Young Otelia Butler is said to have been a cultured lady. She and William settled in Norfolk, where they lived most of the years before the Civil War. They had 13 children, but only three survived to adulthood, two sons, William Jr. and Robert, and a daughter, also named Otelia. From 1862 to 1868, the family resided in Clarksville, Virginia at the Judge Henry Wood Jr. House.
