Hampshire, November 5, 1818.

His father, Captain John Butler, was a commissioned officer in the War
of 1812, and served with General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. As
merchant, supercargo, and master of the vessel, he was engaged for some
years in the West India trade, in which he was fairly successful, until
his death in March, 1819, while on a foreign voyage. In politics he was
an ardent Democrat, an admirer of General Jackson, and a personal friend
of Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire.

Left an orphan when an infant, the child was dependent for his early
training upon his mother; and faithfully did she attend to her duties.
Descended from the Scotch Covenanters and Irish patriots, Mrs. Butler
possessed rare qualities: she was capable, thrifty, diligent, and
devoted. In 1828, Mrs. Butler removed with her family to Lowell, where
her two boys could receive better educational advantages, and where her
efforts for their maintenance would be better rewarded, than in their
native village.

As a boy young Butler was small, sickly, and averse to quarrels. He was
very fond of books, and eagerly read all that came in his way. From his
earliest youth he possessed a remarkably retentive memory, and was such
a promising scholar that his mother determined to help him obtain a
liberal education, hoping that he would be called to the Baptist
ministry. With this end in view, he was fitted for college at the public
schools of Lowell and at Exeter Academy, and at the early age of sixteen
entered Waterville College. Here for four years, the formative period of
his life, his mind received that bent and discipline which fitted him
for his future active career.