Ohio History Journal

CONSUL WILSHIRE BUTTERFIELD-HISTORIAN.   BY W. H. HUNTER. Consul Wilshire Butterfield, the famous Historian, was born near the village of Colosse, Oswego County, New York, July 28, 1824. He was of Knickerbocker stock, his father's peo-

ple coming to America in 1634. His parents, Amroy Butter- field and Mary Lamb Butterfield, immigrated from Brattleboro, Vermont, to the State of New York. Consul Wilshire Butterfield died at his home in South Omaha, Nebraska, on,Monday, September 25, 1899. At noon Mr. Butterfield appeared to be in usual exuberant spirits and was apparently in good health. Shortly after two o'clock he decided to visit his near neighbor, Mr. O'Connor, and while he was ascending the steps to the O'Connor residence was stricken with a sinking spell, from which he never rallied. When it was known that Mr. Butterfield was seriously ill, neighbors corveyed (177)

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178       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

him to his home and summoned a physician, who pronounced

life extinct on his arrival.

Ripe in years he passed to his reward; and thus ended the

earthly career of a man whose achievements marked him as a

genius and his memory will be cherished as long as letters are

a factor of progress. When he died a noble spirit took its

"earthless flight"; a lovable husband was taken from a happy

home; a kind father was separated from a daughter who cher-

ished every fiber of his being.

Mr. Butterfield lived a long and busy life. He was even at

work when came the summons that called his spirit hence.

While Mr. Butterfield stood alone as writer of American

history that has relation to the American Indian and the Pio-

neer, he was the most modest of men. He never sought re-

nown. He loved his fellows, and his work was his pleasure.

In a letter to the writer he said his whole ambition was

to record the truth to this end his life was consecrated, and

his many historical works, all recognized as authorities and

to which all other writers must go for information, attest the

sincerity of his statement.

While not so graphic in style as Parkman, he was always

accurate. He never printed as a fact in history any incident or

statement until he had examined every authority to ascertain

the truth. His style was direct; he never employed a super-

fluous word and his work was always comprehensive.

A profound historical scholar, an indefatigable worker, he

left as his monument numerous books invaluable to the student

and the reader. Mr. Butterfield was a genius; he never worked

for money. The word money seldom came to his mind; his

achievement was not the accumulation of wealth. His masterful

efforts directed along other lines of human endeavor would have

procured a fortune, as the world understands fortune. But he

wrote history as a patriot performs a service for his country,

without pay, as the world understands pay. He devoted his life

to work that few men could perform. Working night and day,

he accomplished much, and the world of letters is richer be-

cause he lived. He was one of those sweet souls whose devo-

tion to patriotic duty was a sacrifice of pleasure, as the world

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Consul Wilshire Butterfield.          179

knows pleasure. He never made money, for his works were not

of the popular-novel character demanded by the mass of those

who read history. Indeed it took much of his time to correct

the errors set forth by men who wrote history for the money

results.

Writers of Butterfield's bent and attainments are so rare

that, when discovered, the state should possess their talents and

thus give the people the benefit of all their time, for it is too

valuable to be given up to bread-winning; and men who write

history, as Mr. Butterfield wrote history, cannot make money

selling books.

The production of one of his works is an achievement

greater than coining wealth; while thousands can coin money,

only one could do the work Butterfield did. But Butterfield

never received the one-thousandth part of the wealth that other

men receive for like expenditure of nerve-force in other lines of

labor. While rich men spend millions to establish libraries

which reduce the sale of books such as he wrote, there are men

writing books at their own expense, we might say, to fill the

shelves of these libraries, who scarcely afford a roof they can

call their own. There should be equity in philanthropy: It is

easier for an iron king to put up library buildings than it is for

men like Butterfield to fill their shelves.

Mr. Butterfield was admired not only for his great ability

manifest in his literary achievements, but for his generous, kindly

spirit and his sincerity as a friend. His was an unselfish life;

his time was given for the benefit of others. It was always a

pleasure to him to aid the student of history, and in response to

a mere suggestion he wrote a chapter on Fort Laurens for the

Pathfinders of Jefferson County, although at the time he was ill

and was engaged on important work of his own; and this chapter

was the labor of several days. He loved his friends of whom

he must have had many, for no one of his great ability and kindly

nature could pass in and out among the activities of life without

gaining the appreciation of his fellowmen. He always spoke

kindly of friends. The writer of this cherishes more than all

else the kind words written of him to a mutual friend, and ever

will be green the writer's memory of this man who is at rest.

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180      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

Mr. Butterfield was always particularly fond of music and

poetry, of children and of all kinds of pets. He considered

Shakspere the one great genius, but the poets he studied and

most admired were Milton, and our own Bryant. In a letter

to the writer after his death, Alice Butterfield said of her father:

"Though not a church member, his faith in the immortality

of the soul was strong, as evidenced by a great many little things

easy to perceive, but hard to write about."

His home-life was quiet and uneventful. He loved his fam-

ily, and his wife and daughter were devoted to him, and all were

happy in their little circle.

Order was the keynote of his method of labor. He did

not await the moving influence of the spirit, but wrote regularly

a certain length of time, (preferably the morning hours) each

day, much as any one would go about a business enterprise. At

times, though, when becoming much engrossed in his subject

he would keep right on until compelled to quit from sheer

exhaustion.

Mr. Butterfield's writing was always done at his home. His

desk was in the sitting-room, and he was not easily disturbed.

His daughter, in answer to inquiry, wrote: "As to how father

would come to select a certain subject upon which to write a

book, I do not know; but imagine he would become interested

in a particular historical character or event from general reading

and then if he considered it inadequately represented he would

determine to elaborate upon the subject himself."

A correspondent writing to Mr. Butterfield, expressed sur-

prise that any one living in South Omaha, in far away Nebraska,

could write a book showing so much research as Brule; but ac-

cepted it as a possibility if Mr. Butterfield had an extensive

private library. Mr. Butterfield, in speaking of this, quoted

"extensive private library" as a jest; for it is a fact, fifty to one

hundred books would be the size of his library at any one time,

though he was constantly changing it and a large number of

books passed through his hands. In speaking of this incident

Miss Butterfield said: "I remember having remarked at the

time that there was not so much in having a lot of informa-

tion at one's elbow as there was in knowing how to get what one

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Consul Wiishire Butterfield.         181

 

wanted, and father responded, 'That's just it exactly;' and it

seems to me that to this ability to get the information he wanted

his merit as a historian is largely due." Mrs. Butterfield was his

proof-reader, she being a person of literary attainments.

In 1834 Mr. Butterfield's father's family removed from New

York to Melmore, Seneca County, Ohio. At the age of eighteen

Butterfield commenced teaching a district school in Omar,

Chautauqua County, N. Y. He afterward attended the Nor-

mal School in Albany for two terms, but his health failing, he

left the school to take a trip to Europe. He returned in 1846

coming to Seneca County, Ohio, where his parents had located

in 1834.

The next year he wrote a history of Seneca County which

was published in 1848. In 1847 he was elected Superintendent

of the Seneca County schools. Early in 1849 he resigned this

position to make an overland trip to California. The next year

he was an independent candidate in that state for Superintendent

of Public Instruction, but was defeated by a few votes. He re-

turned to Ohio in 1851 and finished a course in law which he had

commenced in San Francisco, and in 1855 he entered upon the

practice of his profession in Bucyrus, Crawford County, relin-

quishing it in 1875.

In 1854 he served as Secretary of the Ohio and Indiana Rail-

road Company, and while engaged in this occupation found time

to write "A Comprehensive System of Grammatical and Rhe-

torical Punctuation," which was printed, but afterward sup-

pressed. An abridgement of the book was published in 1878,

this publication becoming a very popular work and was intro-

duced into many schools.

After quitting the practice of law he devoted his time to

literary pursuits, having, however, previously written "An His-

torical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky, under

Col. William Crawford, in 1782." Thisbook written in Bucy-

rus, Ohio, was issued from the press of Robert Clarke & Co.,

Cincinnati. The work gave the story of one of the most thrilling

expeditions of the Revolutionary War, the death of Col. Craw-

ford at the stake being perhaps the most tragic of all the narra-

tives of border warfare during the struggle for American Inde-

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182      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

pendence. The story is told in Mr. Butterfield's direct style and

is so thrilling of itself that the incidents need no elaboration to

interest the reader.

In 1875 he wrote, at Madison, Wis., where he had moved

in that year, a work jointly with Lyman C. Draper, a gentle-

man who had gathered many manuscripts and information of

pioneer history, which he afterward presented to the Library

of the Wisconsin Historical Society, on "Border Forays, Con-

flicts and Incidents ;" but this book was never printed on ac-

count of some disagreement between the two authors; and the

evidence as to this does not lay the least blame upon Mr. But-

terfield. In the Spring of 1877 was published "The Washington-

Crawford Letters" edited by Mr. Butterfield, and issued from the

press of Robert Clarke & Co., which is invaluable to the histori-

cal writer, for it contains information not to be found elsewhere,

and like all of Butterfield's works must be read to find author-

ity for many historical statements of fact. In it is given an

idea of Washington's interest in the West and the immense

tracts of land he secured for his military services as a Virginia

officer during the French and Indian wars.

In the fall of 1875 Mr. Butterfield completed for an "His-

torical Atlas of Wisconsin," (which was published the next year)

a "History of Wisconsin," assisting also in the preparation of the

county histories and biographical sketches found in that atlas.

The "History of the University of Wisconsin" was written

by him and published in 1879. His next work was one of the

most important of all his books, being "Discovery of the North-

west in 1634 by John Nicolet" which also contained a sketch of

Nicolet's life. This is a remarkable book, but Mr. Butterfield,

after his work on Brule was published, insisted that the latter

should be read first by the student of the French discoveries

in America. The production of Nicolet gave evidence of But-

terfield's complete knowledge of French, of his painstaking

and wide research as well as his marked literary ability. It is a

record of the indomitable perseverance and heroic bravery of

John Nicolet in an exploration which resulted in his being the

first of civilized men to set foot upon any portion of the North-

west, which is to say, any part of the territory now constituting

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Consul Wilshire Butterfield.         183

the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

It is also shown how he brought to the knowledge of the world

the existence of a fresh-water sea-Lake Michigan. It was al-

ways Mr. Butterfield's intention to rewrite this very remarkable

work and make it more popular by eliminating the many French

passages which were introduced for the purpose of adding to its

interest by employing the language of the early French writers

and explorers, but this he never found time to accomplish.

In 1882 he edited and published the "Washington-Irvine

Correspondence," the work to which all historians must go for

authority on the West in the Revolution. This work was pub-

lished through the generosity of George Plumer Smith of Phi-

ladelphia who not only subscribed for numerous copies before

it was printed, but furnished the maps in the book. This work,

as its title indicates, consists of the official letters which passed

between Washington and Brig.-Gen. Wm. Irvine, and between Ir-

vine and others concerning military affairs in the West from 1781

to 1783; these letters being arranged and annotated with an intro-

duction containing an outline of events occurring previously in the

Trans-Allegheny country. No other workhas ever been published

containing so much information of value to the student of West-

ern history, and today no American library is considered com-

plete without it. In speaking of Mr. Smith's part in the publica-

tion of this book, Mr. Butterfield wrote the writer of this in June,

1898, the writer having conveyed to him information of Mr.

Smith's death: "I was pained to hear that George Plumer Smith

was no more. I saw him last in Omaha some three or four years

ago. He and I corresponded for a long time. But for him,

the 'Washington-Irvine Correspondence, would, probably, not

have been published. He subscribed for fifty copies and after-

ward purchased as many more, always insisting on paying for

each copy, catalogue price. He also paid for the map which you

will notice in the book. I return you the letters written by

him. How familiar is his handwriting to our whole household !"

The "Washington-Irvine Correspondence" was revised by Mr.

Butterfield and after his death the MS. was sent to the Chicago

Historical Society Library in accordance with his desire.

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184       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

In 1883 he edited a "Short Biography of John Leeth," fol-

lowed by the "Journal of Capt. Jonathan Heart," published in

1885; this work being an account of the march to the West of

the first troops under the government of the New Republic.

Meanwhile he wrote with Frank A. Flower a series of bio-

graphical sketches entitled "The Giants of the West;" but the

book was never given to the public.

While residing in Wisconsin he wrote, in chief, histories of

the Counties of Rock, Fond-du-Lac, Columbia, Dane, Vernon,

Crawford and Greene of that state. For the last three men-

tioned he furnished a "General History of Wisconsin," which

was published as an introduction to those works; his previous

"History of Wisconsin," published in the "Historical Atlas"

already mentioned, appearing as introductory to all the other

Wisconsin County Histories.

He was on the editorial staff of the "Northwest Review"

for March and April, 1883, assistant editor of "Descriptive Amer-

ica" from December 1884, to February, 1885, inclusive; and

on the first day of January, 1886, he began editorial work on

the "Magazine of Western History," afterward writing a large

number of special articles for that magazine, principally histori-

cal and biographical. He severed his connection with that peri-

odical in 1889.

Having removed to South Omaha, Nebraska, in 1888, he

there finished the "History of the Girtys," for which he had

gathered much material while a resident of Wisconsin. This

work was published by Robert Clarke & Co. in 1891, and is, per-

haps, the most important of Mr. Butterfield's later works. It

contains a vast amount of information as to the border warfare

of the Trans-Allegheny country with the three Girtys-Simon,

James and George-as the central figures. The work, as Mr.

Butterfield has written to the writer of this and as well has

printed in the preface of the book, was undertaken because of the

notoriety they had obtained, and likewise because there was an

apparent necessity for our Western annals to be freed, as near as

possible, from error, everywhere permeating as to the part actu-

ally taken by these brothers-particularly Simon-in many of

the important events which make up the history of the region

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Consul Wilshire Butterfield.          185

 

immediately west of the Alleghenies. It had become the rule

to give Simon Girty all the odium that came of diabolism prac-

ticed by American renegades employed by the British for this

purpose, and while Mr. Butterfield does not relieve Simon of

his proper place, he shows that he was not always responsible-

not even always present, when atrocious acts credited to him

by most of the writers of romance called history, were commit-

ted. In this work, as in all of his productions, Mr. Butterfield

kept constantly in mind one object paramount to all others-the

statement of facts, as he understood them, and the truth was

reached after research that encompassed everything bearing on

the subject. The reader must be impressed with the large

number of documents and authorities quoted in the History of

the Girtys; in fact nothing seems to be omitted that would aid in

clearing up many of the mysteries of the border conflicts during

and after the Revolutionary War which opened in the West in

1774 and continued until Wayne's Victory at Fallen Timbers

twenty years after. He takes up matters published as fact by

other writers and in a few words shows them to be only romance

without foundation in history. He particularly takes Theodore

Roosevelt to task for printing in his "Winning of the West"

stories absolutely absurd, as history, when he might have

printed truth. In this work some attention is given to the whole

Girty family, the father, mother, and Simon's brothers, includ-

ing Thomas, and a half-brother, John Turner, in whom interest

is awakened because of the bearing their lives had upon the

most notorious of their relatives. In all, the student of Trans-

Allegheny history is lacking in information if he has not used

the History of the Girtys as a text book. In it will be found

all of interest in the Western country previous to, during and

after the Revolutionary War. After reading this work one must

be impressed with the fact that history is filled with statements

made without truth as a basis. This work was revised before

Mr. Butterfield's death, and the MS. complete throughout,

when examined by his daughter was found to contain on the

title page a note giving the manuscript to the Western Reserve

Historical Society, to be held by it until the copyright of the

first edition shall have expired, and then to be the absolute

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186      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

property of the Society. This MS. is now in the Western Re-

serve Library at Cleveland.

Brule has already been mentioned in this sketch. This was

the last work of Mr. Butterfield, published. The manuscript

was presented to the Western Reserve Historical Society in 1897

and published by this Society the following year. Brule is a

narrative of the discovery by Stephen Brule of Lakes Huron,

Ontario and Superior, and of his explorations, the first by civil-

ized man, of Pennsylvania, and Western New York, and of the

Province of Ontario, Canada. It is a most thrilling story and it

reads like a novel. In the preface the author truthfully says,

"Few, if any, of the early events properly belonging to the

pages of American history are of more interest and importance

after the discovery of the New World, than are those relating to

the journeyings of Stephen Brule." The achievements of this

daring Frenchman (Norman) in the northern part of this country

and the southern part of Canada, have not heretofore been given

in detail, and it was well that the story remained for Butterfield

to tell, for he has left no leaf unturned and no musty document

unexamined that gave information on the exploits of Champlain's

first interpreter, who came to America a mere boy to live among

the Indians with the view of learning their language. He

came to America at a very early period-he had discovered Lake

Huron before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. All his

work is followed closely and detailed in attractive historic style

up to the hour Brule was killed and eaten by the Hurons.

Brule is the most important work of recent years, and must

attract the mind of the pupil who would know the early history

of his country. There are copious notes and an extended ap-

pendix, all of the greatest value. Butterfield himself, as did his

intimate friends, considered Brule his best effort from a literary

point of view, and the letters written to him in regard to this

work and the reviews of it in the papers gave him great plea-

sure. He was so grateful for kindly mention of his work that

he frequently expressed his thanks, and this was the key to his

whole life, ever considerate, ever generous.

In 1892 and 1893 he wrote a "History of South Omaha"

which was printed in the last-named year as an annex to a

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Consul Wilshire Butterfield.          187

"History of Omaha." Nearly all the biographical sketches ap-

pearing in the Omaha history were prepared by him.

Mr. Butterfield left several important works in manuscript,

among them "History of Col. David Williamson's Expedition

to the Tuscarawas River in 1782," this being a correct story of

the massacre of the Moravian Indians, and is a most valuable

contribution  to the history of the West. It was left to the

Western Reserve Historical Society Library which Society will

no doubt have it published. But the most important of these

works is the "History of Lieut. Col. George Rogers Clark's

Conquest of the Illinois and the Wabash Towns from the Brit-

ish in 1778 and 1779." Mr. Butterfield had this book ready for

publication in 1896, but as another work came out that year on

the same subject, he concluded not to publish it, and he worked

on it almost to the day of his death. In correspondence with

the writer of this, Mr. Butterfield said that it was his intention

to present it to the Chicago Historical Society; but when advised

by the writer to give the manuscript to Washington and Lee

University of Virginia on the ground that the supporters of the

University were, many of them, descended from Clark's soldiers,

he hesitated; but after his death his daughter gave the manuscript

to the writer who was expected to have it published by the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, and if this society

does not give it to the public, the manuscript will be sent to the

Washington and Lee University. His note book used in gath-

ering material for his Crawford's Sandusky Expedition was also

presented to the writer.

He also left the manuscript, but incomplete, of "The West

in the Revolution," which has been presented to the Chicago

Historical Society. This book ought to be published, for it

will fill the one vacant place in American literature.

He left several other manuscripts which he had designed

publishing in pamphlet form, and these are still in possession of

his family.

In speaking of her father's death, his daughter writes, "I

never saw an old person in death look so 'like one who lies down

to pleasant dreams.' .    . The children in the neighbor-

hood all came in to see him and seemed startled. One little miss

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188       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

of six or seven, whom I did not know, came to the door all

alone and asked, 'Please might I see Mr. Butterfield?' She

looked earnestly quite a while and then smiled and said, 'That

looks just like Mr. Butterfield.' "

Mr. Butterfield was twice married. His first wife was

Elmira, daughter of John Scroggs of Bucyrus, Crawford County,

Ohio, the marriage being May 8, 1854. She died May 15, 1857.

He was again married March 30, 1858 to Letta Merriman,

widow of James H. Reicheneker. Of this union four children

were born: Minnie Bell, who died September 22, 1859, aged six

months; a son and daughter both of whom died in infancy;

and Alice, who now resides with her widowed mother, and who

was a strong right arm to her father during his later years.

Of his father's family, a sister, Mme. Hyacinthe Loysen,

of Paris, France; and Mrs. Cylvia Barry are still living. An

adopted daughter, Mrs. W. J. White, is the wife of Major White,

Chief Quartermaster in the army at Havana, Cuba.

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