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Surnames: Butler, Smith & Campbell
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/gh.2ADI/5718
Message Board Post:
"History of Huntington County, Indiana"1914 By Frank S. Bash pg. 685-86
D. Clinton Butler. One of the old and honored families of Indiana, which has been
identified with the history of this state since 1806, is that bearing the name of Butler
whose members have taken honorable positions in the various walks of life and have always
ably filled them. A worthy representative of this family is found in the person of D.
Clinton Butler, locomotive engineer in the service of the Erie Railroad, with a run from
Huntington, Indiana, to Chicago, Illinois, and a resident of the former city. Mr. Butler,
who is a descendant of Indiana pioneers on both sides of his house, was born in Whitler
county, Indiana, November 10, 1862, and is the only son of Beale and Letitia (Smith)
Butler.
The Butler family was of Quaker origin and was founded in Indiana by the
great-grandparents of D. Clinton Butler, who came to this commonwealth many years before
it became a state, in 1806. The grandfather, William Butler, was born in Georgia. The
maternal grandfather of Mr. Butler was John Smith, a native of Virginia, who came to
Indiana about the year 1820 and settled in Wayne county. Both the Butler and Smith
families located in the green woods, their first houses being of log and very primitive in
character. Neighbors were few and far between, but Indians were still numerous, although
inclined to be friendly. All kinds of wild game, deer, bear and elk, were plentiful, and
the family larder could be easily supplied by a few well-directed shots almost from the
cabin door. While the country was new, the people were all on an equality, were at all
times friendly and neighborly, hospitable and ready to help one another. The parents of
Mr. Butler were born in Wayne county, th!
e father in August, 1838, and the mother in May, 1841, and there both spent their lives
in agricultural pursuits, Beale Butler passing away in 1905 and the mother one year
before.
D. Clinton Butler acquired his early education in the district schools, and grew up as a
farmer’s son, his work in the field giving him bodily strength and a good constitution. On
leaving the district schools he went to Clarinda, Iowa, where he attended school for two
years, and then returned to the home farm on which he remained until his eighteenth year.
At that time he was attracted, like so many country boys, by the life of a railroad man,
and he accordingly sought and secured a position with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad with which he remained one year. On July 8, 1883, he became a fireman on the Erie
Railroad, and held that position on one of the first freight engines to pass over that
line, running from Huntington to Chicago. He continued in this capacity until December 10,
1886 when he was promoted to freight engineer and still later to engineer on a passenger
run. During his long and faithful service with this company, Mr. Butler has carried man!
y thousands of people on his train, and has never had a serious accident. He is one of
his company’s most reliable and trustworthy men, and has the unqualified confidence of his
employers.
In 1888, Mr. Butler was married to Miss Annetta Campbell, of Huntington, a daughter of
William I. Campbell, an old and well-known citizen of Huntington, and Sarah (Morehead)
Campbell. To this union there have been born three sons and a daughter, as follows: K.
Dean, now a resident of the Pacific coast, in Oregon; Mildred G., who married A. A. Piper
and is a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio; Ben I. and Melville Clinton, both now students in
the high school at Huntington.
Mr. Butler is a prominent Mason, belonging to Amity Lodge No. 483, F. & A. M.;
Huntington Chapter No. 27, R. A. M., and Huntington Commandery No. 35, K. T. He also holds
membership in the Elks Lodge No. 805, and is a member of the Commercial Club of
Huntington. In politics he is a stanch republican and has taken an active part in local
affairs, often representing his county as delegate to state conventions. He has often been
solicited to become a candidate for local honors, but has refused. Mr. Butler has a neat
and substantial residence on Henry street, one of the best resident streets in the city of
Huntington, located on the South side, and has a country home at Bass Lake.