Reviews, Notes and Comments 193
owners through whose hands it has
passed in the long
period since it was originally written.
They have re-
corded in it quaint receipts, accounts
and other matters
of little or no value today. For a time
it appears to have
been used as a copy-book. It is,
however, in spite of
these insertions, a venerable,
interesting and legible
document, which throws strong
sidelights on the activi-
ties of the frontier army during this
interesting period.
JOSEPH GREEN BUTLER, JR.
Joseph Green Butler, Jr., pioneer iron
manufacturer,
philanthropist and author, died at his
home in Youngs-
town, Ohio, December 19, 1927. Had he
lived two days
longer, he would have been 87 years
old. He was born
at Temperance Furnace, Mercer County,
Pennsylvania,
December 21, 1840. He was the son of
Joseph Green
and Temperance (Orwig) Butler. His
father was an
iron manufacturer and blast-furnace
expert. His mother
was descended from one of the oldest,
families in Berks
County, Pennsylvania.
The Butler family lineage has been
traced to those
bearing that name who went to Ireland
in the reign of
Henry II. The family emigrated to
America in the
eighteenth century and seven members
had commissions
in the American Army during the
Revolution.
Col. Thomas Butler, a close friend of
George Wash-
ington, was a charcoal contractor and
furnished fuel for
furnaces in Pennsylvania. His son,
Joseph, was an iron
master at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. His
son, Joseph
Green Butler, Sr., followed the iron
business for some
time in central Pennsylvania. Later he
moved west-
ward and operated a furnace at New
Wilmington, Penn-
194 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications sylvania, succeeding William McKinley, Sr., father of President McKinley, as manager. Joseph Green Butler, Jr, was a third son and was |
|
JOSEPH GREEN BUTLET, JR. one year old when the family moved to Niles, Ohio. He spent most of his boyhood there, attending the village school with William McKinley, afterward president of the United States. The two were intimate and lifetime |
Reviews, Notes and Comments 195
friends. In their boyhood days, while
in the Mahoning
River, young Butler is said to have
rescued William
McKinley, when he was on the verge of
drowning.
At the age of fifteen, Mr. Butler
entered a store in
Niles, as clerk, but soon afterward
became a shipping-
clerk in the iron-works of James Ward
and Company.
He was promoted to financial manager, a
position which
he held from 1858 to 1863. He was with
Hale and
Ayer, of Chicago, from 1863 to 1866. In
the latter
year, he became manager of the Girard
Iron Company,
Girard, Ohio, and was associated with
Ohio's War Gov-
ernor, David Tod, William Ward and
William Rich-
ards. They built the first
blast-furnace, in the Mahon-
ing Valley, to be equipped with a
closed top, and con-
ducted the business for twelve years.
At the end of
this time, Mr. Butler sold his
interests and became
manager of the Brier Hill Iron Company,
Youngstown,
Ohio. This was a large and successful
iron-making
establishment, operating blast-furnaces
and mining coal
on a large scale.
Subsequently, Mr. Butler was
prominently connected
with many manufacturing enterprises. He
has prop-
erly been regarded as perhaps the most
potent personal
influence in establishing the great
iron industries of the
Mahoning Valley.
He was one of the organizers of the
Ohio Steel Com-
pany, the first concern to make steel
in the Mahoning
Valley. He was a director of the
American Iron and
Steel Institute; president of the
Portage Silica Com-
pany; vice president of the Brier Hill
Steel Company;
chairman of the board of the Bessemer
Limestone and
Cement Company; director of the
Youngstown Sheet
196
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and Tube Company, Pennsylvania and Lake
Erie Dock
Company, Cleveland and Mahoning Valley
Railway
Company, Pittsburgh, Youngstown and
Ashtabula Rail-
way Company, Pennsylvania and Ohio
Light and Power
Company, Youngstown and Suburban
Railway Com-
pany, the First National Bank and of
numerous lesser
enterprises.
Mr. Butler took an active interest in
politics. This
dated from his early years. He used to
relate incidents
in the life of Governor Tod; and was
present when the
latter received a telegram from Abraham
Lincoln ten-
dering him the position of Secretary of
the Treasury
of the United States, which office he
declined. Mr.
Butler was a Republican. He was
delegate to three
national conventions of that party the
last of which was
held in Chicago, in 1920.
Mr. Butler is the author of a number of
books writ-
ten in the later years of his life and
devoted largely to
the history of the iron industry in the
Mahoning Valley
and his contact with noted men and
events covering the
interesting period of his lifetime.
Following is a list of
his principal works:
Life of William McKinley, 1900; First Trip Across
the Continent, 1904; First Trip Abroad, 1906; Presi-
dents I Have Seen and Known, 1910; A
Journey
Through France in Wartime, 1917;
Fifty Years of Iron
and Steel, 1917; History of Youngstown and the Ma-
honing Valley, in three volumes, 1921; and Recollections
of Men and Events -- an
Autobiography, 1925.
The last-named was reviewed in the
QUARTERLY of
July, 1925.
Reviews, Notes and Comments 197
In his "Personal
Reminiscences," which form the
concluding chapter of his History of
Youngstown and
the Mahoning Valley, Vol. I, he tells how he got into the
iron business:
In 1857, James Ward, Sr., came into the
company store at
Niles, where my father had charge, and
told him that the ship-
ping clerk in the mill was "on a
spree," and that he would have
to borrow one of the clerks until this
man sobered up. Father
said: "There are three of them;
take your pick of the lot." Mr.
Ward looked the boys over and chose me,
and that was the way
I got into the iron business.
Mr. Butler contributed liberally of his
wealth to
many enterprises and institutions. The
National Mc-
Kinley Birthplace Memorial, in Niles,
Ohio, is a monu-
ment to his public spirit and his
devotion to his lifelong
friend. To the building of this
memorial he gave freely
of his time and money, contributing to
the endowment
fund alone an initial subscription of
$100,000. His in-
terest in art extended over many years.
His desire was
to establish in his home city an
institution that should
continually foster and encourage a
similar interest
among the rising generation. He erected,
in the city
of Youngstown, an institution known as
the Butler Art
Institute. To this he contributed rare works of art
collected during his lifetime and, in
his will, he left to
the Institute the large residue of his
fortune, estimated
at more than one million dollars.
Through the years to come, the McKinley
Memorial,
in Niles, and the Butler Art Institute,
in Youngstown,
will attract an ever-increasing number
of visitors to
these two cities.
He belonged to many associations --
industrial and
198 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
learned and was a life member of the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society.
Joseph Green Butler,
Jr., married Harriet Voorhes
Ingersoll, of
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, January 10,
1866. Of this union
were born Mrs. Blanche (Butler)
Ford, Mrs. Grace
Ingersoll (Butler) McGraw, and Mr.
Henry A. Butler. The
latter two survive. Mrs. Butler
died in 1921.
Mr. Butler was
familiarly known as "Uncle Joe,"
and his wide circle
of acquaintances and friends felt a
personal loss, when
they learned that his death had
come on the eve of
the celebration of his eighty-seven
years of life in the
Mahoning Valley.
PROF. AZARIAH SMITH
ROOT
A librarian of state,
national and international repu-
tation died at his
home in Oberlin, Ohio, Sunday, Octo-
ber 2, 1927. He was
born at Middlefield, Massachu-
setts, February 3,
1862. He was the son of Solomon F.
and Anna (Smith)
Root.
He came as a student
to Oberlin College, Oberlin,
Ohio, from Dalton,
Massachusetts, in 1879. He was
graduated from the
College with the degree of A. B., in
1884, and received
his A. M. degree in 1887. He was a
law student at Boston
University from 1884 to 1885;
cataloguer in the
Oberlin College Library from 1885 to
1886, and student at
Harvard Law School from 1886
to 1887 and at the
University of Gottingen, Germany, in
1898 and 1899. He was
a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
For forty years
Professor Root was librarian of the
Oberlin College
Library; and was, for some time, an
annual lecturer
before the Library Schools of Columbia,