Samuel Ward came to South Butler in 1841 and was invited to preach at the Congregational Church as the first African-American minister in Wayne County. He left in 1843 because of medical reasons. Ward prayed that his people might be saved from hatred and made forgiving, and said his highest wish for the whites of America was that they might become like the people of South Butler. On July 4, 1853, Antoinette Brown spoke in South Butler and was invited to become minister at the Congregational Church. She was ordained on September 15, 1853, becoming the first female minister in the United States. Brown said she had accepted a call to the Congregational Church in South Butler, a poor and small church, because it was what she wanted despite the burden of deep responsibility it placed upon her spirit.