These are the letters from civil war soldier, Henry Butler, to his wife, Mary, in Castine from August 1862 through February 1865. He was in the sixteenth Maine Regiment, Company K. He was the grandfather of Oscar Butler, recently deceased, of Castine, whose father, Frederick, was mentioned in every letter as "little Freddie."

His home was the farm and farmhouse where my husband, Paul Cyr, and I now live, and which has been in my family for three generations. I believe that Mary Butler's maiden name was Lawrence and from old deeds, it appears that her parents lived here also. After Henry's death, Mary married George Washington Perkins and moved over to the shore road (Rt. 166A). All the Lawrence family signed off the property to William Lawrence (probably Mary's brother) who then sold it in 1973 to Alexander G. Perkins who owned a store in Castine village with his brother Augustus. Alexander sold it three years later to Julius Frank Perkins, an old bachelor with a speech defect who was locally known as "Hutton-Dutton."

In October 1921, my foster grandparents, Alfred and Marion Clark (who raised my dad from the time he was ten years old) bought the farm from the heirs of J. F. Perkins. In 1925, my parents, Frank and Rilla (Leach) Moore, moved in. About ten years it was deeded to them. My brother, Clyde, and I grew up here. In October 1981 it was deeded to my husband and me.

Lois More Cyr

Sept. 1989