How do you create an element programmatically from a data template defined in XAML?

I'm trying to create multiple button with text underneath and have them added to a Stackpanel in code during runtime. I create the buttons based on a List of data. Here's my code:

XAML

<StackPanel x:Name="MainSP" />

C#

foreach (item in ItemList)
{
    Button newBtn = new Button();
    Image buttonImage = new Image();
    buttonImage.Width = 100;
    buttonImage.Height = 100;
    buttonImage.Stretch = Systems.Windows.Media.Stretch.Uniform;
    buttonImage.Source = new BitmapImage(pokemon.ImageURI);
    newBtn.Tag = item.Id;
    newBtn.Name = String.Format("{0}Button", item.Name);
    newBtn.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(newBtn_Click);

    FamilyStackPanel.Children.Add(newBtn);
}

I know this is clunky programming. I really want to set up a ControlTemplate in XAML then reuse that when creating the buttons in code. Here's the XAML:

<ControlTemplate x:Key="ButtomTemplate" TargetType="Button">
        <Grid Height="108" Width="Auto" Margin = "6,6">
            <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
                <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
            </Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <Image Width = "54" Height="54" Stretch="UniformToFill" Grid.Row="0">
                <Image.Source>
                    <BitmapImage UriSource="{Binding ImageUri}" CreateOptions="BackgroundCreation"/>
                </Image.Source>
            </Image>
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"
                    Foreground ="{StaticResource PhoneAccentBrush}" />
        </Grid>
</ControlTemplate>

I've tried using the controlTemplate like above and then for the bindings, I set the newbtn.DataContext in code.

foreach (Families item in ItemList)
{
    Button newBtn = new Button();
    newBtn.Template = this.Resources["ButtonTemplate"] as ControlTemplate;
    newBtn.Tag = item.Id;
    newBtn.Name = String.Format("{0}Button", item.Name);
    newBtn.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(newBtn_Click);
    newBtn.DataContext = item;

    FamilyStackPanel.Children.Add(newBtn);
}

For the data context I've also attempted newBtn.DataContext = ItemList[itemIndex] but that didn't seem to work. All I get is a blank screen.

So I've figured it out through pure code behind button creation, but I'm trying to use XAML control templates to make it work. Have any ideas?

Thank you!