Charles Butler (February 15, 1802 – December 13, 1897) was an American lawyer and philanthropist.
Biography
Charles Butler was born at
Kinderhook Landing, Columbia County, New York.
He studied law in the office of
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
at
Albany, and was admitted to the bar in 1824. He became wealthy by accumulating land at the site of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and through his investments in railways. It was his accumulation of Illinois land and railway building that helped turn Chicago into a city.
He married Eliza A. Ogden in 1825.
[
In 1835, he was one of the founders of the ]Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
. In 1836, he was appointed to the council of NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...
, (where he served as an instructor) and he was a long serving Council President.
He was a younger brother of Benjamin Franklin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...
(US Attorney General under Martin Van Buren), and a relative of (both by blood and as an in-law), as well as a business associate of William Butler Ogden
William Butler Ogden (June 15, 1805 – August 3, 1877) was an American politician and railroad executive who served as the first Mayor of Chicago. He was referred to as "the Astor of Chicago." He was, at one time, the city's richest citizen ...
, the first mayor of Chicago.
He died at his home in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on December 13, 1897.
References
*
External links
Diary thoughts of Chicago in 1833
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Charles
1802 births
1897 deaths
Lawyers from Chicago
New York University
19th-century American lawyers