Butler Co., MO
History
February 27, 1849, the General Assembly of the State of Missouri approved an Act creating a new County by dividing Wayne County. The county was named in honor of William O. Butler of Kentucky who served under General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 and in 1848 during the war with Mexico was appointed commander of all the American armies in Mexico .Most of the people who settled in the Butler County area prior to the Civil War came from or through Kentucky or Tennessee. They crossed the Mississippi River by ferry at Cape Girardeau, then went around the "Big Swamp," crossed the St. Francis River at the Indian Ford, continued west to Big Black River, crossing that stream in the vicinity of Hendrickson.
A few of them settled along Big Black River, but more of them continued west to Cane and Ten Mile Creeks and Little Black River. They then fanned out to the south, occupying the valleys of those three streams and the gently rolling table lands in the central part of the present Butler County.