Butler, Thomas, II

Submitted by Mike Miller

Butler, Thomas, lawyer and planter, was born in West Feliciana parish, La., Dec. 6, 1840, and is a representative of one of the most prominent families of the state. The Butler family has numerous members in West Feliciana parish, where Thomas Butler, the founder of the family there settled nearly a century ago. He was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and was a native of the state of Pennsylvania. His father was Col. Thomas Butler of the regular army of the United States and a patriot and soldier of the American Revolution. After his marriage with Miss Ann Ellis, of Mississippi, Thomas Butler became a pioneer settler in West Feliciana parish, where the family homestead has been long established. This most interesting plantation home, known as "Cottage," is located about 6 miles northeast of St. Francisville.

The founder of this inviting old place was a successful lawyer as well as a large planter, served on the bench as district judge, and later as a member of the national House of Representatives. He was possessed of a high order of intellectual ability and force of character and carried through to successful fruition any undertaking in which he engaged. He and his good wife became the parents of 8 children, these being as follows: Pierce, Richard E., Margaret, Anna, Sarah, Mary E., Robert, and Edward, all of whom are deceased. Pierce Butler, eldest of these children and father of Thomas Butler, the subject of this sketch, was born in West Feliciana parish, La., in the year 1817, and attained the age of 72 years. He combined sugar and cotton planting, growing sugar cane in Terrebonne parish and cotton in West Peliciana. He married Mary Louisa, a daughter of William H. Stirling, who was an early settler of West Peliciana parish, where the daughter was born and reared. Unto Pierce Butler and his wife 3 children were born, namely: Thomas, the subject of this sketch; James Pierce, who became a planter in Adams county, Miss., and died recently in the city of New Orleans, where he had resided for some years; and Anna Louise, who became the wife of H. C. Minor, a planter of Terrebonne parish, both now deceased.

Thomas Butler, now well known as Judge Butler, was reared in the parish in which he was born, and given good educational advantages. After having attended college in Maryland, he entered the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, and remained there until the beginning of the Civil war, which happened to be in his senior year as a student at the Universfty of Mississippi. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in what was known as the Louisiana Regular Infantry, and became a part of the Confederate army. He went through 4 years of service as a Confederate soldier, finally surrendering as captain of his company at Fort Blakely, Ala., after Gen. Lee's surrender. He at once took up the study of law in the old Louisiana university, now Tulane, and graduated in 1868. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law in West Peliciana parish.

In 1870 he was appointed district judge, to fill a vacancy, and later, after having served out the term for which he had been appointed, retired from the practice of law and has since given his undivided attention to the management of his large estate. Judge Butler is owner of three large plantations and his ably directed activities have been fruitful of a generous share of the material blessings of this life.

In 1876 Judge Butler was married to Mary Fort, daughter of W. J. Fort, a prominent planter of the same parish, where Mrs. Butler was born and reared. They have 9 children: Thomas, Mary Louise, William J., Sallie, Samuel L., Annie, Margaret, Henry M., and James S. Their beautiful country home is located on the Woodville pike, about 3 miles from St. Francisville, surrounded by stately trees and decorated and garlanded with carefully selected shrubbery and blooming plants, indicating a refined sense of what is most to be desired in life and an all-pervading culture and graciousness that proclaim the best in family life and home making.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 77-79. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.