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 , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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