1925 Biography - Andrew P. Butler

Andrew Pickens Butler, a native of Louisiana, planter and business man and prominent citizen of the Belcher community of Caddo Parish, has contributed to the honorable reputation of this family record in Louisiana, and belongs to the old South Carolina family which can probably present as many historic names as any kinship in that state. The achievements of the Butlers are prominent in South Carolina history. The founder of the family in South Carolina was Capt. James Butler, who moved to that colony some years before the beginning of the Revolutionary war. He and his four Sons and two sisters all had some part in the winning of independence. Capt. James Butler himself lost his life in a bloody battle with the Tories. His son, Gen. William Butler, a native of Virginia, afterwards avenged the death of his father. He rose from lieutenant to major-general in the Colonial forces, and for thirteen years was a member of Congress, resigning in favor of John C. Calhoun.

One of the sons of Gen. William Butler was Pierce M. Butler, grandfather of A. P. Butler of Belcher, Louisiana. Pierce M. Butler was born in the Edgefield district of South Carolina in 1798; received a military education and entered the army as a second lieutenant. After some years he resigned his commission, and subsequently became an officer in the South Carolina Volunteers in the Florida Indian wars; and in 1838 was elected governor of South Carolina. At the beginning of the war with Mexico he organized the famous Palmetto Regiment and was elected its colonel, and while leading the regiment, at the battle of Theru Parish, Louisiana, in 1874, son of Andrew Pickens and Maniah (Burt) Butler. His mother died November 22, 1924, aged eighty years and twelve days. His father, Andrew Pickens Butler, was born in South Carolina, and served as a captain in the Confederate army. Soon after the close of the war he came to Louisiana and located in Bossier Parish, where he engaged in planting until his death in the early eighties. Mr. Butler has a prized memento, a walking stick made from the flagstaff that rose from one of the walls of Fort Sumter when it was fired upon at the beginning of the war. The walking stick belonged to Mr. Butler's father. He also has a prized relic, the silver spurs worn by his grandfather, P. M. Butler, in the Mexican war. Mrs. Mariah (Burt) Butler likewise represented an old and well-known South Carolina family, came like her husband from the Edgefleld district.

A. P. Butler removed from Bossier Parish to Belcher in 1907. He owns and operates successful planting interests in the country surrounding Belcher. He is a director of the Bank of Belcher, and has many connections with the substantial interests of his community.

Both in Bossier Parish, where he was born and reared, and in his later home in Caddo Parish he is known for his unwavering principles of honor in all business affairs and the integrity of character he has shown in every contact with his fellow men. While the phrase has been much abused, it is literally true that his word is as good as a bond.

Mr. Butlbusco, in August, 1847, was shot and instantly killed. Governor Butler was a brother of Andrew Pickens Butler, a distinguished jurist and member of the United States Senate when he died in 1857. A nephew of Governor P. M. Butler was Matthew C. Butler, one of the most brilliant statesmen ever produced by South Carolina. He rose to the rank of major-general in the Confederate army, and in 1876 was elected to the United States Senate.

Mr. A. P. Butler, of Belcher, was born near Benton, in Bossier. He married Miss Gertrude Belcher. Her father was the late J. C. Belcher, for whom the town of Belcher was named. He died in May, 1904. He likewise represented prominent Carolina ancestry, and for some years lived at Plain Dealing before coming to what is now the Town of Belcher in 1899. He acquired a large tract of land there, and when the town grew up it was given his name. He was both a planter and business man and a citizen of the finest character.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, Volume 2, pages 202-203.