Near Coosa in Floyd County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)
Dr. Elizur and Esther Butler, Missionaries to the Cherokees
Buried in the grave sixty feet south of this point is Esther Post Butler. Born in Connecticut on September 15, 1795, Post married Dr. Elizur Butler, physician and minister, in October 1820. The Butlers were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Brainerd and then to Creek Path, before arriving at the Haweis Mission, near Rome, in 1826. Mrs. Butler died in 1829 after eight years of service to the Cherokees.
Two years later Dr. Butler was arrested for residing in the Cherokee Nation without taking an oath of allegiance to the State of Georgia and obtaining a license from the Governor. Sentenced, with Samuel Worcester, to four years of hard labor in the State penitentiary at Milledgeville, he was pardoned by Governor Wilson Lumpkin in 1833, almost a year after the United States Supreme Court nullified the law under which the missionaries were arrested. Upon his release, Dr. Butler returned to the Mission at Haweis, but was forced to move the following year. In addition to attending the Cherokees during the Removal, Dr. Butler served the missions at Red Clay, Park Hill, and Fairfield and the Cherokee Female Seminary prior to his death in Arkansas in 1857.
Erected 1967 by Georgia Historical Commission. (Marker Number 057-14.)
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Charity & Public Work • Churches & Religion • Native Americans.
Location. 34° 15.1′ N, 85° 21.733′ W. Marker is near Coosa, Georgia, in Floyd County. Marker is on Georgia Route 20, 0.2 miles west of Fosters Mill Road (Georgia Route 100), on the right when traveling east. The marker is below the level of the road and can be difficult to see. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Coosa GA 30129, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 11 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Sardis Presbyterian Church & Cemetery (approx. 1.3 miles away); General Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom (approx. 5.1 miles away); Berry Schools' Old Mill (approx. 8.2 miles away); Chattooga (approx. 9.3 miles away in Alabama); Georgia School for the Deaf (approx. 10.1 miles away); The Trail Where They Cried (approx. 10.1 miles away); “First Blood Shed by the Georgians” (approx. 10.1 miles away); 1920 Chesapeake & Ohio RR Caboose (approx. 10.1 miles away).
More about this marker. When Georgia Highway 20 was widened the marker was removed and eventually reinstalled adjacent to the graves, which are no longer "sixty feet south" of the marker.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 25, 2020. It was originally submitted on October 15, 2017, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia. This page has been viewed 595 times since then and 30 times this year. Last updated on November 4, 2017, by Byron Hooks of Sandy Springs, Georgia. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 15, 2017, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia.