William Butler

Who was William Butler?

William Butler was a United States Representative from South Carolina. He was a son of William Butler, brother of Andrew Butler, and father of Matthew Butler, all of whom served in the United States Congress. His brother Pierce Mason Butler was Governor of South Carolina from 1836 to 1838.

Butler was born near the present town of Saluda, South Carolina. He graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia, South Carolina in 1810. He had studied medicine and was licensed to practice. During the War of 1812, he served as a United States Navy surgeon at the Battle of New Orleans. While stationed in Rhode Island in 1819, he married Jane Tweedy Perry. She was a daughter of Christopher Raymond Perry, and was a sister to Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry. Butler served in the Navy until June 6, 1820, when he resigned.

In 1825 he moved to Greenville, South Carolina where he began practice as a country doctor. He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress. He served as agent of the Cherokee Indians from May 29, 1849, until his death the following year in Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. He was buried near Van Buren, Arkansas.