Thomas Butler

The subject of this sketch was born February 1, 1825, near the great manufacturing City of Birmingham, England, and was the thirteenth child of Joseph and Fanny (Garrington) Butler. There was one child younger, and of the fourteen but three are now living. The family was in good circumstances and the children were well reared, receiving a good education and being practically fitted for life. The father dying, a portion of the family emigrated to America, landing in Boston, June 29, 1844. Thomas very soon came to Chester county, Pennsylvania, to meet an older brother, William, who had come to America before him, and whom he supposed to be there engaged in a rolling-mill. Upon arriving he found, however, that he had left. Although disappointed he went to work in the mill, getting $100 bonus, and remained there three months. He then went to Troy, New York, where he worked at puddling for the famous iron firm of Henry Burden & Co. While there, in 1846, he sent to England for a young lady, a neighbor, whom he had known all of his life and to whom he was affianced. He met this young lady, Miss Elizabeth Darby, in New York, and was married to her in Troy, July 18, 1846, the ceremony being performed at St. Paul's Episcopal church, by the Rev. Dr. Van Kleeck. After his marriage he moved to Boston, and while at work there was hired with others by the Brady's Bend Iron Company, and upon March 18, 1847, arrived at their works, which were the third in the United States to torn out T rails. Mr. Butler was a thoroughly skilled workman, as good as the best in the country, and he very soon quit puddling and took a contract for running four heating furnaces. This was a responsible and a remunerative position, and although a very young man he filled it to the entire satisfaction of the mill owners, and held it continuously from 1847 to 1872. While prospering financially, he was, however, destined to suffer a great domestic sorrow, for his young wife died September 12, 1847, and was followed to the grave only a week later by her infant child. He married as his second wife Miss Martha Wassell, who like himself was a native of England and had come to America at the same time, though upon another ship. They were united in wedlock April 22, 1849. A short time before this marriage Mr. Butler, seeking a safe investment for the little money he earned by his industry and economically saved, bought the farm where he now lives in Brady's Bend township. He built a house upon this farm and improved the property by degrees, but did not go there to permanently reside until 1875. In 1879 this farm was found to be rich in petroleum, and Mr. Butler leased it in parcels to H. L. Taylor & Co. and other operators, receiving certain proportions of the production as royalties. The land which he had secured by the proceeds of his labor thus gave him an independency, which he now enjoys in well earned ease and contentment. Mr. Butler is a fine example of what a man may make himself by earnest well-directed endeavor and by habits of thrift and providence. His energies were by no means monopolized by his arduous labor, but he sought by every means at hand to advance in knowledge, and became a great reader of the best works of classical and current literature. He has taken a deep interest in public affairs and measures for the general good, and is known as a man of practical benevolence and an active, useful citizen. His reputation is an enviable one and his character one worthy of emulation for those who like himself have made the start in life with no capital but honesty and industry. In politics be is a strong republican, and in religious life a firm adherent of the Episcopal church. He is a member of Kittanning Lodge, No. 244, F. and A. M., and stands high in the fraternity in this county.

Mr. Butler has one son, William, surviving of the two born of his second marriage. The other son, Horace Mann, of most estimable character, was killed September 30, 1875, by an explosion of glycerine which by some accident bad been left in the pipe of a torpedo-case which had been sent as junk to the ironmill where he was working in Pittsburgh.

Source: Page(s) 607-608, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 2000 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.

Return to the Biographical Index

Return to the Smith Project