Robert Butler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Robert Butler, (August, 1784 to July 31, 1853) was a physician and was elected to serve as the State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1846 until his death. He was a long-time resident of the town of Smithfield in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
He was raised in Surry County and attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. His first wife was Eliza Bracken, whose father was rector of Bruton Parish Church, president of the College, and had served as a mayor of Williamsburg. Their son, John Bracken Butler (1812-1857), also became a physician, and married Mary A Benton of Suffolk.
Dr. Butler and his second wife, the former Otelia Voinard (1803-1855) from Petersburg, Virginia, were the parents of Otelia Butler Mahone, who in 1855 married William T. Mahone of neighboring Southampton County, who was a civil engineer, teacher and builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (a well-engineered predecessor of Norfolk and Western Railway and a vital link in modern times for Norfolk Southern).
Said to be from a "cultured" background, and a "character" in her own right, strong-willed Otelia Butler Mahone became almost as well-known in Virginia as her famous husband. She is credited for naming 5 towns in Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, and Prince George Counties along the arrow straight 52 mile tangent main line of her husband's new railroad. Four of the names derived from a novel by Sir Walter Scott she had been reading.
During the American Civil War, "Little Billy" Mahone became a Confederate Major General and Otelia worked for several years as a nurse in Richmond. After the war, the illustrious couple returned to railroad leadership, and General Mahone became an important politician in Virginia during and after Reconstruction, leading the Readjuster Party and serving as a Senator in the United States Congress. After his death in 1895 following a massive stroke in Washington, DC, his widow Otelia lived in Petersburg until her own death in 1911.
Dr. Butler's grandson, R. Butler Mahone (1859-1914) was assigned to his father, William T. Mahone Sr., as private secretary for a number of years and afterward was in U.S. government service. He was appointed Consul of the United States at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border from Laredo, Texas.
Dr. Butler and Otelia Voinard Butler are buried in the cemetery at St. Luke's Church at Benn's Church, near Smithfield, Virginia.
There is also an American director named Robert Butler.
