Washington Butler ("W. B." or "Butler") La Force was the 8th of 10 children born to Washington and Pheraba LaForce in Rocky Fork Township (now Columbia), Boone County, Missouri.

By the time he was 13, his family had moved to Mexico, Missouri. There his brother Felix met Eleanor (Ella) Estill a member of the prominent Estill family of Kentucky and Missouri, and in 1880 they were married.

It didn't take long for W.B. to became enamored of Ella's younger sister, Mary Clifton, and in 1888, W.B. and Clifton were married at Clifton's home in Fayette, Missouri (brothers married sisters).

W.B. and Clifton had 5 children. In addition to those linked below, daughter Esther was born in 1892, but died before the age of 10.

W.B. started out as a merchant in Mexico, Missouri. In 1885 he and his brother Felix formed a banking and brokerage partnership in Kansas City. The partnership lasted 10 years, until 1895, when W.B. decided to branch off on his own.

Sometime after 1900, W. B. decided to move to the country and start his own farm. He and his family operated a successful dairy farm in a small farming community near Kansas City known as Washington Township (now Independence) until 1907 when W.B.'s life was tragically cut short by a farming accident. At that time, the boys were ages 7 - 15.

W. B.'s brother Felix and his wife Ella moved out to help raise the boys and manage the farm until it could be sold. Following the sale, Felix and Ella and the four boys, along with their mother Clifton, moved back to Kansas City where Felix had a thriving business. Having no children of their own, Felix and Ella adopted all four boys and raised them like their own, alongside their mother Clifton (who was Ella's sister).

Upon reaching adulthood, the eldest boy, Robert Estill ("Estill"), joined his uncle in his banking business. After he married in 1917 however, Estill decided to go back to Washington Tsp and take up dairy farming as his father had done. It was there that he and his wife raised their children.

W.B.'s widow Clifton stayed in Kansas City with her boys until they were grown. By 1920 she moved out to Los Angeles to live with her son Watson (or "Wat"). Her sister Ella moved out to Los Angeles to join Clifton after the death of Ella's husband Felix in 1923. Clifton and Ella continued to live in Los Angeles for the remainder of their lives. Clifton died in 1942 and Ella in 1947.