One of the area’s most famous residents was Boney “Sonny Boy” Butler, born in 1896, according to “Magnolia Memories,” a history collection by Celeste Graves. Even as a young boy, Sonny Boy was known for his service to travelers coming through Magnolia.
Magnolia city officials said he later built a gas station and country store to serve the Magnolia community as well.
“He was a businessman,” said Johnnie Lee Butler, a nephew of Sonny Boy. “He preserved the land and was instrumental in keeping the land in the family.”
Humble beginnings
On Feb. 23, officials with the city of Magnolia and Greater Magnolia Parkway Chamber of Commerce dedicated the Texas Department of Transportation’s FM 1488 overpass at FM 149 as Butler’s Crossing. The overpass partially opened to traffic in late February on a portion of the Butler family land. The dedication ceremony specifically spotlighted Sonny Boy, who was one of the oldest living residents in Magnolia until his death in 1989 at the age of 93.
“If you talk to folks who have been in Magnolia for any amount of time, they all remember Sonny Boy,” Magnolia City Administrator Paul Mendes said during the ceremony. “They remember who he was and where he was. They remember his stories of the old days.”
Sonny Boy came from humble beginnings, Mendes said. He worked to maintain the land, which was previously labored by his enslaved relatives.
Near the end of the Civil War in 1865, Sonny Boy’s father, William Butler Sr. of Culpepper, Virginia, moved to Texas and married Isabelle Brooks, according to Graves.
Brooks was the daughter of Sophie Jimmison, a slave of Lem Clepper, Mendes said. After Clepper’s death, Jimmison received 100 acres of land, 25 acres of which were later purchased by William for 25 cents an acre, Graves wrote. The land includes present day Butler’s Crossing.
On this land, Sonny Boy assisted travelers as they drank, filled their canteens and barrels, and hosed their horses and mules with water from the family’s 6-foot well.
Throughout the years, the Butler family sold off some portions of the land and lost other sections to various entities because the records could not be retrieved, Johnnie said.
During the right of way acquisition to build the FM 1488 overpass in 2015, TxDOT obtained more than 5 acres of the Butlers’ land through eminent domain, according to family records.
“Families get upset when their property is [taken by] eminent domain,” said Morris Fridie, the great-nephew of Sonny Boy, during the dedication ceremony. “But we, as the Butler family, have come to realize that it was a blessing in a way. It’s going to open doors for families. It’s going to help this community grow.”
Present Day
Last year, the Butlers sold 7 acres of the land to a private company, Johnnie said. The Butlers still own about
3 acres located behind the family’s well and William’s former residence.
Many Butlers still live near Butler’s Crossing, while others live in Tomball or elsewhere in the Greater Houston area. According to Butler family records, William had at least eight children, 17 grandchildren and many more great-grandchildren. Jimmy Butler III, a professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves and a Tomball ISD graduate, is a descendant of the family as well.
Some members of the Butler family are buried near St. Matthew Baptist Church in Magnolia, Graves wrote. Johnnie said other relatives, including Sonny Boy, are buried at Cartwright Cemetery in Magnolia. Sonny Boy had one daughter, Pauline Johnson, 91, who currently lives with her daughter Ruby Shankle in Houston, according to the family records.
“We will be forever recognized for being part of the first settlers in the area,” said Margie Matthew, the great-niece of Sonny Boy. “If our parents, uncles and aunts were here to see this, they would be so thankful.”
