Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Pictoral History of Fort Wayne, Indiana by Bert Joseph Griswold Also The Story of the Townships of Allen County by Mrs. Samuel R. Taylor pub. Robert O. Law Company, Chicago, 1917 [98-99] JAMES F. BUTT - One of the foremost men of Maumee township, Allen county, Indiana, is JAMES BUTT, born in Erie township, Miami county, on March 25, 1860, on the old Wabash & Erie canal. He is the son of WILLIAM and ELIZABETH (LESHER) BUTT and the grandson of WILLIAM BUTT, a pioneer to Allen county from Ohio in 1832. The record of the migrations of the BUTT family from 1832 up to 1875 accounts for numerous changes in residence, and a brief recounting of those moves would read something as follows: Came from Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1832; settled in St. Joseph township, Allen county, Indiana, where they farmed until 1846, and then went to Miami county, Indiana, where the son WILLIAM, father of the subject, remained until 1863, returning in that year to Allen county and settling on a farm in the vicinity of New Haven, where he was engaged in farming until the fall of 1865. He then moved back to Miami county and remained there until 1867. In the spring of that year he came to Allen county once more and there farmed until the death of his wife in February, 1869. In the next year he remarried and took up his residence in Miami county, remained there to 1875, operating a newly acquired farm, and in that year moved to the old home farm in Miami county, where he passed the rest of his days, death claiming him there on March 31, 1907. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, on May 10, 1829, and his life was that of a successful and energetic farmer. There were three children of his first marriage: JAMES F., of this review, IDA and DORA. His second wife was the mother of two daughters - EFFIE and ROSE. MR. BUTT was a prominent man in his community always, and wherever he went found his place in the public life of the town and township, and filled numerous public offices during his life time. JAMES F. BUTT had the average amount of schooling that is the lot of the country boy, and when he was sixteen he began active farm life on the farm home. He remained on the home place until he was twenty-one, gathering an experience and training that guaranteed him individual success in his own independent career. He came of age in March, 1881, and in June, 1882, bought from his father the home farm of 131 acres in Maumee township, which place has formed the nucleus of his present farm of 491 acres. It is worthy of mention that this 131 acres was deeded by the government to WILLIAM BUTT, grandfather of the subject, in 1832, and has been in the family possession ever since. WILLIAM BUTT, the original owner, did much improvement work on the place, and was himself one of the foremost men of his day in that district. He was one of the charter subscribers to the Fort Wayne Sentinel, a daily newspaper established in 1833, and the first paper that came from the press came into his possession and was cherished by him during his lifetime. The present owner of the old BUTT farm is recognized as one of the leading stockmen of Allen county, and he is widely known for the Duroc-Jersey hogs he raises on his place each year, from six to eight hundred head being the yearly product of the place. It is stated on authority that he has sold more hogs yearly than any other man in Indiana, with a similar acreage as a basis of operations. In 1915 he fed 14,000 bushels of corn to that year's hogs. MR. BUTT was married on January 18, 1883, to MISS LUCRETIA JOHNSON, the daughter of EDWARD and CYNTHIA C. (PEARSON) JOHNSON, who were among the early settlers of Allen county and were prominent in the county all their active lives. Three children have been born to MR. and MRS. BUTT. JESSIE L. is married, and she and her husband live on the home place with the parents. They have two children - IVAN and JOHN. WILLIAM EDWARD, the second child of MR. and MRS. BUTT, is professor of economics in the Kentucky State University. He has two children - OLIN and ARTHUR. JAMES F., JR., is married and lives in the vicinity of the old home. He is his father's assistant on the home farm. MR. BUTT has taken his place in the public life of the community, and it is a notable fact that he served Maumee township as trustee in 1884 when he was but twenty-four years of age, and held the record then for the youngest trustee in the state. He was re-elected in 1886, and since that time has held other offices of public trust. He is a Democrat in politics, and fraternally has membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being affiliated with Lodge No. 463 at Antwerp, Ohio. ===========================================================================