George LANSBERRY

                   Individual found on www.familysearch.org

Joseph Lansberry was involved in the shooting of Colonel Cyrus Butler on October 30, 1864.  Lansberry had refused to report for the draft for the Civil War and Colonel Butler and three other men went to his residence to arrest him.  They did not identify themselves or advise him of their errand instead rushing at him as he walked from his barn toward his house.  He got to his house first and obtained his rifle and fired a shot from the top of the stairs as Colonel Butler and a Lt. VanVliet were ascending the stairs.  Col. Butler was struck in the chest and died the following day, Monday, October 31st.  Lansberry then became a fugitive but lived primarily in the same area the entire time and never went under any assumed names.  A marshall named Rathbone finally located him in 1875 and arrested him.  On November 9, 1875, he was brought to trial and the trial ended on November 13, 1875.  The jury returned in less than an hour with a not guilty verdict.  The reason essentially being that Lansberry acted in self defense as four unidentified, armed men rushed at him.  Lansberry returned to Clearfield and lived there until his death in 1914.  He was married, but had no children.