Butler - James D.
JAMES D. BUTLER
Source: Biographical Encyclopaedia of Vermont of the 19th Century. Boston: Metropolitan Pub, 1885 p 315
Butler, James Davie, Professor in the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Born in Rutland, Vermont March 15, 1815. The first historic American ancestor of that branch of the family to which Professor Butler belongs was named Stephen. The Boston Record Commissioners in their "Second Report," p 94 states that he was exempted from the payment of city taxes in that metropolis in 1648, on condition of his building a road. Stephen Butler's mother had been a resident of the town of Boston for 13 or more years. James Butler, son of Stephen, was born the 2d of August 1665; his son, James Butler 2nd was born Aug 21, 1688. James Butler third, son of the second of that name was born Dec 4, 1713; his son, James Butler fourth Feb 15, 1739 and his grandson, James Butler 5th on Oct 5, 1765. All of them were natives of Boston. James David Butler 5th settled at Rutland Vermont in 1787 and was a resident of that town until his death in 1842. His business was chiefly mercantile but included allied affairs. In 1802 he married Rachel, daughter of Israel Harris who was one of Ethan Allen's compatriots in the capture of Ticonderoga. Mr. Harris held the rank of Captain in the battle of Bennington and throughout the whole of the campaign that ended in the surrender of Burgoyne. The proximate origin of the Harris family was in the Vermont Legislature of 1812-1813. He was noted among his friends as a man of profound religious sense and character and also as a companion of infitie wit, humor and piquant anecdote. James David, son of James Davie and Rachel Harris Butler, entered the military school at Rutland when only 10 years of age. Undersized and attenuate, he was deemed consumptive, and on that account excused from hard work and study. In 1829 he obtained 8 months' experience of the hardware trade as a boy in a Boston store. Study rather than commercial activity being congenial to taste and aptitutde, he returned home and began the acquisition of the Latin language in a a private school. In the course of the following year preparation for college was completed at the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass. Matriculating at Middlebury College in 1832 he graduated from it in 1836. Among his classmates were William Slade, since then US Consul at Nice; WD Griswold, president of vairous Western railroad companies and L.S. Lovell, late Circuit Judge in Michigan. The Latin Salutatory fell to his lot in the Commencement exercises. He also delivered an oration on Homer, "Poetical Merit of the Iliand," which was published in 1837 in the February number of the American Quarterly Register at Boston. Subsequent to his graduation Mr. Butler spent a year in miscellaneous studies as a resident graduate at Yale College, New Haven, Conn. Then he was elected one of the tutors at Middlebury and served in that capacity for 5 collegiate terms. Next he entered Andover as a theological student, passed through the Theological Seminary and graduatedin 1849. At the latter epoch he delivered an address on "Chrysotom as a Preacher," and on the day previous to receiving his degree discoursed on the "golden-mouthed father" as a scholar and man. These productions somewhat modified were Sacra in 1844. Before the close of his Andoverian curriculum Mr. Butler was invited to become the "Abbott Resident, " or in other words, to reside at the Seminary for some years and to prosecute such studies as he pleased; board and all incidental expenses to be paid out of the proceeds of an endowment fund established by a Mr. Abbott. The invitation was accepted. He remained in Andover until June 1842 when in company with Professor Edward A. Park, he embarked at NY in a German sailing-packed bound for Hamburg. Mr. Butler arrived in Hamburg soon after its devastation by a memorable fire. Railroads were few and slow at that period. Observation of city and country was leisurely and philosophic. He rmabled through Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland; and thence passed on to the cities of Paris, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, in each of which he remained so long, making each the departing point of many excursions, that he did not arrive in America until December 1843. After his return to his native country Mr. Butler temporarily supplied the pulpit of several churches and among other that of the Congregationalists at Burlington for six months. In 1845 he became Professor of Ancient Languages at Norwich University, Vermont. Among the members of his classes who afterward rose to distinction were Chief Justice L.S. Dixon of Wisconsin, and several cadets who were prominent in the war for the preservation of the Union. Two years of educational toil prepared Prof. Butler for the acceptance of a call to the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Wells River. In 1851 he accepted a similar call to the charge of the Congregational Church at Danvers (Peabody), Mass. In 1852 he settled over the FIrst Congregational Church in Cincinnati. Ther ehe did much toward the liberation of the society from an incubus of debt. The prospect of ministerial usefulness was promising but the failing health of Mrs. Butler obliged him to relinquish the duties of the pastorate. As a preacher, however, he has never ceased to hold forth the word of life. Returning to educational pursuits, Professor Butler occupied the chair of Greek Language and Literature in Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana from January 1858 to the close of the college year in 1858. While thus engaged he succeeded in doubling the interest of the students in the classical languages and also by means of lectures abroad, in making the college itself more familiar to the citizens of the State. In the 9 years following the close of his labors at Crawfordsville, he was Prof of Greek and Latin Languages in the University of WIsconsin, Madison. The great Rebellion occurred within that period. The institution had been remarkable prosperous. But most of the students patriotically enlisted for the salvation o fperilled nationality and free government. The gaps thus made in the list were filled in part by adopting the system of coeducation of the sexes - an experiment that has been followed by gratifying results, and been widely imitated. In July 1867, Prof. Butler paid a second visit to the Old World. Landing at Liverpool on the 25th anniversary of his first arrival, he visited St. Petersburg, Moscow, Constantinople, Jerusalem and all the more western capitals; ascended the Nile to the first cataract, spent 5 weeks at the World's Fair in Paris, and reache dhome again at the end of 15 months. Soon after the completion of the first transcontinental rr in 1869 he journeyed over it to the Pacific slope with General Alvord of the regular army and paused at all the principal points of interest along the route. Embarking in a sailing ship for Honolulu he explored Oahu, made the voyage between that island and Hilo in a schooner, ascended the volcanic Kilauea, descended into its crater and returned to California by steamer. In later years, while maintaining a nominal residence at Madison, Prof. Butler has indulged his love of travel by numerous journeys and among these by one of notable character before the railroad era to the Canadian province of Manitoba in 1872 and another to old Mexico. Study, writing and occasional preaching have filled up the intervals with unremitting labor. In 1878 he undertook a third tour in Europe, spent the winter in Italy and travelled extensively in company with his daughter. In most or all of these travels he has been the correspondent of many influential papers. His services in this capacity have been in constant demand. The New York Observer, Chicago TImes and Journal, Boston Watchman and Reflector, Cincinnati Herald and Presbyter, besides the local Wisconsin journal have been enriched by contributions from his pen. As an author and litterateur, Prof. Butler holds a position of acknowledged eminence in the American department of the great Republic of Letters. His prose and poetical compositions are held in high repute. Many of his fugitive poems atracted much and favorable attention at the dates of publication. The list of his published works includes two "Annual Addresses" delivered before the Vermont Historical Society in 1846 and 1848 - the first publications of that society. The second of these addresses was a monograph on the "Battle of Bennington." Then follows an Address at the Semi-Centennial of Middlebury College; a "Sermon" delivered at Norwich, Vermont on the 22nd of Feb 1848 at the funeral of Col. T.B. Ransom who was killed in the battle of Chapultepec; a "Farewell Discourse," at DEanvers, Mass in 1852; "Incentives to Mental Culture among Teachers," at Troy NY in 1853. Among his papers published by the Academy and State Historical Society of Wisconsin are, "First French Footprints in the Northwest," The anal heyouevra (?) in Shakespeare," and "Pre-Historical Wisconsin.." the subject of the annual address before that body in 1876. Scenes in the Life of Christ was published in Chicago in 1866; Centenary Oration of Rutland in 1870; Nebraska, its Characteristics and prospects in 1873; Essay on the Naming of America, read before the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1873; A defence of classical studies, an address before the National Teachers Association met in Detroit, Michigan 1874; "Catalogue of Coins and Medals, " Madison, Wisconsin 1874; "A September Scamper," Burlington Iowa 1877 and "Shakespeare as a Cicerone in Foreign Travel," Madison 1881. During two summers passed at Hartford, Connecticut, Prof. Butler wrote the large part of "Armsmear" a splendid memorial volume of 400 pages printed for private circulation but not published, concering Col. Samuel Colt, inventor and manufacturer of the celebrated Colt's revolver. Among the professor's more recent contributions to the Bibliotheca Sacra are "Governmental Patronage of Knowledge; American Pre-Revolutionary Bibliography; Mediaeval German Schools; The Scool Life of Walfried Strabo", etc. Other of his articles have appeared in Lippincott's Magazine, the NY Nation, etc. As a popular lecturer, Professor Butler's reputation is commensurate with his fame as author. He has delivered many addresses before literary socieites belonging to his Alma Mater and other colleges. Immediately after his first European tour he wrote and delivered lectures on Naples and its Neighborhood; St. Peter's at Rome; its Architecture and Ceremonies; Roman Ruins; Rambles in Pompeii; What I saw in the Alps and on German Life. He has delivered upward of 600 lectures, principally in the West and has addressed popular audiences in every northern state. Of the address to the American Institute of Instruction held in Troy NY on "Incentives to Mental Culture among Teachers, 5000 copies were printed by the Institute for gratuitous distribution. He received the degree of LLD from his Alma Mater in 1863. Among Prof. Butler's educational lectures, th eone on "Commonplace Books Not Commonplace," has been the most poular and has been called for no less than 120 times. In this discourse he inculcates what he himself has practiced for 50 years. His own "Commonplace Book begun so long ago and "hiving wisdom with each studious year," is not thicker than "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary." More of its pages are crowded than those that are blank or partially filled. One special feature of this work is that of arranging the matter under the title that first occurs to the owner, inasmuch as that is most likely to be recollected. When newer and more appropriate titles are suggested, they are written down alphabetically, with cross-references to the matter already accumulated. In this way the owner can always lay hold on his knowledges whenever wanted. His acquisitions, like life-boats, have handles on each side, and all over their surfaces. Prof. Butler is preparing a full exposition of his method of commonplacing for the press, together with the proofs of its advantages. He has also in hand a monograph on the portraits of Columbus. This is a virgin field of research. The books we first read are thos which frequently exercise the most powerful influence upon after-life. When quite young, Prof. Butler delighted in the pages of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," the sole copy in his native town. His curiosity received universal expansion. His subsequent inquiries have been pancyclopedic. And yet he has favorite subjects of study. Philogy is his specialty. The Greek language is preemiently attractive. He early bought all the Greek authors he could find in Germany. But among its choicest literature the New Testament is the most highly prized; partly as the best mode of making its vocabulary familiar as household words, and as the best aid in double translation. James Davie Butler was married on the 21st of April 1845 to Anna, fourth daughter of Joshua Bates, DD, president of Middlebury College. Six children of whom four are now living were the fruit of their union. One of the two sons, named Henry Sigourney, graduated at Harvard in 1877, studied in the Law School of that Univeristy, travelled abroad for two years and is now practising (sic) law at Madison. The other, James Butler VII and James David Butler 3rd, is engaged in railroad affairs and is a resident of Marshalltown, Iowa. -- typed by kbz
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Note: In 1875, while lecturing in a little Wisconsin village, Prof. Butler fell in witha hoard of copper iplements in the hands of a local collector, which he induced the State Historical Society to purchase. As head of the Archaeological Committee in that Society, he soon added many specimens to these tools of unalloyed metal; a treasure which turns out almost unique - a missing link, according to John Lubbock, in the annals of Eureopean development. These copper finds, heliotyped to illustrate the Professor's "Pre-Historic Wisconsin," are more numerous, various and perfect than any known elsewhere and have brought him into correspondence with archaelogists all over the world.