfather's brother. Samuel was a toddler when he died in 1864.
The name of the cemetery is Bryan Cemetery. The grave is located in Greene County, Pennsylvania. With few details to the location of the cemetery we were on a quest. We didn't know that the directions that we had were written before dinosaurs were extinct.
As we were driving through the hills in pursuit for the cemetery. We came upon an old three-story house that was perched up on a hill from the road. It looked like a haunted house. It was unique. One you would encounter in a horror movie. Both of us said, "What a great house for Halloween!"
When we couldn't locate the cemetery, we decided to stop at a local grocery/gas station to get directions. We were told the old haunted house was Bryan house. The cemetery could be on the property near the house. We returned back by the haunted house looking around for a cemetery. But couldn't see one. We kept searching and stopped again at another store. Told once more to investigate near the haunted house. We drove near the house again. But still couldn't find it. So we encountered some men and asked if they knew about the graveyard. We were instructed to visit the lady that lived next door to the haunted house. There was a cemetery across from haunted house and the lady could tell us anything that we desired to know.
We went to the lady and asked if she had a cemetery near or on her property. She told us that there was one across the road from her house. Bryan Cemetery was on her land. We asked if we could explore for the headstone of Samuel. She stated that most of the headstones were broken and or were buried in the ground. With determination we were not going to terminate our request until we could search the cemetery. She finally gave us permission to explore the cemetery. But, first there were a few things that we must do! We had to change our shoes. Boots were a must! The cemetery now had developed into a cow pasture. The lady told us that, "The cows wouldn't bother us. There was a bull but for us not to pay any attention to the bull and he wouldn't pay any attention to us!" Thank God we didn't have red on. As we opened the gate, taking the directions that the lady told us. My boot went down in what I though was mud! (But found out that is wasn't) My foot nearly came out of my boot. We both knew that we had to find a more appropriate course to the cemetery. We decided to walk around the barn and climb over the fence. No mud that way!
When we got to the cemetery we found the black iron fence that once went around the cemetery was knocked down, and broken. We began our search for Samuel's tombstone. There were only a few headstones that were in good condition. Most were broken or unreadable. As we searched, and searched we both began to get troubled that one of our family members was buried in what was once a cemetery but, was now grazing land.
Finally under a big tree, Toya saw a corner fragment of Samuel's headstone. She yelled at me that she found Samuel's grave. I couldn't believe it! As we unveiled his headstone that had been hidden with grass and dirt. I began to cry. The more we tried to expose the headstone the harder it was to read it. We needed something to clean it off. So, Toya went to the car and got our bottle water. When Toya returned I removed my socks to clean the headstone. We were amazed that the headstone was in excellent condition. We could read everything on the headstone. It was as if the headstone had been buried and saved from hash weather for us to discover. After we cleaned the headstone we though about our great great grandparents, how they had once stood where we were standing. Toya stated that the tree over Samuel's grave was our family tree. At that point she began to cry.
Before we left the cemetery, we took pieces of wood that had fallen from the trees and covered Samuel's grave with them. We hope that this would keep the cows away from his grave and not destroy his headstone.
With tears streaming down our faces. We told Samuel, "We didn't know you but, we love you!"
When we looked around to see the sight from Samuel's grave the initial thing that came into view was the haunted house.
Samuel will always be very special to Toya and I.