Butler, Oliver K.

BUTLER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/28/2021 at 23:14:36

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.584

OLIVER K. BUTLER
Oliver K. Butler, who since 1877 has been engaged in the watchmaking and in the jewelry business, dates his residence in Iowa from 1857, and since 1868 has made his home in Indianola. He was born in Hamilton County, Indiana in 1846, and was therefore quite young when he came to this state in company with his parents, Basil D. and Lovisa (Mack) Butler, who were natives of Kentucky and Ohio respectively, the former of French Hugenot ancestry and the latter of English-Scotch descent. The maternal grandfather was a member of Colonel Herman Swift's Regiment, of New Jersey Volunteers in the Revolutionary war, serving as a fife major but carried and handled a gun. He was a preacher of the Methodist Church and became a circuit rider of Indiana. He died in the immediate neighborhood of the home of Edward Eggleston, the author of the "Circuit Rider," and was one hundred and one years of age at the time of his demise. His political allegiance was given to the Whig party.
Basil D. Butler, father of our subject, was a physician in early life but afterward abandoned the profession and took up the milling business in which he was quite prosperous. His name was on the membership rolls of the Masonic fraternity and the Whig party always counted upon his allegiance in his early manhood but later he joined the ranks of the Democratic party. He died in 1886 at the venerable age of eighty years, while his wife died in 1863, at the age of fifty years. She was a member of the Universalist church.
Oliver K. Butler was the fifth in order of birth in a family of nine chil­dren. He attended the common schools and learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for about nine years. He then turned his attention to the jewelry business and watchmaking, becoming quite an expert in those lines and since 1877 he has been continuously connected with these departments of trade. As stated, he has made his home in Iowa since 1857, in which year he came with his parents to Warren County. The family home was es­tablished in Union Township, where his father erected a mill and Oliver K. Butler became an assistant in the mill. His youth was largely a period of earnest and unremitting toil and following his early mill experiences he learned the carpenter's trade and was busily engaged in that line for a num­ber of years. It was in 1868 that he came to Indianola, being connected with building operations here until 1877, since which time he has conducted a jew­elry store. He is now one of the oldest merchants in the city, having for more than three decades been a representative of its commercial pursuits. He has a large and well appointed establishment and is accorded a liberal patron­age.
In 1865 Mr. Butler was married to Miss Jane Hook, who was born in Ohio and is a representative of an old Pennsylvania family. Her parents were John and Elizabeth (Tidball) Hook, who came to Iowa in 1853, settling in Marion County, whence they afterward removed to Warren County. The father cast his lot with the pioneer families, aiding in reclaiming new land and converting the raw prairie into productive fields. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Butler have been born two children: Alice B., now the widow of Frank Miller, a merchant, who died in 1906, leaving two children: Leo B., who is a graduate of the Indianola high school of the class of 1908, and Adeline, a high school student. The second child of Mr. and Mrs. Butler was Etta E., who died when but one year of age. The Presbyterian Church of Indianola finds in Mr. and Mrs. Butler consistent and helpful members and active workers. They have been identified with the church since 1868 and Mr. Butler has long served as one of its elders. He contributes generously to its support and does all in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. He is also a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, the Workmen lodge and the Yeomen, and is in sympathy with all those organizations which have for their object mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness. At the polls he manifests loyalty to the democracy but is not an active political worker, pre­ferring to concentrate his energies upon his private business affairs. Start­ing out in life for himself at an early age he has since been dependent entirely upon his own resources and as an architect of his own fortunes has built wisely and well.