Thomas H. Butler

Thomas Harvey Butler Sr. (October 13, 1819 – May 20, 1889) was an American politician, soldier, attorney, and engineer.

Thomas H. Butler
Secretary of State of Tennessee
In office
1870–1873
GovernorDewitt Clinton Senter
John C. Brown
Preceded byA. J. Fletcher
Succeeded byCharles N. Gibbs
Member of the Tennessee Senate
from the 9th district
In office
1875–1876
Preceded byNewton W. McConnell
Succeeded byJ. A. Trousdale
Personal details
Born(1819-10-13)October 13, 1819
Butler's Landing, Tennessee, US
DiedMay 20, 1889(1889-05-20) (aged 69)
Gainesboro, Tennessee, US
Spouse(s)Mary "Polly" Gore
Sarah Ann Holford
ChildrenMounce Gore Butler

Listed as T.H. Butler in the official Tennessee Blue Book, Thomas Harvey Butler served as the fifteenth Secretary of State for the State of Tennessee from 1870 to 1873 under Governors Dewitt Clinton Senter and John Calvin Brown.[1] From 1875 to 1876 Butler served as the State Senator for the Ninth District in the Tennessee Senate, a member of the 39th General Assembly or Legislature, representing the Counties of Macon, Clay, Smith, Trousdale, Sumner, and Jackson.[2][3] T.H. Butler also raised a future statesman, his son Mounce Gore Butler, a United States Congressman who represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1905 to 1907.[4] In 1910 Secretary Butler was posthumously honored by a later Secretary of State, Hallum Goodloe, by hanging Butler's portrait on the walls of Tennessee's State Capitol.[5]

Soldier

T.H. Butler enlisted in the 25th Tennessee Infantry of the Confederate States Army[6][7] on August 10, 1861 at age 35 in Livingston, Tennessee.[8] Butler was appointed by Gov. Isham Harris to the Commissary Office as a Captain[9] of the 25th Tennessee under Colonel Sidney S. Stanton[10] on September 27, 1861 and was honorably discharged by Gen. George G. Dibrell on March 7, 1862.[11] In his post-military career Captain Butler was known as Colonel Butler,[12] a title of respect given to older Southern gentlemen to honor them for exemplary community leadership or government statesmanship.

Attorney

T.H. Butler practiced law as an attorney based in Gainesboro, Tennessee, as did his son Bowen Butler[13] who also practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee, both of whom are mentioned in Bowen's prestigious biography entry in the book Tennessee, the Volunteer State 1769-1923 which describes T.H. Butler as "an able attorney and one of the foremost men in public affairs of Tennessee. For sixteen years he was retained in the office of Circuit Court Clerk of Jackson County, after which he was made County Clerk, ... later he was appointed United States commissioner."[14] T.H. Butler's impressive service as U.S. Commissioner for the Federal Judiciary spanned approximately a decade from 1877[15] to 1887.[16] A man of many titles, Commissioner Butler also may have been known as Judge Butler when he served as a Justice of the Peace.[17] Two other sons and a son-in-law of T.H. Butler were prominent lawyers as well, W. Bailey Butler,[18] General Mounce Gore Butler, and General George H. Morgan. Generals Butler and Morgan both served as Attorneys General for Tennessee's 5th Judicial Circuit.[19][20]

Engineer

T.H. Butler's work in the field of civil engineering involved road and highway construction, bridge building, and land surveying. In March 1854, "An Act to incorporate the Lafayette, Rome, and Lebanon Turnpike Company" by the Tennessee 30th General Assembly was passed into law in which T.H. Butler was named among "a body politic and corporate to open books and receive stock for the purpose of constructing the Jennings and Line creeks turnpike road [State Route 56] from Gainsboro' by the nearest and most direct route to the Kentucky State line, in the direction of Tompkinsville, Kentucky" and "to bridge Line and Jennings creeks on the line of said road."[21] Years later in March 1860, "An Act to charter the Granville and Martin's Creek Turnpike Company" by the Tennessee 33rd General Assembly was passed into law which appointed T.H. Butler as a Commissioner for the purpose of locating the route upon which the Gainesboro and Defeated Creek Turnpike (State Route 53) would best be built, "to survey the two routes from Gainsboro', by the way of Flynn's Lick, to ... Smith county."[22] In 1870 working with fellow surveyor William Gore,[23] T.H. Butler was instrumental in helping establish a new county in Tennessee, namely Clay County.[24] Butler's engineering skills would eventually aide him in his turnpike and railroad-oversight roles as ex-officio Internal Improvement Commissioner and as a Commissioner of Railroads while serving as Secretary of State.[25][26][27]

Family

T.H. Butler's first wife was Mary "Polly" Gore (1822–1851), a distant relative of U.S. Vice-President Al Gore.[28] According to Susan Butler's family Bible, Thomas and Mary were married July 2, 1844, and "their issue are Mary Ann, William Bailey, Mounce Gore and Sarah Ellenor."[29]

Thomas H. Butler Grave Monument
Thomas H. Butler Grave Monument (Photo by Fay C. Leonard, 2017)

Butler's second wife was Sarah Ann Holford (1834–1900), and they "were married 14 April 1853 and their issue are Lizzie Loucetta, John Franklin, Bowen Butler, George Grundy, Martha Jane, Dixie, Rosa Lee, Thomas Harvey, and James Wash, Sam Stone."[30]

T.H. Butler was born in Clay County (then Jackson County), Tennessee, the son of Colonel Bailey Butler (1779–1842) and Sarah "Sally" Scanland (1789–1828). On July 4, 2003, the Tennessee Historical Commission dedicated an official historical marker in their hometown of Butler's Landing which the Butlers founded.[31] T.H. Butler's pioneer father and their family are honored on one side of the marker, while Butler's Landing and Daniel Boone are honored on the other side of the same marker.[32] Butler died in Gainesboro, Jackson County, Tennessee[33] and is buried there in Gainesboro Cemetery.

References
  1. Tre, Hargett (2015–16). Tennessee Blue Book (PDF). TN Department of State’s Publications Division. p. 595 [PDF p. 22]. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  2. Miller, Charles A. (1890). The Official and Political Manual of the State of Tennessee. Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, Stationers. p. 234. Retrieved 12 December 2017. T.H. Butler.
  3. Black, Diane (2010). Tennessee Senators (PDF). Nashville, TN: Tennessee State Library and Archives. p. 28 [PDF p. 32]. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  4. "BUTLER, Mounce Gore". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  5. "Collection of Portraits". 'The Nashville American' Newspaper. April 6, 1910. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  6. "Soldier Details". National Park Service. U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  7. "Compiled Service Records of Soldiers from Tennessee". Fold3 by Ancestry. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  8. Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee M268, Rolls 224-226. "25th Tennessee Infantry Regiment". TNGenes Genealogy. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  9. Senate Document No. 234 of the U.S. Serial Set, 58th Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1904. pp. 524–525. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  10. White, Robert (1959). Messages of the Governors of Tennessee 1857-1869, Volume 5. Tennessee Historical Commission. p. 702. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. War Department Collection of Records, 1825-1927. Retrieved 3 January 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  12. "Personal". 'Nashville Union and American' Newspaper. 30 June 1872. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  13. Butler, T.H., W.B., and Bowen (December 24, 1885). "Attorneys Ad". 'The Upper Cumberland' Newspaper. Retrieved 3 January 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. Butler, Bowen (1923). Tennessee, the Volunteer State 1769-1923, Vol. IV. S.J. Clarke Publishing. p. 134. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  15. Secretary of the Interior (1878). Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth of September, 1877. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. p. 336. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  16. Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the First Session of the Fifty-First Congress, 1889-'90. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1890. p. 111. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  17. "Hon. Thos. H. Butler. His Death at Gainesboro a Few Days Since". Nashville, TN. 'The Daily American' Newspaper. May 22, 1889. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  18. "IN PUTNAM COUNTY. An Epidemic of pneumonia and Many Deaths result". Nashville, TN. 'The Daily American' Newspaper. December 23, 1893. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  19. "BUTLER, Mounce Gore". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  20. "Personal". 'Nashville Union and American' Newspaper. August 30, 1870. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  21. Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed at the First Session of the Thirtieth General Assembly, for the Years 1853-4. M'Kennie & Brown, Book and Job Printers, True Whig Office. 1854. pp. 471–473. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  22. Public Acts of the State of Tennessee, Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-Third General Assembly for the Years 1859-60. E.G. Eastman & Co., Public Printers, Union and American Office. 1860. pp. 549–550. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  23. Loftis, Lynne A. "Jackson Co., TN Loose District/Chancery Court Papers, Reel #92, Vol: 1839-1915". Jackson County TNGenWeb Project. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  24. Walker, Hugh (April 19, 1981). "Civil War Manuscript Revealing". 'The Tennessean' Newspaper. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  25. Senate Journal of the Adjourned Sessions of the Thirty-Sixth General Assembly, of the State of Tennessee (Dec. 1870). Jones, Purvis & Co., Printers to the State. 1871. pp. 74–76. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  26. "Turnpikes". 'Nashville Union and American' Newspaper. October 21, 1871. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  27. Tennessee Senate Journal of 1885 [Appendix: First and Second Annual Reports of the Railroad Commissioners]. Nashville, TN: Albert B. Tavel, Printers to the State. 1884. p. 96. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  28. "Historical Person - Mary Gore". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  29. Susan Butler Family Bible. p. Marriages registry. Archived from the original on 7 September 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  30. Susan Butler Family Bible. p. Marriages registry. Archived from the original on 7 September 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  31. "Butler's Landing Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony". Ancestors of Sandra (Whalen) Bauer. Archived from the original on 19 April 2003. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  32. Morfe, Don. "Butler's Landing / Bailey Butler". The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  33. "Obituary [Short Version]". Nashville, TN. 'The Daily American' Newspaper. May 22, 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
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