A previous article in the Butler Eagle history series has brought forth another family whose grandfather served in the Civil War.

An article that appeared on Memorial Day included a conversation with Bradley Pflugh, social studies department chairman at the South Butler County School District and Knoch High School history teacher, who extolled the bravery and patriotism of the regular men across Butler County who answered their country's call without hesitation during the Civil War.

Pflugh mentioned a random Union soldier buried at Summit Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Jefferson Township named John N. Burtner, who was a farmer in the township before laying down his plough and enlisting in the Army in 1864.

Pflugh said he did not know if any of Burtner's descendants lived in the area or were aware their family's hero lay beneath the G.A.R. marker decorating his grave.

Last week, the Eagle received a letter from James Burtner, who lives at Concordia Haven Apartments just a few miles from John Burtner's grave.

James Burtner, 81, said he and his three siblings are the grandchildren of John Negley Burtner.

James Burtner also mentioned a later story in the Eagle history series in which Jim Dixon of Slippery Rock talks about his status as the grandson of Civil War Veteran Jonathan Ireland.

Dixon joined the Isaac Eaton Camp No. 504, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Pennsylvania Department, where officials told him he was likely the only person within a 100-mile radius who can say he is the grandson of a Civil War veteran.

Burtner's letter aimed to set that fact straight.

“I can and so can my sisters, Nancy and Jean,” Burtner wrote. “There are three of us in Butler and how many more, I do not know.”

Burtner said he is the youngest of eight siblings born to Merrill Burtner. James was born when Merrill Burtner was 53 and was just 7 years old when his father was killed in a car crash on New Castle Road near the intersection with Hansen Avenue.

Because of the early death of his father, who was born in the mid- to late 1880s, there wasn't much talk about his grandfather, who was born in 1842 and died in 1932 at the age of 89.

“I honestly don't know much about him, other than what was in the Eagle article,” Burtner said in an interview last week. “It really surprised me. I made copies of the article and gave it to my sisters and my kids, and they sent it to their kids.”

The journalistic resurrection of John Burtner must have spurred an increased interest in his grandson, who sent another letter to the Eagle with further information on his ancestor.

Burtner said in the letter that his grandfather, who served in Company D, 6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery and guarded railroad tracks that supplied Union forces from sabotage by Confederate soldiers, was born at Burtner House in Harrison Township, Allegheny County.

The colonial stone house is now an official Historic Landmark and served as a polling place during the election of Abraham Lincoln.

The son of Jacob and Martha (Byerly) Burtner, John worked as a farmer as a young man, as well as on a flat-bottom river boat that shipped ice to New Orleans, James Burtner learned.

President Lincoln inspected John Burtner's regiment at Gettysburg, according to the younger Burtner's letter, before he mustered out in Pittsburgh in 1865.

Pvt. Burtner walked home from Pittsburgh to Burtner House, where legend has it that his wife, Eliza Belle (Logan) Burtner was tending to the couple's livestock in the early morning hours when she spied her husband walking up the country road, which is now Route 28.

The couple had four sons at Burtner House, James said. His father, Merrill, was the youngest son and born in Jefferson Township after the family had moved there from Burtner House.

Eva Jean (Burtner) Ohl, 86, who is James' sister and next-door neighbor, was part of the committee that saved the Burtner House from demolition and had it restored to its 19th Century condition.

“I did spinning wheel demonstrations there,” Ohl said.

Although she is older than her brother James, she does not have many memories of family conversations about her grandfather.

“I remember we took a trip out to Gettysburg, and I saw his name on a memorial,” Ohl said.

Still, Ohl and her brother appreciate their status as grandchildren of a Civil War veteran.

“I think it's pretty great,” Ohl said. “I'm pretty proud of that.”

James said sometimes, people don't believe him when he shares the information.

“A lot of people say 'It must be your great-grandad,'” Burtner said. “I say 'No, if you do the math, he was my Dad's dad.'”

Burtner's other living siblings are Nancy (Burtner) Mowery, also of Concordia Haven, and George Burtner of Rocky Mount, Va.