No. 4912 Ralph Butler, 1813-1915
Butler lived at the corner of Columbia Road and Sayward Street.
From American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: Graves & Steinbarger, 1891.
RALPH BUTLER, a retired Boston merchant residing in the Dorchester district, was born in Phillips, Me., May 5, 1813, son of Ralph and Mary (Stevens) Butler. His father was born on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, September 27, 1782; and his grandfather, Benjamin Butler, Jr., was born there in 1748, being a son of Benjamin Butler, Sr., who died in 1821 at an advanced age.
The founder of the family in America was Nicholas Butler, of Eastville, Kent, England, who, with his wife, Joyce, three children and five servants, sailed from Sandwich in 1637 for New England, settling in Dorchester, Mass., where he was made a freeman March 14, 1638-9. Nicholas Butler was one of several persons to convey to the town of Dorchester the rents and other profits of Thompson’s Island for the support of a free school; and a small stream, which up to 1859 crossed East Cottage Street, was called after him Butler Brook. He was awarded a grant of land at Dorchester Neck, and he acquired ownership of another tract on Codman Hill. On October 15, 1651, he appointed as his attorney his son John, and removed to Martha’s Vineyard, where he is known to have been residing in 1662; but the date of his death, which occurred on that island, is not known.
Benjamin Butler, Jr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a carpenter. Moving from Martha’s Vineyard to Farmington, Me., in 1790, he assisted in building the first dwelling-houses on Sandy River, constructed by contract the first bridge at Centre Village, which was completed in 1808, and framed the Centre meeting-house in 1803. He was prominently identified with the public affairs of that section in his day, and held some of the most important local offices. In 1769 he married Amy Daggett. Their children were: Nancy; Amy; Mary, first; Mary, second; Benjamin; Zimri; Ebenezer Cheney; Ralph, Melinda; Lavinia; Lavinia, second; Lovey; and William. Of these, ten were natives of Martha’s Vineyard, and the others were born in Farmington, Me. (See Butler’s History of Farmington.) Benjamin Butler, Jr. died at Avon, Me., in February, 1828.
Ralph Butler, first, became an extensive land-owner and influential resident of Phillips, Me., holding numerous town offices. He died June 6, 1868. His wife, Mary, whom he married November 12, 1806, was born in Winthrop, Me., November 16, 1785, daughter of Amos Stevens. She became the mother of twelve children: Malinda, who was born November 1, 1807; Mary, who was born February 17, 1809; William, born February 20, 1811; Ralph, born May 5, 1813, as mentioned above; Jonathan Whiting, born July 9, 1815; Emily, February 18, 1818; Harrison April 25, 1820; Lorenzo and Alonzo (twins), born July 2, 1822; Caroline, July 24, 1825; Benjamin, March 10, 1828; and Nancy, born March 23, 1832. Ralph and Benjamin are the only ones now living.
Ralph Butler, second, the subject of this sketch, acquired a public-school education in Phillips. He obtained his first business experience in a country store in Augusta, Me., which he carried on successfully until the gold-fever excitement of 1849 attracted him to the Pacific coast. With two other fortune-seekers, he built a bark in which, with thirty companions, he made the voyage to the Golden Gate by way of Cape Horn. Although arriving safely, most of the party were ill, which deprived the venture of its anticipated success. Mr. Butler, however, retrieved his losses by building and running the second steamboat on the Sacramento River. In this boat, called the “Orient,” he owned a controlling interest for four years. Going to Sacramento when there were but three huts in the place, he erected a business block from which he derived substantial returns; and after remaining in California several years, he returned to Augusta. He shortly established himself in the wholesale flour business in Portland, Me., but later went to Chelsea, Mass., and eventually settled in Boston, where he was engaged in the same line of trade for twenty years, or until his retirement from business in 1885.
On May 28, 1836, Mr. Butler married for his first wife Miss Cynthia, J. Abbott, who was born in Hookset, N.H., January 13, 1810, and who died March 16, 1880. She was the mother of the following-named children: Georgiana T., who was born September 13, 1837, and on December 8, 1859, married the Rev. William H. Savage, of Portland, a brother of the Rev. Dr. Minot J. Savage, now of New York City; Roscoe Green, who was born February 13, 1839, and died March 15, 1887; Maria Antoinette, who was born March 23, 1841, and died November 15, 1847; Alabama, who was born January 24, 1843, and died June 28, 1898; and Mary Ella who was born April 9, 1845, and died March 17, 1847. Mrs. Savage has four children: Grace Butler, who was born April 19, 1868; Ralph Butler, who was born September 16, 1870; Paul, who was born June 12, 1872; and Ruth, who was born August 13, 1878. Ralph Butler Savage is an instructor in music. He was married in June, 1900, ad is now travelling in Italy. Alabama Butler and Lewis Claflin Breed were married November 30, 1869. They have three children: Jennie Andrews, who was born October 30, 1870; Harriet Louise, born July 12, 1878; and Butler Curtis, born September 17, 1883.
At Damarascotta, Me., October 21, 1890, Mr. Butler married for his second wife Miss Harriet Blackstone Chapman, who was born in Bremen, Me., September 30, 1858, daughter of Leander Morton and Harriet Susannah (Knowlton) Chapman. Her grandparents were Ephraim and Nancy (Chapman) Chapman, and her great-grandparents in that line were Thomas and Sarah (Hussey) Chapman. Through Anthony and Priscilla (Patch) Chapman, of Ipswich, Mass., Nathan and Ruth Chapman, and Nathaniel Chapman she is a descendant of the Rev. Edward Chapman, who emigrated from England in 1632, setting in Ipswich. Anthony and Priscilla Chapman went from Ipswich to the district of Maine about the year 1740. Mrs. Butler’s paternal grandmother, Nancy Chapman, was a daughter of Benjamin and Zilpha (Bryant) Chapman, her father being a son of Captain Benjamin and Elizabeth (Gould) Chapman. Captain Benjamin Chapman died on the island of St. Thomas. On account of failing health Mrs. Butler’s father turned his attention to farming, which he followed in Damariscotta during his active period, his death occurring August 26, 1892. He was married in Waldoboro, Me., December 30, 1857, to Mrs. Harriet Susannah Child, daughter of Washington and Susannah Blackstone (Merrill) Knowlton. The date of her parents’ marriage was December 3, 1812.
Washington Knowlton was a son of Joseph and Martha (Wheeler) Knowlton. The Wheelers were found in various shires, among landed gentry, knighthood, members of Parliament, and baronets in the seventeenth century, and one was governor of the Leeward Islands. Members of the family were closely connected to King Charles I. They are found in the counties of Worcester, Warwick, York, Middlesex, Durham, Kent, and Nottingham. Sir William Wheeler, Knight, Member of Parliament for Queensborough, was created Baronet August 11, 1660. He was married to a lady of the royal household, of whom in Carte’s History of England the following circumstance is related: King Charles I., at the beginning of his troubles, delivered to Lady Wheeler a casket, which she was to take care of and to return to His Majesty on the delivery of a ring. The evening before the king was beheaded, the ring was sent to Lady Wheeler, and the casket delivered to the messenger.
Joseph Knowlton, father of Washington, was born in Ipswich, August 4, 1749; and his wife was born in Gloucester, Mass., December 10, 1755. They settled in Nobleboro, Me. Joseph Knowlton served in the struggle for American independence and in the War of 1812-15. He died in Liberty, Me., July 7, 1846. He was a son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Dean) Knowlton, of Ipswich, who were married December 25, 1742. Nathaniel is said to have been a son of Samuel, second, and Elizabeth (Fellows) Knowlton, the former of whom was born November 2, 1672. Samuel Knowlton, first, father of Samuel, second, was born in 1647; and he married Elizabeth Witt in 1669. He was a son of William (born in 1615) and Elizabeth Knowlton and grandson of Captain William and Ann Elizabeth (Smith) Knowlton, who crossed the Atlantic in 1632. Captain William Knowlton died on the voyage, probably near Nova Scotia, as in 1839 a land surveyor in Shelburne, N.S., discovered a headstone which bore his name and the date 1632. He had four sons — John, William, Samuel, and Thomas. John became a resident of Ipswich in 1639, William and Thomas in 1642.
According to tradition one of the followers of William the Conqueror, residing on a knoll, was knighted under the surname of Knowlton. Knowlton Hall is a fine residence in Kent, England. In the reign of Edward I. its proprietor, a knight whose name was Perot, is said to have assumed the title of Lord Knowlton. It is thought that Captain William Knowlton, the emigrant, belonged to the Kentish family whose surname was derived from this ancient estate. Susannah Blackstone Merrill Knowlton, Mrs. Butler’s maternal grandmother, was born in Nobleboro, September 16, 1791, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Blackstone) Merrill. Thomas Merrill was born in Stratham, N.H., January 30, 1742; and his wife, Sarah, was born in Newcastle, Me., January 10, 1750. The Merrills descended from Nathaniel Merrill, who arrived at Newbury, Mass., in 1632. Sarah Blackstone was a daughter of William Blackstone, who was a son of John and Catherine (Gorham) Blackstone, John being the only child of the Rev. William Blackstone, the first white settler in Boston, though not a permanent resident.
The ablest historians and Thomas Savage (the genealogist) agree that the Rev. William Blackstone resided in Boston, on Beacon Hill, for ten years, and refer to him as “Boston’s first inhabitant.” Thomas Amory and others state the same. “He sold the peninsula of Boston for one hundred and fifty pounds, and removed to Rhode Island in 1635.” ”The Rev. William Blackstone seems to have been first in many things. The honor falls to him of being the first settler of Rhode Island as well as the original one of Boston.” He occasionally visited Boston and Providence and preached in the latter place, and at Boston, July 4th, 1659, before Gov. Endicott, married Mrs. Sarah Stevenson, widow of John, who died in June, 1673. He died May 26, 1675, when he had reached the age of fourscore.” “It will be noticed that contemporary with him in England were three poets whose names are immortalized in history; namely, Shakespeare, Spenser, and rare Ben Jonson.” “Blackstone was a pioneer in the breaking away from the unjust assumed power of the bishops of that early day. His right to worship God in his own manner he recognized, and he proved his manhood in daring to stand for that which he felt to be his prerogative.” “ In such action he was not alone. The same spirit had prompted the fathers of 1620, as they sailed for the cold, inhospitable shores of Massachusetts Bay.” “He was instrumental in the movement that brought to these shores that pilgrim band of God-fearing men and women.” “ The mission of Blackstone is ended, but his life and those of this contemporaries furnish themes for the historian for all time. They were the advance guard of a stern old race, behind whom was the Ruler of all things. The purpose that led them to these shores was his. His thought the motive gave.”
“Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?
Who talks of scheme and plan?
The Lord is God! He needeth not
The poor device of man.”
(See “Rev. William Blackstone, the Pioneer of Boston,” by John C. Crane; “Blackstone, Boston’s First Inhabitant”; also Collections of the Bostonian Society, Vol.. I., No. I; “William Blaxton,” read by Thomas Coffin Amory, November 9, 1880; “Merry Mount,” by John Lothrop Motley.)
Harriet Susannah Knowlton was married in Boston, May 26, 1846, to Thomas Child, her first husband. They had one daughter, Eva Luella Child, whose birth occurred March 4, 1847. She married Clarence M. Hall, and died in Port Ludlow, Wash., April 18, 1892. Leander M. Chapman was the father of two children: Harriet Blackstone, now Mrs. Butler; and Ephraim Wilder Chapman, who was born June 3, 1862. On January 5, 1888, Ephraim Wilder Chapman married Lettie Waldron Adams. Their children are: Elwyn Augustus, who was born October 25, 1888; Harry Knowlton, born August 20, 1890; Wilder Adams, born March 8, 1893; and Kenneth Blackstone Chapman, who was born November 23, 1895. Mrs. Butler’s mother died January 18, 1892.
Note: Butler’s obituary appeared in The Boston Globe, February 15, 1915. He died as a result of a fall.