Located north of Dayton, and east of U.S. Highway 27, Buttram Cemetery is the final resting place of many people from all walks of life.  According to research, the cemetery was originally begun before 1811 as the burial site for John Howard’s wife.  Then, in April of 1811, when Howard deeded land to George Black, (Deed Book D) he left out “a place about four poles square which the said John hath heretofore occupied as a place to bury the dead and in which his former wife is buried.”  

The “original cemetery,” or old section, referred to on the plat maps, was on top of the hill in the north-west corner of the cemetery.  And, in September of 1881, Nicholas Keith deeded land to the Trustees of the Methodist E. (Episcopal) Church South at Dayton, Tenn.  Keith described this as being a farm he had recently sold to Jas G. Buttram and known as the Grave Yard acre of land in Rhea, and which “was reserved in my conveyance to said Buttram and I hereby Convey said land as a Grave Yard unto the above said Trustees and their successors forever.”  However, Keith reserved a row where his family was buried, as did other family members who had buried their loved ones there.  He also reserved the north east corner for the “colored families,” which he stated were not to be buried anywhere else in “this yard.”


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