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CHARLES BOWDOIN FILLEBROWN
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List 6
INDEX.
CHRISTIAN NAMES OF ALL WHOSE SURNAME IS BUTLER.
Abigail (Brown) 8, 9
Abigail (4) 8
Abigail (5) 11, 15, 25, 33
Almira (5) 11, 15, 25, 27, 30, 38, 43
Anna (Wilson) 37
Anne Judson (5) 11, 15, 25, 31
A. Judson (6) 38
Annie (Rankin) 27
Antecedents, 7
Austin (6) 27
Charles (4) 8
Charles (5) 11, 15, 25, 36
Charles A. (6) 37
Charles (6) 27
Eber Rose (5) 10
Ellen (6) 42
Eliza Ann (Knapp) 10
Elizabeth (4) 8
Elizabeth (Tallant) 10
Elizabeth Lewis (5) 11, 15, 25, 38
Esteria (5) 11, 15, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 34
Florence E. (Lewars) 27
Florence (Shepard) 42
Francis (6) 33
Hannah, 8
Hannah (4) 8
Hannah Challis (5) 9
Hannah Heard (5) 11, 15, 25, 38, 39, 44
Isa (Putnam) 33
Jane Payne (5) 12, 15, 25, 42, 43
Jennette Loring (Emery) 40, 42
John (1) 7
John (2) 7, 8
John (2) 7
John (3) 8, 9
Rev. John (4) 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
John (4) 8
John Richard (5) 11, 15, 25, 29, 43
John (6) 27
John S. (6) 37
Louisa Jane (Gates) 10
Lillian (Googins) 42
Margarette (Philbrick) 38
Maria S. (5), 12, 15, 25, 39, 43
Mary (4) 8
Mary (6) 27
Mary Barkalow (Schenck) 36
Mary (Rose) 8, 9
Mary Simons (5) 12, 15, 25, 43
Nancy (Payne) 8, 11, 15, 24, 25
Nathaniel (4) 8, 9
Nathaniel (5) 12, 15, 25, 40, 42
Nathaniel (6) 42
Philip (2) 7
Rufus (6) 26, 27
Sarah (1752) 7, 8
Sarah (5) 11, 15, 25, 34, 35, 38, 39
Sarah (6) 27
Sarah Ann (4) 8
Sarah Read (5) 9
Sylvia F. (Hayward) 27
Sophia B. (5) 11, 12, 15, 25, 43
Thomas Wells (5) 10
William T. (6) 38
SURNAMES OTHER THAN BUTLER.
Atherton, John M., 31
Maria B. (Farnham) (6) 30, 31
Austin, Mrs. Sarah, 25, 26
Bailey, Robert J. S., 10
Baldwin, Dr. Thomas, 11, 12
Barnes, Annie (Larrabee) 33
Cecil (6) 33
Fannie (Woods) 33
Maria (Whiton) 33
Phinehas (6) 33
Phinehas, 31, 32
Wilfred (6) 31, 33
Berry, Major-General Hiram G., 42
Boardman, Thomas, 24
Bond, Phineas, 12
Bowles, Rev. Lucius, 11
Brainard, C. E., 40
Mary S. (Thompson) (Mudgett) (6) 40
Briggs, Rev. Joel, 12
Joseph, 25
Brooks, Curtis, 11
Burnham, Rev. Jonas, 43
Buxton, Anna Almira (Fillebrown) (6)
27, 29
Nathaniel, 29
Carv, Annie Louise, 14
Nelson H., 14
Simeon, 14
Chadbourne, Capt. Jacob, 8
Chaplin, Rev. Jeremiah, 12
Chase, Rev. Lyman, 26
Rev. Rufus, 26
Cheever, Elizabeth, 28
George B., 28
Capt. Nathaniel, 28
Colby, William, 25
Crawford, Louis G., 31
Susan F. (Farnham) (6) 31
Cross, Ralph, 7, 8
Curtis, William, 11
Cushing, Sally, 12
Dodge, B., 12
Eldridge, Edwin S., 38
Mary B. (Butler) (6) 38
Emery, Anna (Butler) (6) 42
Jennette (Loring) 42
Sidney S., 42
Judge Stephen, 42
Farnham, Horace Frank, 27
Jonathan Everett, 30, 31
Fillebrown, Charles Bowdoin (6) 27, 29
Helen O. (Dalton) 29
James Bowdoin, 27, 28
Mary Louise (Hall) 29
Thomas (6) 29
Col. Thomas, 12, 28
Fisk, , 8
Fogg, Elder, 12
Fontenoy, Marquise de, 5
Fitz-Geralds, 5, 6
Gardner, Collin, 36
Lizzie P. (Tytus) (6) 36
Gates, Israel, 10
Louisa, 10
Gibson, John S., 33
John B. (6) 34
Lydia (Murphy) 34
Margaret Stuart (6) 34
Gilman, John, 24
John, 26
Glover, Elder, 12
Hamlin, Hannibal, 41, 42
Hayden, William Eustis, 9
Heard, Edmund, 7
Hannah, 7, 8
John, 7
Luke, 7
Hobbs, Anna P. (Nuckols) (6) 34
George Helm, 34
Hunt, Agnes, 7
Jackson, William, 29
Leonard, Rev. Lewis, 12
Lewis, Elizabeth, 13, 29
Lincoln, Caroline M. (Coburn) 10
Deacon Heman, 11
Lines, Calvin, 39
Jane (Mudgett) (6) 39
Mansur, , 8
Martin, A. C, 33
Clara (Barnes) (6) 33
Monjeau, Cleophas, 35
Emma J. (Tytus) (6) 35
Morgan, John Pierpont, 9
Morris, Rev. John E., 38
Sarah T. (Butler) (6) 38
Morss, William, 8
Mudgett, Alfred, 44
Alfred B. (6) 44
Charlotte (Phillips) 44
Charles B., 39, 44
Mason, George H., 38
Mark, 38
Noyes, Nancy, 24
Nuckols, Charles (6) 34
Dr. George W., 33
George (6) 34
Katherine E. (Randolph) 34
Lydia (Viley) 34
Robert (6) 34
Sally (6) 34
Ormond, Lord, 5, 6
Osgood, John, 24
Page, Sarah Elizabeth, 44
Parlin, W. Harrison, 12
Payne, Abigail, 24
Betsy, 24
Jane (Boardman) 11, 24
Jane, 25
Polly, 24
Richard, 11, 24
Sally, 24
Pidgen, Benjamin, 7, 8
Pierpont, Rev. John, 9
Raseley, Annie (Skillman) (Mudgett) (6)
39, 40
Raseley, Edward, 40
Robinson, David, 24
Rogers, Lincoln A., 33
Margaret (Barnes) (6) 33
Rose, fiber, 9
Elizabeth, 9
Eber (4) 10
Mary, 8, 9
Rowe, Frederick C, 12
Seavey, William H., 44
Sellen, Mary (Farnham (6) 31
T. B., 31
Skillman, John, 40
Stockbridge, Marcia, 14
Maria. 14
Thompson, M. W., 40
Threlkeld, Annette (Taylor) 43
Annie B. (6) 43
Frances (Bassett) 43
George Nuckols (6) 43
Logan T., 43
Thomas B. (6) 43
William L. (6) 43
Trimble, Minnie B. (Threlkeld) (6) 43
Nelson H., 43
Tytus, Charles (6) 36
Charlotte M. (Davis) 35
Edward J. (6) 35
Francis Jefferson, 34, 35
John B. (6) 36
Minnesota (Ewing) 36
VanBrough, Catharine, 36
Vining, 11
Ware, Adela (Barnes) (6) 33
Walter, 33
Warner, Daniel, 7
Elizabeth, 7
Nathaniel, 7
Wendell, Prof. Oliver, 26, 27
Weston, Edward P., 39
Nathan, 28
Wood, George, 42
Jeannie (Butler) (6) 42
Nathaniel Milton, 42
Wyatt, Sarah. 7
NAMES OF CITIES AND TOWNS.
Alton, 111., 15, 40
Amesbury, Mass., 24
Attleboro, Mass., 30
Auburn, Me., 39, 40, 44
Augusta, Me., 26, 38, 42
Bangor, Me., 17, 32, 40
Bath, Me., 18, 21
Beachmont, Mass., 10
Bowdoinham, Me., 17
Bridgton, Me., 26
Brunswick, Me., 20, 21, 32
Burlington, Wis., 42
Cambridge, Mass., 29
Camden, Me., 40
Cape Ann, 7
Chicago, 111., 15
Chillicothe, O., 15
China, Me., 21, 25, 32
Cumberland Mills, Me., 31
Danville, Me., 20
Dexter, Me., 40
East Brunswick, Me., 21
East Winthrop, Me., 12, 25, 26, 27, 29, 33,
36, 43
Fayette, Me., 17, 22, 29, 38
Franklin, O., 15, 36, 37, 38, 39
Freeport, Me., 17, 20, 26, 27
Georgetown, Ky., 15, 30, 34, 38, 40
Gorham, Me., 42
Hallowell, Me., 14, 17, 19, 26, 28, 34, 38,
39, 40, 41, 43, 44
Hanover, Mass., 11, 12, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29,
31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39
Harpswell, Me., 21
Hebron, Me., 20
House Beautiful, 5
Industry, Me., 17, 21
Ipswich, Mass., 7, 11, 29
Kent's Hill, Me., 29
Kilkenny Castle, 56
Leavenworth, Kansas, 40
Leeds, Me., 17
Lexington, Ky., 43
Livermore, Me., 17, 21
Louisville, Ky., 30, 31
Middletown, O., 15, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
43
Minot, Me., 19
Monmouth, Me., 17
Mt. Vernon, Me., 17
Newbury, Mass., 7, 8, 17
Newburyport, Mass. 7, 8. 9, 17, 24, 25, 32
New Gloucester, Maine, 17
New London, N. H., 30
Newton, Mass., 27, 29
Newton ville, Mass., 29
North Anson, Me., 27, 29
North Vassalboro, Me., 40
North Yarmouth, Me., 14, 17, 18, 31, 36
Nottingham, N. H., 9, 11
Orland, Me., 32
Paris, Me., 40
Paris Hill, Me., 42
Peoria, 111., 15, 39
Philadelphia, Pa., 8
Phippsburg, Me., 18
Portland, Me., 17, 24, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 42
Revere, 10
Rockland, Me., 40, 42
Salisbury, Mass., 7, 8, 11, 24, 25
Salisbury, N. H., 9
Sebasticook, Me., 22
Seymour, Ind., 44
Shelbyville, Ky., 15, 33, 43
Sidney, Me., 17
South Leeds. Me., 20
Topsham, Me., 20
Turner, Me.. 40
Wales, Me., 19
Warrenton Street Chapel, 10
Waterville College, 17, 18
Waterville, Me., 12, 17, 18, 30, 32, 40
Wayne, Me., 14, 17
Wells, Me., 26, 27
Winchester (London Co.) Va., 34
Winthrop, Me., 19, 27, 28, 31, 38, 43
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Charles Bowdoin Fillebrown
2. Rev. John Butler
3. Nancy (Payne) Butler
4. Rev. John Butler (miniature)
5. Nancy (Payne) Butler (miniature)
6. Baptist Church, Hanover, Mass. (original)
7. Letter of Acceptance (facsimile)
8. Baptist Church, North Hanover, Mass. (present)
9. Residence, North Hanover, Mass.
10. Baptist Church, East Winthrop, Maine
11. Residence, East Winthrop, Maine
12. Baptist Church, North Yarmouth, Maine
13. Residence, North Yarmouth, Maine
14. Residence, Hallowell, Maine
15. Sermon Notes (facsimile)
16. Polly (Payne) Osgood
17. John Osgood
18. Betsy (Payne) Robinson
19. David Robinson
20. Sally (Payne) Colby
21. Joseph Briggs
22. Dr. John Richard Butler
23. Sarah (Chase) (Austin) Butler
24. Almira (Butler) Fillebrown
25. James Bowdoin Fillebrown
26. Almira (Butler) Fillebrown (tintype)
27. James Bowdoin Fillebrown (1875)
28. Almira (Butler) Fillebrown (miniature)
29. James Bowdoin Fillebrown (miniature)
30. Esteria (Butler) Farnam
31. Jonathan Everett Farnam
32. Esteria (Butler) Farnam (miniature)
33. Jonathan Everett Farnam (miniature)
34. Anne Judson (Butler) Barnes
35. Phinehas Barnes
36. Anne Judson (Butler) Barnes (miniature)
37. Dr. George W. Nuckols (miniature)
38. Abigail (Butler) (Gibson) Nuckols
39. Dr. George W. Nuckols
40. Sarah (Butler) Tytus
41. Francis Jefferson Tytus
42. Charles Butler
43. Mary (Schenck) Butler
44. Catherine VanBrough
45. Hannah (Butler) Mudgett
46. Edward P. Weston
47. Hannah Heard (Butler) (Mudgett) Weston
48. Rev. Nathaniel Butler
49. Jennette (Emery) Butler
50. Maria (Butler) Mudgett
51. Alfred Mudgett
52. Maria (Butler) Mudgett (1880)
PREFACE.
THE following pages are the result of a belated
effort to preserve for their descendants what
remains at hand of the story of the lives of
a venerated father and mother and their fourteen
children, together with a simple enumeration of their
children's children. It is a matter of extreme regret
that this work might not have been begun a generation
ago during the lives of those whose memory covered
the period. Acknowledgments are due to the many
cousins who have helped to attain this approach to
completeness.
Charles Bowdoin Fillebrown.
Boston, Mass., February, 1908.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME.
ALTHOUGH the English generation of Rev. John
Butler has not been traced, the following men-
tion of the origin of the name of Butler by the
present Marquise de Fontenoy, to be found in a
magazine "The House Beautiful," Chicago, February
1907, is thought to be of interest.
"Theobald Walter, Lord Ormonde, of Kilkenny Castle, Ireland, a
brother of Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the time of
Richard Cceur de Lion, first assumed the surname of Butler after being
invested with the hereditary dignity of Chief Butler of Ireland by King
Henry II."
Respecting the antiquity of the name, the following
bit of historical romance is cherished as being worth
preserving.
"The two leading Anglo-Irish families in Ireland have long been the
Fitz-Geralds and the Butlers. From being comrades in arms of the
invading Strongbow, they became by degrees rival barons, and fierce
contestants for the vice-sovereignty of their adopted country. In the
Wars of the Roses, the Butlers sided with the white rose of Lancaster,
and the Fitz-Geralds with the red rose of York. Factions gathered
around the two great houses, and the bitter feud brought forth death and
bloodshed from as early as 1250 down to the Williamite Wars. The
Butlers, whose chief had attained the dignity of Earl of Ormonde, suc-
ceeded in crushing the power of the elder branch of the Fitz-Geralds,
Earls of Desmond. It is told of a warlike Desmond that, while he was
being borne prisoner on the locked shields of his feudal foe's clansmen,
the Butlers taunted him with the bitter words: 'Where is now the proud
Fitz-Gerald ? ' To whom the indomitable earl answered: 'Fitz-Gerald
is where he ought to be — on the necks of the Butlers.' This proud reply
will give an idea of the intensity of the strife.
5
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
"Now it happened that her Majesty's Irish Viceroy gave a garden-
party in the viceregal lodge at Dublin, and thither were bidden by accident
the Marquis of Ormonde, present head of the Butler family, Commander
of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the premier yacht club of the world in age
and importance, the most popular of Irish landlords, in person tall and
handsome, an appearance singularly in keeping with that of his stately
home at Kilkenny Castle, the oldest residence in Ireland, and the little
Duke of Leinster, boyish chieftain of the house of Fitz-Gerald. With
the duke, who was not quite nine years of age, came his widowed mother,
one of the beautiful Duncombe sisters.
"The Duchess of Leinster lost sight of her son for a space, and in going
to look for the lad found him engaged in earnest conversation with a tall,
elderly gentleman, in whom she was surprised to recognize the Marquis
of Ormonde. What was her horror when, on approaching nearer, she
distinctly heard the youthful Geraldine remark in somewhat slangy
phrase :
'"Well, I suppose I ought to punch your head on account of the feud,
but I say, you know, you're too jolly decent a chap for that Can't we
shake hands and call it square ?'
"With the utmost gravity Lord Ormonde grasped the small hand of
his hereditary foe, and when the amused mother came to congratulate
them on the happy settlement of six hundred years of bitterness, she
found young hopeful perched, like his famous ancestor, on the neck of
the Butler.
"Thus ended a feud, undoubtedly one of the oldest, and possibly the
bloodiest, in the world."
6
ANTECEDENTS OF REV. JOHN BUTLER.
VOLUMES of Butler genealogies afford but mea-
gre records of the antecedents of Rev. John
Butler. His great-grandfather, John Butler
(1), came to America from the Island of Guern-
sey, England, with his sons Philip and John, and settled
on Cape Ann. His great-grandmother came also from
England when young and settled in Ipswich, Mass.
His grandfather, John Butler (2), born January, 1751,
in Newburyport, was a ship carpenter, and lived at
Cape Ann. His wife, Hannah Heard, was a descendant
of Luke Heard.
Luke Heard was the son of Edmund Heard of Clax-
ton, County Norfolk, England, who married Sarah
Wyatt of Assington, England. He came to Massa-
chusetts, first to Newbury, thence to Salisbury, thence
to Ipswich. He died in Ipswich in 1647, leaving
two sons, John and Edmund. Edmund settled in
Ipswich, and married in 1672 Elizabeth Warner,
daughter of Daniel Warner, and had six children.
One son, Nathaniel, was born September 1, 1685.
The banns of his marriage to Agnes Hunt were pub-
lished December 10, 1709. He had five children,
John, William, Elizabeth, Sarah and Hannah Heard,
(wife of John Butler, 2), all of whom were mentioned
in his will, January 9, 1730-1.
John Butler (2) conveyed, 1756 to 1768, lots of
land in Newbury to Ralph Cross and Benjamin Pidgen,
and received deed of land from his mother, Sarah
Butler (widow), in 1752.
7
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
1: Essex Deeds, John Butler, shipwright, and wife, Hannah, of
Newburyport, to Ralph Cross Jr. land in Newburyport. Signed April
18, 1768. Recorded Oct. 1, 1768. L. 126-7.
2: Essex Deeds, Benjamin Pidgen of Newbury — 45 rods land in New-
bury. Signed May 4, 1758. Recorded 1765. L. 118-240.
3: Essex Deeds, John Butler to Benjamin Pidgen land in Newbury.
Recorded Sept. 27, 1765. L. 116-262.
4: Essex Deeds, Sarah Butler to John Butler, Newbury, Mass. widow.
Pd. by my son John Butler of Newbury, shipwright, 11 rods, 98 ft. of land
bordering on my land. Signed 2d June 1752. Acknowledged Mar. 23,
1756. Recorded Oct. 30, 1765.
John Butler (3), father of Rev. John Butler, was
born in Newburyport in January, 1751, and died in
1835. He married Abigail Brown of Philadelphia,
Pa., who was born in Salisbury in 1756 and died
in Newburyport in 1830. Both were members of
Dr. Spring's Congregational Church. Of their nine
children the record shows:
i. John, died in infancy.
ii. Elizabeth, married William Morss, died November 17, 1777.
iii. Hannah, born July 30, 1781, died 18 — .
iv. Abigail, died 1811. Abigail or Hannah married a Fisk.
v. Sarah Ann, married Captain Jacob Chadbourne.
vi. Rev. John (4), born April 13, 1789, married May 31, 1811,
Nancy Payne. Died July 1, 1856.
vii. Charles, died aged two years
viii. Mary, married Mansur.
ix. Nathaniel (4), born October 10, 1795. Married April 13, 1819,
Mary Rose. Died March 10, 1853.
It will be noticed that of the above nine children
of John Butler, two sons, John and Charles, died in
infancy, and only two sons, John and Nathaniel,
lived to manhood and married. It seems proper to
enter here the family record, so far as known, of this
Nathaniel, brother of Rev. John Butler, and six years
his junior.
Nathaniel Butler (4), brother of Rev. John
Butler, second grown son (ninth and youngest child)
8
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
of John and Abigail (Brown) Butler, was born in
Nottingham, N. H., October 10, 1795. He attended
the country schools, and by self cultivation acquired
a good, practical English education. When a lad
he worked on a farm in Salisbury, N. H. When a
young man he went to sea for some months, coasting
between Newbury port, Mass., and Georgetown, D. C.
About 1816 he returned to Boston and commenced
working at the mason's trade, which he had thoroughly
learned. He took some contracts himself, but mostly
worked for large contractors on public buildings and
residence blocks. He continued in this business until
his death; his advice being frequently sought by some
of Boston's largest capitalists. In 1848, being out
of health, he made a sea voyage to New Orleans and
Texas, and in 1850 a passage to San Francisco via
Cape Horn, returning home over the Panama route.
He married, April 13, 1819, Mary Rose, daughter of
Eber and Elizabeth Rose of Newbury port, Mass.
Theirs was the first marriage solemnized in Boston by
Rev. John Pierpont, grandfather of John Pierpont
Morgan, the New York financier. Nathaniel Butler
died in Boston March 10, 1853, and is buried in his
family lot in Forest Hills Cemetery, West Roxbury,
Mass.
Mary Rose Butler, his wife, was born in Newbury-
port, Mass., February 7, 1788, and died in Boston,
May 17, 1878, at the age of ninety. She was a woman
earnestly religious and of an humble, exemplary life.
In early womanhood she joined the Methodist Church,
wearing the traditional drab bonnet of that sect.
Children:
i. Sarah Read, born in Boston, October 31, 1821. Died June 13,
1825.
ii. Hannah Challis, born May 7, 1824. Married (1) April 26,
1846, in Boston, William Eustis Hayden (born November 27,
1822, died December 28, 1848). (2) November 4, 1852,
9
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Robert J. S. Bailey (born March 11, 1820, died November 28,
1880). Resided with daughter Helen in Oakland, Cal.
iii. Eber Rose, born in Boston February 10, 1827. He attended
the primary school between the ages of four and seven, and
later the Fort Hill and the Winthrop School in East Street,
from which he graduated in 1839, and was awarded a Franklin
Medal. At the English High School on Pinckney Street, he
again received the Franklin Medal in 1843. He lived in
Boston, or vicinity, except for the eighteen years between 1862
and 1880, during which period he lived in New York City,
where he engaged in the manufacture of medallions and other
bronze goods, having invented the first bronze door knobs and
locks used in America. In Boston he was for several years a
bookkeeper, and later, 1880-8, was well known as the minister
of the Warrenton Street Chapel. He engaged in various
charitable works. In 1889 he was minister of the First Unita-
rian Parish in Revere, Mass., and was also first pastor of the
Unitarian parish in Beachmont. In the church edifice at
Beachmont a memorial window was placed about 1901. This
window, which is a handsome stained glass reproduction of "The
Sower" by Millet, was removed to the Barnard Memorial, War-
renton Street, Boston, the scene of his prolonged labors, and dedi-
cated with memorial services on Sunday, November 4, 1906. It
bears the inscription, "In memory of Eber Rose Butler, born
February 10, 1827, died February 20, 1901." He married (1)
November 11, 1852, Louisa Jane Gates (born in Stowe, Mass.,
June 28, 1823, daughter of Israel and Louisa Gates). She
was a beloved teacher in Warrenton Street Chapel in its early
days, and was afterwards connected with the Fourth Unitarian
Society of New York City. She attended the Johnson Gram-
mar School, Tremont Street, Boston. In childhood she was
a member of the Sunday schools of Rev. Mr. Motte and Rev.
Mr. Huntington. In later fife she was active in Sunday school,
church and charity work. She died in Bloomfield, N. J., July
13, 1883. He married (2) July 20, 1885, in Worcester, Mass.,
Mrs. Caroline M. Lincoln (maiden name Coburn), born March
1, 1832.
iv. Thomas Wells, born July 11, 1829, died February 26, 1883.
Married (1) August 9, 1850, Eliza Ann Knapp (born August
29, 1828). (2) Elizabeth Tallant, 1856.
10
REV. JOHN BUTLER.
REV. JOHN BUTLER* (4) was born April 13,
1789, in Nottingham West, N. H. His active
ministerial work covered a period of thirty-nine
years. His first pastorate was over the Baptist
Church, Hanover, Mass., 1810 to 1824, of which he was
the first ordained pastor at the age of twenty-one.
His letter of acceptance is still preserved in the Church
Records, and is here reproduced in facsimile, two-thirds
of the original size. It was early in this pastorate, May
31, 1811, that he was married to Nancy Payne, a
daughter of Richard and Jane (Boardman) Payne of
Salisbury, Mass. Here were born the first nine of his
fourteen children, with the exception of Esteria, who was
born in Ipswich, Mass., in 1814, viz.: John Richard,
Almira, Anne Judson, Abigail, Sarah, Charles, Elizabeth
Lewis and Hannah Heard. He baptized all his children
except Sophia, who died in infancy, and John and
Almira. The house in which he lived, latterly known
as the Vining House, is still standing, as shown in
cut, and occupied in 1907. His first pastorate is
thus described in the annals of the sixty-seventh anni-
versary of the Old Colony Baptist Association.
His (Brother Wm. Curtis's) ministry was followed by that of John
Butler, whose Providential coming was recognized in a letter sent him
by the Church, asking him to be ordained and accept the pastoral charge
of the Church. This call was accepted and a council called to ordain
him, which convened on the 12th of Dec. 1810 at the house of Curtis
Brooks. Dr. Thomas Baldwin, and Dea. Heman Lincoln, from the
Second Baptist Church, Boston, and Rev. Lucius Bowles and Bro. B.
*See Larries Indexes of Pedigrees.
11
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Dodge from the church in Salem were members of the Council. Churches
in Bridgewater, Kingston and Danvers were represented. Dr. Baldwin
was Moderator, and Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin, Clerk. Revs. Joel Briggs
of Randolph, and Lewis Leonard of Boston, who were present, were
invited to sit with the Council. The call of the Church to Bro. Butler,
and his reply, were read. He then recounted the relation of the work of
Divine Grace on his heart, his motives in taking upon him the gospel
ministry, and his views of the 'fundamental doctrines contained in the
Holy Scriptures.' This being entirely satisfactory, the Council voted to
ordain him 'as soon as we can conveniently repair to the place of worship.'
'That Dr. Baldwin make the introductory prayer and preach the sermon,
Eld. Briggs make the ordaining prayer, Eld. Bowles give the charge, Eld.
Chaplin express the fellowship of the Churches, and Eld. Glover make
the concluding prayer.' At about half after eleven A. M. the Council
proceeded to the Meeting House where the above services were held in
the presence of a solemn and attentive audience." Mr. Butler re-
signed the pastoral office early in 1824. — History of the Hanover Baptist
Church, 1889.
From Hanover, Mass., he removed in 1824 to
Waterville, Me., where his son Nathaniel was born.
Here he had charge of a school for one year, preaching
in various places during the time. He baptized
sixty persons. May 1, 1825, he was installed as the
first pastor of the Baptist Church at East Winthrop,
Me., Mr. Phineas Bond,* a licentiate, having supplied
the pulpit for about a year subsequent to the dedica-
tion of the $3000 edifice, November 19, 1823. The
parsonage, built for him in 1824 at a cost of $800,
and in which he lived seven years, was after him
occupied by Elder Fogg for fourteen years, and later
by W. Harrison Parlin during his life, and is now
owned and occupied (1907) by Frederick C. Rowe
of an old Winthrop family. Here were born four
children, Jane Payne, Mary Simons, Sophia B. and
Maria S. He established here a school for young
ladies which is thus described by William Harrison
Parlin in his Reminiscences of East Winthrop.
*Mr. Bond's wife was the daughter of Sally Cushing, second wife of Col-
Thomas Fillebrown, who was father of James Bowdoin Fillebrown.
12
REV. JOHN Bl'TLER, 1789-1856
NANCY (PAYNES HITLER, 1788-1857
.
REV. JOHN BUTLER
From Ivory Miniature about 1830
NANCY (PAYNE) BUTLER
From Ivory Miniature about is;5()
THE ORIGINAL BAPTIST MEETING HOUSE
Main Street, North Hanover, Mass. As Erected in 1812,
Where Rev. John Butler First Preached, 1811-1824
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BAPTIST CHURCH, NORTH HANOVER, 1907
BAPTIST CHURCH, EAST W1NTHROP, MAINE, 1907
Altered in 1857
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FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
"Elder John Butler came here in April, 1825. While the house [before
mentioned] was building for him, his family — a numerous one — was
accommodated in the various households of the village.
"There came with him a Miss Elizabeth Lewis, a celebrated school
teacher. Together they established a school for young ladies, in which
were taught the higher English branches, astronomy, painting, etc. This
school, or Female Seminary, or 'Butler's School' as it was familiarly
called, became exceedingly popular, so much so that from all parts of the
State young ladies of wealth and refinement attended. The school was
very large, the scholars filling every house that could, or would, accom-
modate boarders, and, during term time, causing the inhabitants of the
village to be composed, apparently, mostly of females. They were the
ruling element and gave tone to society. They were a lively set. The
young native swains of the village were mostly too unsophisticated, uncouth
and bashful, to venture on an intimate acquaintance with the representa-
tives of so much wealth and caste, except in one instance, to which reference
will be had anon.
"The school occupied the gallery and vestry of the church, and, when
those premises were too limited, the school house was used as an annex
to relieve the crowded condition of the church.
"This was before the church was altered in '58. The gallery then
occupied three sides of the house, and the vestry was where the singers'
seats now are, separated from the auditorium and gallery by a partition.
"At the close of each term there was an exhibition, which drew from
far and near the parents and friends of the pupils, with their stylish turn-
outs, to convey them home, there being no railroad trains as now. During
these exhibitions the village had an overflowing population, more em-
phatically so than during an Association or Convention.
"Almost all of the scholars had painted maps, some three or four feet
square, and these were placed on the walls of the gallery extending nearly
around it. At the bottom of each was the name of the artist, thus, 'Pro-
jected by Miss Betty Blank.' The 'Orrery' was, to young eyes, a marvel-
ous piece of mechanism. By just turning a small crank a miniature
world was set in motion, each and every planet revolving in its allotted
time and in its orbicular place. The representative of the sun was a
golden ball stuck on a wire in the centre, about as large as a peach; Mars
was a little red fellow; the earth resembled a potato ball; and the other
planets were white and of ivory, each 'in its proper station moved,' having
its relative proportion, stretching away into the regions of space, till far
off Uranus completed the miniature world.
"That school was of great renown, and its 'fame had gone out into all
the earth.' The establishment of a permanent 'Female Seminary' on
the opposite side of the street from the church, was much mooted at one
13
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
time. The site was all that the most fastidious could desire, the location
central, and the wants of the public required it.
"One summer in term time a tribe of Indians camped in the woods
on the other side of the lake, just east of Cuba. Elder Butler several
times preached to them. All the boats to be had plied continually on the
lake, carrying the scholars and others over to see the Indians. Their
visits were often returned by the red men in their birch canoes, in order to
trade at the store, — exchanging their baskets for 'firewater' and decorative
trinkets.
"Among the many young ladies who attended this school were two
daughters, Maria and Marcia, of Dea. Stockbridge of North Yarmouth.
They boarded at Simeon Cary's. He lived then in the house next south
of Mr. Bachelder's, on the road, as it then was, running over the Blunt
hill from the poplar tree to where the new road intersects it this side of Mr.
Marrow's.
"Mr. Cary had a son, Nelson H. He taught the school here one or
more terms, the writer being one of his pupils. He was a young man of
good address; tall, straight and muscular, with blue eyes, light hair and
florid complexion. Physically, he resembled his father more than his
mother, but his native musical gifts were more particularly inherited from
his mother, who, it will be recollected, was awarded the place of honor
at the dedication by the seating committee, — and very justly so, for she
was the sweetest and most charming singer our young ears had then heard.
The Misses Stockbridge, boarding in the family, were also excellent
singers. Nelson H. Cary and Miss Maria Stockbridge formed a reciprocal
attachment culminating in marriage. These were the parents of Miss
Annie Louise Cary, the celebrated contralto singer, whose fame is world-
wide. Dr. Cary, choosing the profession of medicine, first settled in
Wayne, where Annie Louise was born."
From 1831 to 1837 Elder Butler was settled at North
Yarmouth, Me. For one year and eight months,
beginning October 10, 1835, he was the Agent of the
Maine Baptist Convention, traveling during the first
twelve months something over five thousand miles.
This office he resigned on account of failing health.
For ten following years, 1839 to 1849, he was an
"evangelist," residing most of the time at Hallowell,
Me. The house shown in which he lived most of the
time during this period is unaltered to-day, except
by the disappearance of a small ell. It stands on
the north side of Winthrop Street, No. 47, between
14
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Lakeman's Lane and Pleasant Street. This period
of his life is fully accounted for in the extracts given
from his diary.
Between the years 1812 and 1830, fourteen children
were born to Rev. John and Nancy Payne Butler.
The first death in the family was that of Sophia
in 1830, the last that of Charles in 1904. Sophia,
twin sister of Maria, died in babyhood, Jane at the
age of seventeen. Three of the number, John, Almira
Fillebrown, and Anne Barnes, spent the most of their
lives in their native State of Maine. The other nine,
Esteria Farnam, Abigail Gibson-Nuckols, Sarah Tytus,
Charles, Elizabeth Nason, Hannah Mudgett- Weston,
Nathaniel, Mary Simons Threlkeld, and Maria S.
Mudgett, all went west; Esteria to Georgetown, Ky.;
Abigail and Mary Simons to Shelbyville, Ky.; Sarah,
Charles, Elizabeth and Maria to Middletown, Ohio;
Hannah to Chillicothe, Ohio, and Peoria and Chicago,
111.; Nathaniel to Alton, 111.
Both John and Nancy Payne Butler died at the
home of their son Charles Butler in Franklin, Ohio,
he on July 1, 1856, at the age of sixty-seven, and she
on April 10, 1857, aged sixty-nine. He is described
by a living friend, who knew him in his old age, as
"a lovely Christian gentleman, with sadness in his
eyes and lines in his face as of one to whom life had
brought many sorrows and disappointments." And
his wife as "a woman of strong character and great
capabilities. She had performed the varied and trying
duties of a minister's wife, had reared a large family
of sons and daughters, had seen them one by one go
out from the old home to enter a larger world, and
now with strength failing, she had laid down the
burdens and active duties of life, and was content to
leave them in other hands, and with sweet patience
and resignation was looking forward to the end of a
long and useful life."
15
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Rev. John Butler made in 1840 a compilation of
familiar hymns for church use which passed through
three editions. The tune of Ortonville is well remem-
bered as one of his especial favorites. He was the
author of several books, of which the following are
catalogued in the Bibliography of the State of Maine
by Williamson, said to be found in the State Library
at Augusta.
John Butler, Clergyman, 1789-1856, resided in Maine 1825-1835.
Definitions and explanations in geography and astronomy, by John
Butler, pastor of the Baptist Church at Winthrop, Me. and Principal of
the female academy in that place. Hallowell: Glazier & Co. printers:
1825— 12mo. pp. 31 (1828).
Friendly Letters to a Lady in which several doctrines of the gospel are
explained and discussed. By John Butler, Pastor Bap. Church,Winthrop,
Me. Boston: James Loring, pr. 1830, 16mo. pp. 104. Library No.
(1829).
A letter to the Rev. John Butler, containing a review of his "Friendly
Letters to a Lady" together with a general outline of the doctrine of the
Free Will Baptists, by a Free Will Baptist. Library No. (1830).
"God not the efficient cause of Sin." A sermon delivered at Hanover,
Mass. by John Butler of the Baptist Church in North Yarmouth, Maine,
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man : But every man
is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Boston,
Pr. by Jonathan Howe, No. 39 Merchants Row. Library number (1834).
Extracts from Diary
The following notes are taken from a memorandum
made by Rev. John Butler from his " Journal" in 1851,
when he was sixty-two years of age:
"I hope I experienced a saving change of heart in
1802, within a few months of my being fourteen years
old. I have reason to believe that my mind was
awakened, and brought under saving conviction for
sin, by the preaching of Rev. Thomas Paul, a coloured
man, and a very humble and faithful servant of Christ
whose labours were blessed to the salvation of many
souls. Brother Paul was afterward settled in Boston,
16
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Mass. I was baptized in 1806, and united with the
Baptist Church in Newbury and Newburyport. I
hope my wife experienced a saving change of heart
in 1807. She was baptized in 1807, and united with
the Baptist Church in Newbury and Newburyport."
"In 1827-8 I delivered Astronomical Lectures in
the following places:
"Wayne, Livermore, New Gloucester, Bowdoinham,
Mount Vernon, Fayette, Monmouth and North Yar-
mouth: for which I received pecuniary compensation."
1827. I was elected a Trustee of Waterville College,
Me. I have attended every annual meeting but three
since that time.
1828. November. Preached at the Dedication of
Baptist Meetinghouse in Industry, Me.
1829. January. Preached at the Dedication of the
Baptist Meetinghouse in Monmouth.
December. Delivered the charge, at the ordination
of Rev. Mr. Thresher to the pastoral charge of the
Baptist Church in Portland, Me.
1830. Delivered the charge at the installation of
Rev. T. B. Ripley to the pastoral care of Baptist
Church in Bangor, Me.
Delivered the charge at the ordination of Rev. Mr.
Fites to the pastoral care of the Baptist Church in
Waterville, Me.
Delivered the charge at the ordination of Rev. W.
Foss, to the labours of an Evangelist, in Leeds.
Delivered the charge at the ordination of Rev. Mr.
Porter to the labours of an Evangelist in Second
Church in Sidney, Me.
In behalf of the Council, gave the hand of Fellow-
ship at the Constitution of the Second Baptist Church
in Hallowell, Me.
1831. Preached at the ordination of Rev. N. Sever
to the labours of an Evangelist in Freeport, Me.
Delivered the charge at the installation of Rev. Mr.
17
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Green to pastoral care of the Baptist Church in Water-
ville, Me.
Appointed a Trustee of the Maine Baptist Convention.
Appointed a member of the Board of the Maine
Branch of Northern Baptist Education Society.
1831. Appointed on the Western Examining Com-
mittee of the Maine Branch of Northern Baptist
Education Society.
1832. January. Appointed President of the Cum-
berland Baptist American Foreign Missionary Society.
Appointed by the Cumberland Quarterly Conference
to address the churches connected with the Conference
through the medium of Zion's Advocate.
Appointed to deliver an address before the Temper-
ance Society of North Yarmouth.
Delivered an address before the Temperance Society
at Walnut Hill, North Yarmouth.
On the 25th of July Waterville College conferred
on me the degree of A. M.
1833. Preached before the Cumberland Foreign
Missionary Society.
By request, delivered an address before the Tem-
perance Society in Bath.
By request, delivered an address before the Tem-
perance Society in Phippsburg, Me.
Appointed President of the Maine Baptist State
Convention.
Appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of
Northern Baptist Education Society.
The above are a part of the services which, at different
times, have been assigned me by my Brethren.
Revivals of Religion.
When many of the church become much quickened
in the divine life, and fervent in the exercises and duties
of religion, and become unusually fervent in their
prayers for the salvation of souls; when backsliders are
18
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
reclaimed, and unpenitent sinners are awakened to a
serious concern about their souls, and any number,
however small, hopefully converted to God, when these
things take place, I consider it proper to say, there is
then, with that people, a revival of religion.
It has been my privilege to labor in several glorious
revivals of religion where the work commenced before
I came into the place, but in the following instances
the revivals commenced in connection with the instru-
mentality of my imperfect and feeble labors. The
second revival I ever labored in took place in Hanover,
Mass., in 1810, and the last in the same church and
congregation in 1847, thirty-seven years later. The
whole number of revivals which God granted me
during my ministerial labors from 1810, in which year
I was ordained, until 1847, was forty-two. In some
of these revivals but few obtained a hope in Christ,
but in others great numbers were converted to God.
The ten years which passed between 1837 and 1847 are
the most interesting part of the history of my ministry.
During these years, while residing most of the time
at Hallowell, Me., I labored in thirty-eight revivals of
religion, eighteen of which were very extraordinary
seasons of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.
I will here make a few brief statements concerning
these eighteen revivals.
Wales, Me., December, 1837. I laboured here
three weeks. Sixty manifested a hope in Christ.
Twelve were enabled to believe in the Saviour in one
evening. Here I baptized twenty-three. In connec-
tion with this revival a meeting house was built.
Winthrop, Me., January, 1838. Here I laboured
about two weeks. Thirty gave evidence of conversion.
Minot, Me., February, 1838. I laboured here five
weeks. Something more than seventy obtained a hope
in Christ. I baptized twenty-seven.
Green, Me., March, 1838. I laboured here three
19
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
weeks, and two days; during which time seventy were
born into the Kingdom of Christ, as I hope. I baptized
thirty-five at one time, and seven at another, making
forty-two.
Danville, Me., May, 1838. I laboured here about
three weeks. Fifteen were hopefully converted. I bap-
tized twelve.
Hebron, Me., February, 1839. Something more
than eighty professed a change of heart before I left
them. The oldest was ninety-six years old. She was
unable to attend meeting, but the Lord blessed her at
home. The youngest was ten years old. I baptized
fifty-nine. I baptized forty-six at one time, and
twelve at another time. Of those baptized twenty-five
were brethren, twenty-one sisters, and twenty- two
were heads of families. After I left them, the work
continued and spread, till not less than two hundred
professed to experience conversion to God. I laboured
with them about six weeks.
Freeport, Me., May, 1839. Seventy indulged a hope
in the pardoning mercy of God. I baptized sixty-three,
about one-third of whom were heads of families. I
laboured here three months.
South Leeds, Me., October, 1839. Twenty pro-
fessed a hope. I baptized ten, three of whom were
deaf mutes, two brothers and one sister. They could
read and write. After I left the place the work spread
nearly over the town, and it was believed not less than
one hundred and fifty were converted to God. A
church was formed, and a meeting house built in the
part of the town where the revival commenced. I
laboured here three weeks.
Topsham, Me., December 28, 1839. I laboured
here about two weeks, during which ten or twelve
obtained a hope in pardoning mercy. The work
extended into the other societies, and into Brunswick,
and continued more than three months. It was believed
20
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
not less than two hundred became the subjects of
saving grace. In connection with this revival a Baptist
church was constituted in Brunswick, and a meeting
house built. In this revival my three youngest children
obtained a hope in Christ.
Harps well, Me., January, 1840. I preached here
by request of the Congregational Church. I laboured
three weeks. Thirty-five professed a hope before I
left them, after which the work spread and extended
to some of the Islands. It was a great work, and most
of the converts united with the Congregational Church.
This church had almost lost its visibility. It was
one of the oldest churches in the State. Their meeting
house had been built about one hundred years and
was now unfit for use. But the church was now so
strengthened as to build a meeting house, and settle a
minister.
Bath, Me., February, 1840. I laboured here three
weeks. Before I left forty obtained a hope and a
few were baptized by the pastor.
East Brunswick, Me., March, 1840. Here I laboured
about four weeks. Forty hopefully experienced renew-
ing grace. I baptized twenty-nine.
Industry, Me., February, 1841. I laboured in this
place two weeks. Christians were much revived,
and forty were hopefully converted to God. On my
way home, my horse died. I had travelled with this
horse during my labours in twenty-two revivals of
religion. This was a painful loss to me.
Livermore, Me., March, 1841. I laboured here six
weeks. Sixty professed to experience renewing grace,
thirty of whom were heads of families. Fifty- three
were baptized.
China, Me., January, 1843. I laboured here five
weeks. Eighty professed to experience renewing grace.
I baptized thirty-seven, twenty-nine of whom I baptized
at one time. One of the converts had been for sev-
21
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
eral years a professed and whole-hearted infidel. This
conversion was the most extraordinary case I ever
knew.
Sebasticook, Me., May, 1843. I laboured here for
about two weeks. Ten were hopefully converted to
the Lord.
Fayette, Me., January, 1846. During about five
weeks eighty obtained a joyful hope in Christ. I
baptized sixty. The oldest was seventy years old, and
the youngest about eleven. Twenty-four were members
of the Sabbath School. I laboured here six months.
Hanover, Mass., January, 1847. Here I spent sev-
eral weeks. Some of the church were much quick-
ened, and twenty were hopefully converted to the Lord.
The second revival I ever laboured in was in this
church and congregation thirty-seven years before.
Here I was ordained and laboured as pastor of this
church fourteen years. This is the last revival I have
enjoyed. It was a most precious season to me. And
now, I would humbly say, "Not unto me, not unto
me, but to thy name be all the glory, O Lord, my
strength, and my Redeemer."
In these eighteen revivals, not less than nine hundred
hopefully experienced the renewing grace, and pardon-
ing mercy of God, with whose religious exercises I
was personally and minutely acquainted. I baptized
about four hundred of them; some of them the pastors
of the churches where the revivals took place baptized;
some of them united with other denominations, and
a few of them never united with any church.
Many of the forty-two revivals in which I have
laboured during my whole ministry have extended into
other denominations, and great numbers were con-
verted among them, so that as nearly as I have been
able to ascertain the whole number born into the
Kingdom of Christ in those seasons of mercy is not
less than fifteen hundred.
22
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
These scenes of wondrous grace, which I have here
briefly recorded, I joyfully hope to review in that
bright world where Jesus reigns. I trust my memory
will be so strengthened then as to review these scenes
of mercy, with a clear and distinct recollection. O
yes, and I hope to meet, in that blissful state, those
precious ones, for whose salvation I have here toiled
and wept and prayed. How many hundreds I have
prayed with, while they seemed ready to sink under
the weight of their guilt, and how many hundreds I
have rejoiced with when they first realized the pardon-
ing love of God. How sweetly did their countenances
glow, with the light of hope. O, how many tears of
repentance I have seen fall; yes, and tears of unspeak-
able joy, too. Well, I trust, unworthy as I am, I shall
see the faces of those blessed ones again, in glory.
Some of them are there now, and hundreds of others
are on their way there. O, ye blessed children of
God, I am unworthy to come up to that high abode
and dwell with you, and sing "redeeming grace and
undying love." But my hope is in the merits of Jesus
Christ. Yes, he will allow unworthy me to come,
and see you there; and join your sweet song of ever-
lasting praise to him who has loved us and redeemed
us to God, with his own blood. Was there ever so
unworthy a servant of Christ as I am ? And yet was
there ever one under so great obligation to him ? I
do in my inmost soul believe that I am one of the
most unworthy, and yet one of the most favoured, of
the servants of Christ. Glory be to his blessed name.
O, why did he call me out of my darkness into his
marvelous light? Why was I made to hear his voice,
and enter while there's room ?
Why did he call me, unworthy me, into the sacred
work of the gospel ministry? Why did he shed such
a measure of his Holy Spirit upon me, as I have enjoyed
the most of the time for the last thirteen years?
23
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Mysterious grace, mysterious grace! Surely I shall
die infinitely indebted to the goodness of God. Nor
does it appear to me, that there ever was, or ever will
be, such an example of abounding mercy, as my
admittance into heaven will show. O, it seems to me
that when the saints and angels in glory come to
understand all about my case, they will be astonished,
and confounded in view of the grace and mercy bestowed
upon me. O, what shall I say — words fail me — my
thoughts fail me — O, yes, I am lost, while trying to
look away upon the goodness, and love, and mercy of
God, to such an unworthy worm of the dust.
Nancy (Payne) Butler was born April 6, 1788, the
eldest of six children, all daughters, and, at the age
of eighteen, was left an orphan, having the care of her
younger sisters. She died April 10, 1857.
Richard Payne, her father, was born in 1764, and
died of yellow fever in Amesbury in 1799. Jane
Boardman, his wife, was born in Newburyport in 1769
(daughter of Thomas Boardman, who was born in
Chelsea, Mass., and Nancy Noyes, who was born in
Newburyport). She was a member of the Baptist
Church in Salisbury and Amesbury.
Of the five other daughters of Richard and Jane
(Boardman) Payne, Polly* was born January 10,
1790, and died, a centenarian, January 22, 1890.
She married in 1808 John Osgood, by occupation
a ship calker, who was born March 6, 1787 in Salisbury,
Mass., and died November 9, 1859. Abigail (Nabby)
was born February 6, 1792, and died July 9, 1878.
She married, August 26, 1818, John Gilman, a printer
of Newburyport. Betsy was born in 1793, and died
January 18, 1881. She married David Robinson, a
*Polly Osgood enjoyed good health almost to her one hundredth birthday.
Her oldest son, Isaac, now in his ninety-third year, a machinist and inventor, goes
on frequent business trips, this year as far as Denver, Colo., and is usually busy
in his own shop when at home.
24
POLLY (PAYNE) OSGOOD 1790-1890
JOHN OSGOOD, AMESBURY, MASS.
Husband of Polly Payxe, 17S7-1S.")!)
BETSY (PAYNE) ROBINSON, 1793-1881
DAVID HOMINSOX
PUB!
SALLY (PAYNE) COLBY, 1795-1880
JOSEPH BRIGGS, HANOVER, MASS
Husband of Jam: Payne
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
confectioner of Portland, Me. Sally was born Sep-
tember 11, 1795, and died December 26, 1880. She
married, August 20, 1818, William Colby, a black-
smith of Newbury port, Mass. Jane was born March
4, 1798, and died September 26, 1882. She married,
April 23, 1817, Joseph Briggs, a farmer of Hanover,
Mass., who was born December 22, 1793, and died
September 24, 1860. None of the five couples appear
to have changed their residence from the town in
which they settled soon after marriage, but continued
most of their days to reside, the Osgoods in Salisbury,
the Gilmans and Colbys in Newburyport, the Briggses
in Hanover, and the Robinsons in Portland, Me.
As it would seem unpardonable not to perpetuate
such portraits of these sisters of Nancy (Payne) Butler
as have been so far preserved, they are here reproduced.
Children of Rev. John and Nancy (Payne) Butler:
i. John Richard, was born March 13, 1812, and died August 24,
1857.
ii. Almira, was born April 11, 1813, and died January 1, 1892.
iii. Esteria, was born May 7, 1814, and died December 23, 1891.
iv. Anne Judson, was born April 1, 1816, and died March 7, 1883.
v. Abigail, was born June 24, 1817, and died August 17, 1854.
vi. Sarah, was born December 11, 1818, and died December 16, 1895.
vii. Charles, was born May 21, 1820, and died July 6, 1904.
viii. Elizabeth Lewis, was born October 17, 1821, and died Decem-
ber 10, 1890.
ix. Hannah Heard, was born February 28, 1823, and died February
21, 1904.
x. Nathaniel, was born October 19, 1824, and died April 25, 1894.
xi. Jane Payne, was born March 18, 1826, and died January 8, 1843.
xii. Mary Simons, was born July 5, 1828, and died August 22, 1860.
xiii. Sophia B., was born July 8, 1830, and died October 3, 1830.
xiv. Maria S., was born July 8, 1830, and died December 8, 1884.
I. John Richard Butler was born March 13,
1812, in Hanover, Mass. His boyhood was passed
here and in East Winthrop, Me. He studied medicine
with Dr. Austin in Portland. He was married Septem-
ber 11, 1840, at China, Me., to Mrs. Sarah Austin,
25
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
and settled in Freeport, where he practised medicine
and dentistry until 1853, when he moved to the neigh-
boring town of Wells, Me. His health failing, he
moved in the spring of 1857 to Hallowell, Me., and
occupied the Dummer house at the top of Hallowell
Hill, on a spot where now stands one of the buildings
of the Industrial School, a beautiful location over-
looking the Kennebec River, the village of Hallowell
and many adjacent towns. It was hoped that by
getting away from the seaboard his health would be
improved, but he died on August 24 of that year, at
the age of forty-five, leaving a family of six small
children.
Mrs. Austin was born at Bridgton, Me., September
13, 1812. She was the daughter of Rev. Rufus Chase,
and sister of Rev. Lyman Chase, both prominent
clergymen in the Baptist denomination. After the
death of Dr. Butler she continued for eleven years,
while her children were small, to live in Hallowell, a
part of the time in the house next above No. 35 Win-
throp Street. Her oldest son was for many years
with Mr. John Gilman, druggist, now of Gilman
Brothers, Boston. In 1868 she moved to Augusta,
where her second son, Rufus, had employment. In
1876, both of her daughters having married, she
made her home with them, until the death of Mary,
the younger, in 1883. The rest of her life was spent
with her daughter Sarah, the wife of Professor Oliver
C. Wendell, astronomer at Cambridge Observatory,
Harvard University, in Cambridge, where she died
January 24, 1899, having had the enjoyment of excel-
lent health almost to the end of a long and faithful
life of eighty-seven years. Her remains were buried
at East Winthrop, Me., where those of her husband
had been laid forty-two years before, and where her
son Rufus was buried two years later in 1901.
26
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Children :
i. John, was bom in Freeport, Me., March 29, 1843, and died
February 16, 1877. He married April 14, 1874, Florence E.
Lewars.
ii. Sarah, was born in Freeport, Me., October 26, 1845, and married
July 11, 1870, Prof. Oliver C. Wendell of the Cambridge
Observatory.
iii. Rufus, was born in Freeport, Me., July 22, 1847, and died March
8, 1901, in Chelsea, Mass.
iv. Austin, was born in Freeport, Me., June 6, 1850, and married
January 1, 1876, Annie Rankin,
v. Charles, was born in Freeport, Me., January 16, 1852, and
married October 22, 1874, Sylvia F. Heyward.
vi. Mary, was born in Wells, Me., November 29, 1854, and died
April 29, 1883. She married August 26, 1872, Horace Frank
Farnham.
II. Almira Butler was born at Hanover, Mass.,
April 11, 1813, and as the eldest daughter and second
child in a family of fourteen, whose births were included
in the years 1812 to 1830, she was looked up to by
the younger members as the "little mother" of the
family. Her proficiency in her father's school at East
Winthrop, Me., is shown by samples of needle work
at the age of nine, and a map of Asia drawn at the age
of eleven. Portraits of her and her husband at the
time of their marriage, painted by her artist sister,
Esteria, are among the family treasures, and copies
of them accompany this sketch. She married, Septem-
ber 28, 1830, in Winthrop, Me., James Bowdoin
Fillebrown.
Thirty-three years of her life were spent upon the
farm in East Winthrop, now Winthrop Centre, fourteen
years at Winthrop village, seven years at Portland,
Me., two years at North Anson, and, the six years
succeeding the death of her husband, at Newton,
Mass., one year with her daughter Anna, and five
years with her son Charles, at whose home she died
January 1, 1892.
Mrs. Fillebrown greatly endeared herself to her
27
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
own family, and a wide circle of friends. The farm
at Winthrop was for many years the family Mecca.
She united with the Universalist Church at Winthrop
Village at its formation about 1839, and remained a
loyal and active member so long as resident there.
She allied herself with the Women's Christian Tem-
perance Union, and was a zealous worker and fervent
speaker in its assemblies and councils. Of striking
personal beauty, and intelligence, she was the idol
of her children, and is remembered as an ideal mother
in a happy home.
James Bowdoin Fillebrown, son of Thomas and
Elizabeth Cheever Fillebrown, and the youngest of
eight children, was born in Winthrop, Me., October
24, 1809. His father, Colonel Thomas Fillebrown,
lived and kept a store in Hallowell, Me., from 1793
until 1808, when he purchased a farm in Winthrop
upon which he lived until his death in 1844. His
mother, Elizabeth Cheever, was a daughter of Captain
Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bancroft Cheever of Hallowell,
a half sister of Judge Nathan Weston, Chief Justice
of Maine, and an aunt of Dr. George B. Cheever, a
noted temperance and anti-slavery clergyman of Brook-
lyn, N. Y. At sixteen he made voyages to the Mediter-
ranean and South America, but reluctantly gave up
the following of the sea as an occupation to stay at
home on the farm, although during the period of
twelve years, between 1826 and 1839, he made in all
seven voyages to foreign and domestic parts, of which
he kept an interesting journal. He had an ingenious
hand and mind, and was a beautiful penman. He
was in turn farmer, blacksmith, and carpenter, having
a shop and outfit in which he built the first horse rakes
used in his region.
Until 1847, except for his voyages, he worked hard
and fruitlessly upon the farm, when not prevented by
frequent and long intervals of painful rheumatism.
28
DR. JOHN RICHARD BUTLER, 1812-1857
SARAH (CHASE) (AUSTIN) BUTLER, 1812-1899
ALMIRA (BUTLER) FILLEBROWN, 1813-1892
JAMES UOWDOIN FUXEBKOWN
Anour 1860
ALMIRA (BUTLER) FILLER ROWN
From a Tintype about 1865
JAMES IJOWDOIN FILLEBROWN
About 1875
ALMIRA FILLER- ROWX
From Miniature Painted ox Ivory by Esteria Buti.er in 1830
JAMES BOWIXHN FILLEBROWN
From Miniature Painted on Ivory by Esteria Farnam in 1830
ESTERIA (BUTLER) FARNAM, 1814-1891
, r > •
■Mi,
By
it *4B
^^tm .^^^^^
,
^H
K^ 1
JONATHAN EVERETT FARNAM, 1809-1890 V
ESTERIA (BUTLER) FARNAM
Painted by herself from a Reflection in Mirror 1837
JONATHAN EVERETT FARNAM
From Mjniatdke by his Wife, about 1SI57
ANNE JUDSON (BUTLER) BARNES. 1816-1883
PHINEIIAS BARNES, 1811-1871
ANNE JUDSON (BUTLER) BARNES
From a Miniature by her Sister Esteria
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
In that year he learned dentistry of his brother-in-
law, Dr. John Butler, and worked at it for a year in a
room in the farm house, after which he established
an office at Winthrop Village. He continued a success-
ful practice here until 1877, and from that date to
1884 in the office of his son, Dr. Thomas Fillebrown,
at Portland, Me. In early days he was selectman
and school agent of his district. Twice (1848 and 1862)
he was an unsuccessful candidate for Representative
to the State Legislature.
After 1884 he resided for upwards of a year near his
daughter, Mrs. Nathaniel B. Buxton, at North Anson,
Me., where he succeeded his son-in-law in the opera-
tion of what were then known as the Carrabassett
Mills on the site of the present $250,000 American
Pulp, Paper and Lumber Company. No doubt his
exposure here hastened his death, which occurred at
the home of his son Charles, in Newton, Mass., Feb-
ruary 28, 1886. He was buried in the family lot at
East Winthrop, Me.
Children :
i. Anna Almira, was born June 19, 1831, and died at Newtonville,
Mass., December 29, 1903. She married February 27, 1864,
Nathaniel Buxton of Fayette, Me., who died at Newtonville,
Mass., June 25, 1900.
ii. Thomas, was born January 13, 1836, and married September 2,
1861, Helen O. Dalton, daughter of Nathan Stearns and Sally
Bean Dalton of Kent's Hill, Me.
iii. Charles Bowdoin, was born December 26, 1842, and married
October 9, 1873, Mary Louise Hall, daughter of Lewis Hall,
Cambridge, granddaughter of William Jackson of Newton.
She was born May 18, 1841, and died July 1, 1887.
III. Esteria Butler was born in Ipswich, Mass.,
on May 7, 1814. She was educated at Hanover, and,
between 1824 and 1830, at her father's School for Young
Ladies at East Winthrop, Me., in which Miss Elizabeth
Lewis was a skilled instructor in drawing and painting.
29
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Esteria excelled in painting on ivory, and her minia-
tures of her father and mother, of herself (painted
from her reflection in the looking glass) and her hus-
band, of her sister Almira and husband, and of nearly
every other member of the family, are the choicest
of household treasures, some of which are here repro-
duced. Married in Waterville, Me., August 15, 1837,
to Professor Jonathan Everett Farnam, LL.D., she
shared with her husband the charge over Georgetown
Seminary for young ladies for twenty years, until the
buildings were burned during the Civil War, and never
rebuilt. During six or eight of the early years in the
Seminary she taught drawing and painting. The
productions of her pupils are to be found in every
State in the Southland. She died at the home of her
daughter Maria, at Louisville, Ky., December 23,
1891, and was buried at Georgetown, Ky., her old
home.
Jonathan Everett Farnam was born August 12,
1809, in the town of Attleboro, Mass., fourteen miles
from Providence, R. I. His father having died, he
was reared in the family of an uncle, Governor Colby,
in New London, N. H. He was graduated from
Waterville College, now Colby College, Waterville,
Me., and remained there two years as a tutor. In
1839 he became a member of the faculty of Georgetown
College, Georgetown, Ky., where some years later he
established a Seminary for young ladies. It was while
teaching in the Seminary in Georgetown that Miss
Margaret Stanwood met her husband, the Hon. James
G. Blaine, then (1848-1851) an instructor in Greek,
Latin and Geometry in the Military Institute in that
place. In 1865 Waterville College conferred upon
Professor Farnam the degree of LL.D. In 1887, on
account of increasing deafness, Dr. Farnam resigned
his professorship in Georgetown College, but was
made Professor Emeritus. He enjoyed perfect health
30
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
up to the day of his death, which occurred July 10,
1890, in Louisville, Ky., at the home of his daughter,
Mrs. J. M. Atherton, at the ripe age of eighty-two
years.
Children :
i. Mary, born March 25, 1840, married February 16, 1861, Dr.
T. B. Sellen. He was born April 10, 1830, and died January 1,
1876.
ii. Maria B., born August 22, 1842, married October 24, 1861, John
M. Atherton. He was born April 1, 1841, in New Haven, Ky.
iii. Susan F., born September 17, 1844, married June 13, 1871,
Louis G. Crawford. He was born December 27, 1843, in
Mercer, Ga.
IV. Anne Judson Butler was born in Hanover,
Mass., April 1, 1816. She attended her father's school
at Winthrop and North Yarmouth, Me., and especially
excelled as pupil and teacher in painting. Tradition
has it that revenue from the painting of miniatures on
ivory, fashionable in those days, enabled her to provide
her own wedding wardrobe and silver. On August
20, 1837, at the age of twenty-one, she was married
at North Yarmouth, Me., to Phinehas Barnes. The
occasion was a double wedding for herself and her
sister Esteria, which had to be set forward a day on
account of delay in the stage coach which brought
Professor Farnam. Her father performed the cere-
mony. Sixteen years of her married life, from 1856
to the death of her husband in 1871, were spent in
their house, now standing, at 63 High Street, Portland.
In 1872 she purchased a house at Cumberland Mills,
Me., where her son Wilfred was then with the Cumber-
land Paper Mills, and there resided until her death,
March 7, 1883, at the age of sixty-seven years. She
was a woman of beauty, culture and refinement,
domestic in her tastes, a devoted wife and mother,
and a consistent, life-long Christian. Her church
relations were long with the Free Street Baptist Church
of Portland.
31
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Phinehas Barnes was born January 21, 1811, at
Orland, Me., and died August 21, 1871, in Portland,
Me. He was educated at Newburyport, and at
Phillips Andover Academy, whence he went in 1825
to Bowdoin College, and was graduated in 1829.
In that year he taught the Academy in the town of
China, Me., and then went to Portland into Mr.
Coleman's book store, at the same time reading law.
He next went to Brunswick as cashier of the Union
Bank, continuing the study of law. In 1832 he went
to Bangor, and was for a time editor of a newspaper
called the Penobscot Exchange. In 1833 to Water-
ville, first as tutor, afterwards as professor of Greek
and Latin, and was here admitted to the bar in 1840.
From 1841 to 1847 he was editor of the Portland Daily
Advertiser. In 1844-5 and 1847 he was in the State
House of Representatives. He filled the office of City
Solicitor of Portland, was for many years counsel and
solicitor for the Grand Trunk Railway, was one of
the projectors of the Portland Savings Bank in 1852,
and one of the organizers of the Maine General Hospi-
tal. He served upon the school committee and in many
fiduciary capacities.
In politics Mr. Barnes was a Conservative, and a
Whig. In 1846, in Neal Dow times, he was State
Senator. In 1860 he was candidate for Governor in
the interest of the Bell and Everett ticket. His death
from a cancerous tumor occurred August 21, 1871,
in the prime of his sixty years.
" Mr. Barnes was not only a finished and ripe scholar
but a lawyer of profound reading, and had a very
keen, discriminating and judicial mind." Hon. Nathan
Webb pronounced him "the profoundest scholar in
law, as well as in belles lettres, in his time at the Cum-
berland bar."
A colleague in the law said of him: "His learning,
ability and integrity as a lawyer have added lustre to
32
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
the history of the Cumberland bar — his public spirit,
sagacity and efficiency have filled an honorable niche
in the monument of our city's growth and prosperity
— and his broad culture, varied accomplishments and
private virtues have endeared his memory far and
wide as a friend of every good cause and an earnest
advocate of society's highest interests."
Children :
i. Clara, born May 12, 1838, died August 9, 1886. Married
September 22, 1863, A. C. Martin, who was born October 26,
1831, and died October 29, 1879.
ii. Francis, born April 27, 1840, died July 16, 1893. Married May
19, 1863, Isa Putnam, who was born March 31, 1838.
iii. Phinehas, born January 10, 1842, died May 29, 1904. Married
December 25, 1872, Fannie Woods, who was born April 3,
1849, and died March 15, 1889.
iv. Adela, born October 19, 1845, married May 7, 1890, Waller
Ware, who was born June 30, 1839.
v. Wilfred, born September 17, 1849, married July 9, 1878, Maria
Whiton.
vi. Cecil, born August 4, 1852, died March 19, 1880. Married
June 19, 1879, Annie Larrabee.
vii. Margaret, born October 7, 1854, died December 16, 1893.
Married June 25, 1879, Lincoln A. Rogers, who was born
April 22, 1852.
V. Abigail Butler was born at Hanover, Mass.,
June 24, 1817. Her education was received mainly
at her father's school at East Winthrop, Maine. She
was twice married, first on July 14, 1841, to John S.
Gibson, and second July 12, 1847, to Dr. George
W. Nuckols, a physician of Shelbyville, Ky. She died
at her home in Shelbyville, Ky., August 17, 1854, at
the age of thirty-seven, twelve days after the birth
of her youngest child.
Dr. Nuckols, who was twenty-seven years her senior,
was born December 12, 1790, and died April 6, 1804.
33
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
Children of Abigail Butler and John S. Gibson:
i. John B., was born September 3, 1845, and married April 31,
1867, Lydia Murphy. She was born February 9, 1848, and
died February 19, 1877.
ii. Margaret Stuart Gibson, died.
Children of Abigail and George W. Nuckols.
iii. George, was born May 7, 1848, and married Katherine E.
Randolph,
iv. Anna P., was born January 17, 1850, and married June 5, 1866,
George Helm Hobbs. He was born October 6, 1843.
v. Robert, was born January 7, 1852, and married February 27,
1872, Lydia Viley. She was born December 15, 1853.
vi. Sally, was born February 27, 1853, and died October 17, 1854.
vii. Charles, was born August 5, 1854, and died October 17, 1854.
VI. Sarah Butler was born in Hanover, Mass.,
December 11, 1818. When about twenty years of
age she went from Hallowell, Me., to Georgetown,
Ky., to visit her sister, Esteria Farnam. While there
she met a young Ohio merchant, who came over to
Kentucky to attend a barbecue given in honor of
Henry Clay. As a result of that meeting she was
married November 22, 1842, to Francis Jefferson
Tytus, and came with him to his home in Middletown,
Ohio. Mr. Tytus had by a former wife one son,
Frank, who died June, 1852.
She was an able, loving and careful wife, a kind,
judicious and tender mother, whose "children rise
up and call her blessed." She presided over her
husband's home with grace and dignity, and was, as
he always called her, "his business partner." She
was her children's wise counsellor and helper in their
preparation for college, and also for business, and an
example to her daughters in motherhood and Christian
character. She died December 18, 1895, seventy-
seven years of age.
Francis Jefferson Tytus was born in Winchester,
Loudon County, Virginia, February 5, 1806. He
came to Ohio when about eighteen years of age and
34
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
went into the dry goods business in Middletown. He
united with the Baptist Church in 1826. He was
a man of large affairs. In his early years he was
engaged extensively in the pork packing business,
which at that time was very lucrative. He was presi-
dent of two paper mills, also a stockholder in two
others, and, in its early days, in the First National
Bank in Middletown. Upon his farm of five hundred
acres he was his own manager, and built a substantial
Southern home, into which he moved his family in 1849.
Mr. Tytus was preeminently a man of peace. He
was proud of never having had a lawsuit or a failure
in business. He always had enough money to be
comfortable without display, and to give to those who
were in need. His prayer was "Give me neither
poverty nor riches" and it certainly was answered
throughout his life.
He was an active and liberal supporter of the church
and other educational institutions; greatly loved and
honored by his own denomination and his fellow
citizens, both rich and poor.
He died December 9, 1887, within two months of
his eighty-first birthday.
To Francis and Sarah Tytus, parents such as are
given to but comparatively few mortals, five children
were born ; two sons and two daughters lived to be mar-
ried and were blessed with nine sons, one daughter, two
granddaughters and one grandson. There are now
living in 1907 only the two daughters, their husbands,
three sons, one daughter, and one granddaughter
and three sons of the two brothers who died, and one
granddaughter.
Children:
i. Emma J., was born March 8, 1844, and married February 24,
1869, Cleophas Monjeau. He was born August 20, 1839.
ii. Edward J., was born August 22, 1845, and died May 19, 1881.
He married June 25, 1876, Charlotte M. Davis.
35
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
iii. Lizzie P., was born March 1, 1847, and died June 17, 1893. She
married December 6, 1870, Collin Gardner,
iv. John B., was born February 22, 1849, and died November 17,
1893. He married June 18, 1876, Minnesota Ewing.
v. Charles, was born 1851, and died aged eleven months.
VII. Charles Butler, second son, was born in
Hanover, Mass., May 21, 1820. When his father
removed from his pastorate at East Winthrop to that
in North Yarmouth, about 1832, tradition has it that
this boy of twelve began life on a farm, known as the
Kibbe Blake Farm, in the edge of Monmouth, near
the foot of Annabescook Lake, south of Winthrop
Village. This farm was one of his Meccas when
visiting the East in later years. At seventeen he was
supporting himself, and helping others, by teaching
school.
In 1843, at the age of twenty-three he went to Ohio,
which then was the Far West. After living one year
in Middletown, he moved to Franklin, where, February
6, 1845, he was married to Miss Mary Barkalow
Schenck, who was born September 9, 1825, in a log
cabin built by her father, J. N. C. Schenck, one of
the founders of the town, and was the great-great-
granddaughter on her father's side of Catharine Van
Brough (married 1719),* the photo of whose portrait,
nearly two centuries old, is here reproduced with that
of Mary Schenck Butler.
During a large part of his long residence of sixty
years in Franklin he, was identified with the business
interests of the town as one of its foremost merchants.
His business of general hardjarare stood second to none
in the Miami Valley outside of Cincinnati, and con-
tributed to the reputation of his town as a wholesale
and retail market. The1 organization of a National
Bank in Franklin was lately due to Jiis efforts, and
he became its first president.
Charles Butler was not only prominent in business,
36
DR. GEORGE W. NUCKOLS j3>
From Miniatoke Painted by Esteria (Butler) Fabnam, abotji 1S40
ABIGAIL (BUTLER) (GIBSON) NUCKOLS, 1817-1854
DR. GEORGE W. NTUCKOLS, 1790-1864
.....
-■Mr
2
JHt>.
SARAH (Bl TLER) TYTUS, 1818-1895
U B L J C
FRANCIS JEFFERSON TYTUS, 1806-1887
CHARLES BUTLER, 1820-1904
MARY (SCHENCK) BUTLER
Born 1835
CATHERINE VAN BROTGH
Great-Great-Great-Grandmother of Mary (Schenck) Butlep
HANNAH (HITLER) MIDGET T
A not r 1S(>!)
EDWARD P. WESTON, 1819-1879
HANNAH HEARD (BUTLER) (MUDGETT) WESTON, 1823-1904
REV. NATHANIEL BUTLER, 1824-1894
JENNETTE (EMERY) BUTLER, 1K^8-1902
MARIA (BUTLER) MUDGETT, 1830-1884
ALFRED MUDGETT, 1816-1863
MARIA (BUTLER) MUDGETT
About 1880
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
but, believing firmly that the best moral, social and
business life of a community, as of an individual,
can be attained only as that community carries out
the precepts of the Man of Galilee, he gave of his best
in time, talents and money to the work of bringing
home the gospel to the hearts of men, never doubting
its efficacy in other lives as he trusted it daily in his
own. Bringing his "letter" first to the Middletown
Baptist Church, and later, in 1846, to the Church in
Franklin, three years after its organization, he became
a leader in the councils of the denomination to which
he belonged, and a helper in all Christian efforts,
filling in successive years every office of trust and honor
in the gift of his brethren, except the ministry itself.
He organized the Franklin Baptist Sunday School,
and was made its first superintendent. In 1865 he
was moderator of the Miami Baptist Association, and
for five successive years was clerk of that body. He
took active interest in the Baptist State Conventions,
in the National May Anniversaries, and in the great
work of Missions, where his zeal is well remembered
by many of the older ministers and laymen in Ohio
and other States.
During the Civil War he was in the service of the
Sanitary Commission, engaged in camp and hospital
in the work of that organization. He visited Wash-
ington in 1862 to urge personally upon the Secretary
of War the claims of the Commission as to its Western
work.
Kindly and affectionate in his family life, helpful to
all, he was in his later invalid years surrounded by
loving service to the close, July 6, 1904, of a happy
wedded life of fifty-nine years.
Children:
i. Charles A., born August 24, 1846.
ii. John S., born May 24, 1848, married December 28, 1870, Anna
Wilson.
37
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
iii. A. Judson, born February 1, 1850.
iv. Sarah T., born December 10, 1851, married December 13, 1900,
Rev. John E. Morris,
v. Mary B., born June 13, 1859, married October 12, 1882, Edwin
S. Eldridge.
vi. William T., born November 6, 1868, married May 16, 1893,
Margarette Philbrick.
VIII. Elizabeth Lewis Butler was born October
17, 1821, in Hanover, Mass. Like several of her
sisters she was devoted to drawing and painting in oil
and also to crayon drawing, which came to be in vogue
in her time, and of which she was for many years a
very successful teacher, in Hallowell and Augusta,
Me., Georgetown, Ky., and Middletown, Ohio. Her
canvasses for crayon work were made in quantity of
different sizes at the home of her sister Almira at
Winthrop, Me. The cotton cloth, which came bleached
and sized in large rolls, was stretched and tacked
upon frames made at the village factory, covered
with several coats of lead paint, yellow tint, from
Bailey's oil cloth factory, with fresh paint sifted over with
white marble powder ground in an old hand paint
mill in the chamber over the carriage house at the
farm, whence they were shipped West and South to
herself and her students for use of their classes.
Elizabeth Butler married, July 7, 1852, George H.
Nason, son of Mark Nason of Fayette, Me., formerly
of Augusta, their acquaintance having been formed
in Hallowell, and a few years later they moved to Mid-
dletown, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their days.
For many years Mrs. Nason kept in Middletown a
popular boarding school with several teachers (her
sister Hannah among them) and large classes.
One child was born to them which died in infancy.
After her death, December 10, 1890, her husband
made his home with her widowed sister, Sarah Tytus,
until his death, which occurred March 29, 1896. Both
are buried at Franklin, Ohio.
38
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
IX. Hannah Heard Butler was born at Hanover,
Mass., February 28, 1823, and married June 24, 1845,
Charles B. Mudgett, a young merchant of Hallowell,
Me., later in business and living at Auburn, Me., until
1855. In that year they moved West, settling in Peoria,
111., where Mr. Mudgett engaged again in business, his
being the largest dry goods firm in the city at that time.
He died February 27, 1860, at the early age of thirty-
five, and his remains were taken for burial from Peoria
to Franklin, Ohio.
Mrs. Mudgett remained in Ohio, making her home
with her invalid sister, Mrs. Sarah B. Tytus, at Middle-
town, to whom she was able to be a great comfort.
Several years later she, together with her widowed
sister, Maria Mudgett, bought a double house in
Middletown, where she lived until her second marriage
with Prof. Edward P. Weston, March 27, 1869. Pro-
fessor Weston at that time had opened at Lake Forrest
a school for young ladies known as "Ferry Hall,"
now Ferry Hall University. He was born January 19,
1819, and died November 13, 1879. During the later
years of Mrs. Weston's life she made her home with
her daughter Anna in Chicago, where she died February
21, 1904, at the ripe age of eighty-one years. She was
known all her life as a most devoted Christian, loving
and self-sacrificing wife and mother. She was beloved
by all who knew her, and her influence for good always
made itself felt, especially in the school life of the
young ladies at Lake Forrest. One daughter survives
her, Mrs. Annie Skillman, South Haven, Michigan,
five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She
is buried at Franklin, Ohio.
Children of Hannah Heard (B idler) and Charles B. Mtidgett:
i. Jane, was born at Hallowell, Me., October 12, 1846 and died
May 1, 1873. She married October 12, 1863, Calvin Lines,
who was born June 20, 1833, and died October 12, 1905.
ii. Annie, was born at Hallowell, Me., May 2, 1848. She married
39
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
(1), January 29, 1871, John Skillman, who died April 7, 1873.
(2), December 19, 1882, Edward Raseley.
iii. Mary S., was born at Auburn, Me., October 5, 1852, and died
May 1895. She married (l) May 3, 1876, M. W. Thompson,
who died November, 1879. (2). C. E. Brainard, 1892. She
was lost on the Steamer Colima near Guyutlan, southwest of
Manzanillo, Mexico, May 27, 1895. Out of two hundred and
twenty-five passengers and crew only twenty-one fives were
saved.
X. Nathaniel Butler was born in Waterville,
Me., October 19, 1824. He fitted for college at Yar-
mouth Academy. His first three college years were
spent at Georgetown College, Kentucky, his last at
Waterville (now Colby) College, Waterville, Me.,
where he was graduated in 1842. He was ordained
pastor of the Baptist Church at Turner, Me., October
28, 1845. He married December 19, 1849, Jennette
Loring Emery of Paris, Me. In 1850 he was appointed
agent for the American Baptist Missionary Union for
Maine and Eastern Massachusetts. Of his settlement
at Eastport, Me., 1852-1855, it is recorded:
"This pastorate is without a parallel in the history of the church for
large ingatherings. In the first five months of 1853, 'more than two
hundred persons were hopefully converted, one hundred and fifteen of
these united with the Baptist Church.' Mr. Butler retired from the
pastorate in 1855, to become secretary to the Baptist Publishing Society,
Philadelphia. The action of the church in reference to his resignation
fills three pages of the church records. The expressions of affection and
grief were many and fervent. The separation was most keenly felt, and
the church does not seem to have recovered from the effects of it for some
time."
His next pastorate, January 5, 1856 to October 5,
1859, was at Rockland, Me. In 1860 he became
pastor at Auburn, Me. In 1865 at Camden, Me. In
1869 at Alton, 111. In 1872 at Leavenworth, Kan.
In 1873-6 over the Second Baptist Church, Bangor,
Me. Then followed short pastorates at Dexter, North
Vassalboro and Hallowell, Me. In 1881 he became
40
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
associated with the Bodwell Granite Company, Mr.
Bodwell being a Hallowell parishioner and an ardent
personal friend. During Lincoln's first term, 1861-
1865, he was private secretary to Hannibal Hamlin,
Vice-President of the United States, who was his
brother-in-law. He was a member of the Maine
Legislature in 1880. For many years after 1865 he
was a trustee of Colby College, and from that college
received in 1873 the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
He was the author of several hymns, one of which
appears in the volume entitled "Baptist Hymn- writers
and Their Hymns," and is here reproduced.
HYMN.
How sweet, when worn with cares of life,
From all its busy scenes to flee;
To leave awhile its toil and strife,
And hold communion, Lord, with thee.
When the tired spirit seeks its rest,
'Tis there a sure repose I meet;
"lis there my weary soul is blest,
Kneeling before Thy mercy-seat.
When sin o'ercasts with clouds my sky,
And Jesus hides His face from me,
Then to Thy mercy-seat I fly,
And bow in humble prayer to Thee.
There all the clouds of earth depart,
And heaven itself I almost see;
The Savior whispers to my heart
And shows His smiling face to me.
*&
There Jesus' voice of love I hear;
There glory sheds its light around,
Eye never looked on things so fair;
Earth never heard so sweet a sound.
Thou Lamb of God ! O, let me dwell
Forever at Thy sacred feet,
To hear the voice I love so well,
And ne'er forsake the mercy-seat.
41
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
His most notable public addresses were his memorial
sermon at the funeral of his college classmate and
intimate friend, Major-General Hiram G. Berry, at
Rockland, Me. ; his speech at the unveiling of the statue
of General Berry; and an address in memory of Rev.
Nathaniel Milton Wood, a close neighbor and associate
in the Baptist ministry. He died in Burlington, Wis.,
April 25, 1894.
Jennette Loring Emery was the oldest daughter of
the late Judge Stephen Emery and his second wife,
Jennette Loring. She was born May 16, 1828, at
Paris Hill, Me., which was her home until her marriage
with Nathaniel Butler in 1849. She attended school
in Gorham and studied music in Portland. Like all
the members of her family she was passionately fond
of music. She found pleasure also in the best reading,
and was possessed of a keen sense of humor. She
"was an ideal pastor's wife. . . of a quiet, modest and
refined disposition, and of a singularly winning char-
acter, which won hosts of friends wherever she went."
During the last twenty years of her life she was a
confirmed invalid, and died in Augusta, Me., September
18, 1902. She had two sisters, Sarah Jane and Ellen
Vesta, both of whom were married to Hon. Hannibal
Hamlin, Mrs. Ellen Hamlin now surviving.
Children:
i. Jeannie, born October 31, 1850, and died March 15, 1891. She
married, January 21, 1874, George Wood, who was born July
31, 1846, and died March 3, 1899.
ii. Nathaniel, born May 22, 1853. He married (l) April 28, 1881,
Florence Shepard, who was born July 9, 1861, and died June
21, 1902. (2). December 12, 1903, Lillian Googins, who was
born December 3, 1876.
iii. Ellen, born October 22, 1860.
iv. Anna, born August 24, 1862. She married, December 16, 1896,
Sidney S. Emery, who was born May 5, 1871, in Maiden, Mass.
XL Jane Payne Butler was born March 18,
42
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
1826, in Winthrop, Me. She died January 8, 1843,
in Hallowell, Me., and was buried at East Winthrop,
Me. Of Jane and her baby sister, Sophia, the follow-
ing entry is found in their father's diary :
"I write this note in February, 1851. We have
buried two children, Sophia, died when about three
months old, Jane died when about seventeen years old.
She was a professor of religion, and died with a calm
and humble confidence in the blessed Saviour of
sinners. We have now twelve children living. They
all profess to have a hope in the pardoning mercy of
God. The oldest is thirty-eight years old, and the
youngest is twenty years. They are all married but
two. I baptized all my children except Sophia, who
died in infancy, and John, and Almira."
XII. Mary Simons was born July 5, 1828, in
Winthrop, Me. She attended Hallowell High School
when taught by Rev. Jonas Burnham. She married,
July 14, 1847, Logan T. Threlkeld of Shelbyville,
Ky., who was born September 9, 1814. She died
August 22, 1860, in Shelbyville.
Children:
i. Thomas B., was born October 19, 1848, and married December
24, 1885, Annette Taylor.
ii. William L., was born April 8, 1850, and married June 29, 1876,
Frances Bassett, who was born May 30, 1856.
iii. Annie B., who died,
iv. Minnie B., was born June 29, 1856. She married December 5,
1878, Nelson H. Trimble, who was born November 29, 1852.
v. George Nuckols, was born October 19, 1859, in Shelbyville,
Ky., and died January 1, 1887, at Lexington, Ky.
XIII. Sophia B. was born July 8, 1830, at East Win-
throp, Me. She died October 3, 1830, and was buried
there by the side of her older sister Jane.
XIV. Maria Sophia, youngest of the fourteen
43
FAMILY OF REV. JOHN BUTLER
children, and the twin sister of Sophia, was born at East
Winthrop, Me., July 8, 1830, and died in Middletown,
Ohio, December 8, 1884. She attended the Hallo well
High School, then taught by William H. Seavey, after-
wards a teacher in Boston. She is described by Miss
Sarah Elizabeth Page, an old schoolmate still living in
Hallowell, as "a tall, slender girl with fair, oval face,
light brown hair, sweet mouth and eyes, with bright
color on cheek and lip. She, like her older sisters, had
a great love for painting, particularly flowers in water
colors." She removed with her parents to Auburn, Me.,
and from there soon went West, where she was mar-
ried, November 23, 1858, to Alfred Mudgett, brother
of Charles Mudgett, husband of her older sister
Hannah. He was born December 4, 1816, and died
May 16, 1863, and was engaged in the flour milling
business in Seymour, Ind.
Children:
i. Alfred B., was born September 9, 1859, and married Charlotte
Phillips.
44
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