The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No. VI.
June, 1884, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No. VI. June, 1884
A Massachusetts Magazine

Author: Various

Release Date: October 16, 2004 [EBook #13761]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, ***

Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the PG Online
Distributed Proofreading Team, and Cornell University,

[Illustration: Ben F. Butler]

THE

BAY STATE MONTHLY.

_A Massachusetts Magazine_

VOL. I.

JUNE,1884.

No. VI.

* * * * *

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER.

There is a belt extending irregularly across the State of New Hampshire,
and varying in width, from which have gone forth men who have won a
national reputation. From this section went Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass,
Levi Woodbury, Zachariah Chandler, Horace Greeley, Henry Wilson, William
Pitt Fessenden, Salmon P. Chase, John Wentworth, Nathan Clifford, and
Benjamin F. Butler.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER was born in the town of Deerfield, New
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