Wilson Butler

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF WILSON BUTLER
By Tonya A. Guy
(Extracted from the January/February, March/April, and May/June 2019 Quills)
 
January/February 2019 Quill
 
      We were first “introduced” to Wilson Butler about a month ago when we were seeking interesting topics for Quill. We were perusing the Butler Surname File at the Tompkins Library and found a very intriguing newspaper clipping from The Edgefield Advertiser that was copied from the Index-Journal (Greenwood, SC). It concerned a remarkable man named Uncle Butler (subsequent articles gave his name as Wilson Butler), who was born on 10 March 1813 and was still alive and going strong in 1934—121 years later. We immediately began to research him and the more we found, the more we wanted to know. A number of newspaper accounts and other documents were found on him and will be shared in this and ensuing issues of Quill. Below is a transcribed copy of The Edgefield Advertiser article, dated 28 March 1934.
 
Former Slave Claims to Be 121 Years Old
 
      Some days ago Mayor W. A. Barnette received a letter from Col. Maro S. Potter, a prominent member of the Nashville, Ga. Bar, with regard to an old colored man, a former slave, known everywhere around Nashville as “Uncle Butler.”
 
      Col. Potter received the care of the old man as a legacy from his father, who took care of him so long as he lived and then passed the old colored man on to his sons. Col. M. S. Potter has the care of him now and says he promised the old man for years to bring him back to this part of South Carolina where he was born.
 
      “Uncle Butler” claims to have been born on March 10, 1813, on the plantation of General William Butler on Saluda river. This would make “Uncle Butler” one hundred and twenty-one years old and probably the oldest man living in the United States.
 
      A sketch of the old man appeared in a little magazine published in Decatur, Ga., and called “Deep South” in its December issue. This sketch is by Leland Wallace Bates.
 
      In this sketch it is stated that the old man was born March 10, 1813 on the plantation of General William Butler on the Saluda river and that when he grew up he became the slave of George Butler, Esq., a son of Gen. William Butler. George Butler was a major in the War of 1812 and later became a lawyer at Edgefield.
 
      About 1830, “Uncle Butler” says he was sold with others to Edward Trenholm of Charleston. He was taught the trade of a shoe maker and became an expert. Slaves who were skilled laborers brought about twice the amount that field hands would fetch in that period.
 
      The old man says he was sold by George Butler to the Gilliam family who bought the Butler lands and later was sold to Mr. Trenholm in Charleston.
 
      “Uncle Butler” claims to remember when the first train of the old Charleston & Hamburg railroad arrived in Charleston and tells with considerable detail how he and many other slaves stood on the side of the railroad to see the “thing come” puffing and panting into the city.
 
      He continued to live in Charleston until the beginning of the war between the states and during the war he and others were sent out to make shoes for the Confederate soldiers. In this capacity, he says he made shoes in Columbia, Newberry, and Greenwood, South Carolina and then in Hendersonville, N. C. “Uncle Butler” claims to remember the process of printing Confederate money, his master’s brother, George Trenholm, being secretary of the treasury of the Confederacy.
 
      After the war, “when freedom come,” he went to Macon, Ga., and then to various other places until he located on the Potter plantation near Nashville, Ga., as an overseer of the women field hands of the plantation. He held this position until his health became feeble and then Mr. Potter built him a cabin and allowed him the use of several acres of land around it to work for himself.
 
      In his letter Col. M. S. Potter says this old darky cannot read or write, but he is one of the most remarkable characters I have ever known. Of course, he expects to find his master’s old home, George Butler’s, on the Saluda river just as it was one hundred years ago, which you know cannot be true. However, it is his desire to visit the old home place, and I am planning to take him in a few weeks.
 
      “I am writing you this letter so that you or any of the old citizens of Greenwood, may know that I am going to carry the old man to Greenwood and if you would like to see him you may do so.”
 
Interested in Story of an Old Negro
 
      Mrs. E. T. Crawford was especially interested in the news article yesterday about “Uncle Butler,” an aged negro, who claims to have been born in what is now Saluda county 121 years ago. Mrs. Crawford said the old man was owned by her great-grandfather and that part of the old home which he hopes to visit is still standing.--Index-Journal.
 
      The second article that was published in the Index-Journal about Uncle Butler was dated 25 March 1934. It was an interview that was conducted with him by a man named Reuben A. Sumner. We later found Reuben in the 1940 Fulton County, Georgia Census (page 96). He was 25 years old and his occupation was recorded as “lawyer.” The interview is a bit on the snide and derogatory side, which is probably due to Reuben’s young age (only 19 years old at the time), general demeanor, and a sign of the times. However, it is filled with marvelous details about Uncle Butler’s life in Old Edgefield District and is a wonderful introduction to the third article, which chronicles Uncle Wilson Butler’s visit to Greenwood and Saluda Counties. Some of the information presented will be repetitive and we apologize in advance if it becomes tedious at times. We felt that cutting up the narratives would cause confusion and interrupt the flow of the story. The Index-Journal interview, dated 25 March 1934, was transcribed and appears on the next two pages.
 
More On “Uncle Butler” Aged Slave
Reuben A. Sumner
 
      (In its issue of March 15th, The Index-Journal printed a story on “Uncle Butler” an aged slave now living on the plantation of Col. Maro S. Potter in Nashville, Ga. The old man claims to be 121 years old and wants to come back to the scenes of his childhood and youth. He says he was born March 10, 1813 on the plantation of Gen. William Butler, was owned at one time by George Butler, Esq., and later by the Gillam family of Greenwood (General James Gillam). At the request of Col. Potter, Reuben A. Sumner, of Nashville, has undertaken to collect from the old man some of the main facts in his long life and to correct certain errors in the story published in the magazine “Deep South.” Mr. Sumner has done this admirably and most thoroughly. His letter given below will be read with great interest in this section, Editor The Index-Journal.)
 
      The letter of Mr. Sumner, after an explanatory paragraph, follows:
 
      The article as written in the Deep South magazine contains a great many anachronisms. A few statements accredited to Uncle Butler are, he says, untrue; he never made them. Also, the earlier dates and incidents are a little misrepresented. Here is Uncle Butler’s story, not in the dialect he uses, as he told me:
 
Uncle Butler’s Own Story
 
      He was born on the plantation of General William Butler, near Greenwood, S. C., in the District of Greenwood (there being no counties at that time, and it was not the District of Ninety Six, according to Uncle Butler, as written in the article), on March 10, 1813. In answer to the question “Do you remember General William Butler?” this old slave answered that he remembered General Butler’s relatives talking about him, remembered that General Butler was still living a few years after Uncle Butler’s birth, but did not remember ever having seen him. He does not remember at what time General Butler died. After General Butler’s death, this old slave came into the charge (he believes) of George Butler, a son of General William Butler. He remained in the Butler family for something like forty years, married an old slave negro named Aunt Jenny, and had two children at the time the Civil War began. According to Uncle Butler these children’s names were Minnie, aged 15, and “Little Jenny,” aged 13. These were their ages at the time the war began. Since the Civil War he has seen neither of these children and does not know whether or not they are living, but he thinks (of course) that they are, and that one lives in Macon, Ga., and the other in Indianapolis, Ind.
 
      Uncle Butler has a slight remembrance of some of General Butler’s children. He remembers having seen Pierce Butler, and, of course, George Butler; but he did not remember that George Butler was a lawyer at Edgefield court house. He does remember, however, having heard something of his serving in a war. His recollection of the names of the other children is vague; but he believes that perhaps three of their names were John, Sam and Andrew—not sure, however. (Note: Since Uncle Butler made this statement, I have learned that there was one brother named Andrew. He remembers the family as being comprised of only six children, whereas you state that there were eight children; however, you can easily see how an old slave could have forgotten two of them in this length of time.
 
Lived in Greenwood
 
      According to the article referred to, Uncle Butler was carried to Charleston, S. C., in 1830 and sold on the block to the Trenholm family. This is an error, for if what Uncle Butler told me is true he was never taken to Charleston in his life, however, he was sold to the Trenholm family, along with the rest of the George Butler plantation, but this transaction was after he had been bought by the Gillam family about seven years before the Civil War. And he was not sold in Charleston, S. C., but in Greenwood.
 
      Uncle Butler’s pronunciation of the word Gillam is (gil um). As I have already stated, Uncle Butler passed into the Gillam family just about seven years before the Civil War. His recollection of the transaction is that George Butler died, and his estate was bought by the Gillam family. His recollection of the Gillams, other than General James (Jimmy, he calls him) Gillam, is faint, for the reason that most of his time while in the Gillam family was spent in the trade of shoe-maker. He was sent to Columbia, S. C. by General James Gillam about two years before the Civil War to learn this trade. However, he remembers that there were some other Gillam brothers and sisters. He believes that their names were Lewis Gillam, Martha Gillam, Susan Gillam, Mary Gillam, and Robert Gillam. (Note: Uncle Butler is not positive about any of these names, and as you can see there may be some errors. I note from your letter that you state that Robert Gillam was the son of General James Gillam. You may be right and Uncle Butler wrong. He could easily have recalled James Gillam’s son as being his younger brother. However, he may be right. General James Gillam could have had a brother named Robert, and one of his sons may have been named after General Gillam’s brother. Uncle Butler remembers one of the girls—probably Susan—married a man from Alabama.
 
      At the time the Civil War began Uncle Butler was making shoes in Columbia, S. C. He was, as related in the above mentioned article, making shoes at the rate of eight pair a day. When the war began he was put in charge of making shoes for the Confederacy, making shoes in the following towns: Newberry, Greenwood, Columbia, and Hendersonville, N. C. He was at the last mentioned town when the war closed. He was, however, at this time in the charge of Edward H. Trenholm having been sold to the Trenholm family about one year before the war ended. These brothers were Edward H., George L., and Wagner (Wagner may have been a brother-in-law. He is not sure.)
 
      After the Civil War ended he traveled through Georgia and this part of the article is mostly correct. In about 1870 Uncle Butler came into the charge of Mr. Lewis Potter of Prattsburg, Ga. When Mr. Potter died he asked his sons to take care of Uncle Butler; and about two years ago he was brought to Nashville by Maro Potter, in whose care he is at this time. Uncle Butler lives alone in the suburbs of the town of Nashville in a little one-room cabin. His reason for living alone is “I don’t want to live with no [Negroes]. I’d rather be independent.”
 
Remarkable Character
 
      This old slave is one of the most remarkable characters I have ever come into contact with. He can with a little concentration, recall almost any incident or person in his early life, and his philosophy is worth any one’s time.
 
      A most remarkable thing about him is that although he can neither read nor write he keeps up with current events through his conversations with different people. Here are a few stray sentences that I caught while talking with Uncle Butler that will show you what a tenacious memory and mind this old darky has:
 
      “John D. Rockefeller is about the most richest man in the world, but all the money that he has could not buy this cap. No, suh.”
 
      “I believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt is a good president, but I hope he’s as good as his cousin. That was a fightin’ man.”
 
      “When Columbus told the folks over in the foreign countries that the world was round, they didn’t believe him. He started out with his ships and discovered America. He showed them that he was right.”
 
      “You think that the first people in this country was Indians. No, suh. The first ones was mountain-builders (cliff dwellers).”
 
      Uncle Butler now sits hour after hour in front of his little shack, dreaming of his old master and the many incidents in his early life. He has an old corn-cob pipe that he smokes incessantly, and almost any hour of the day you can find him here, sitting immobile, hardly aware of anything around him. I surprised him yesterday in this mood. After a few moments of conversation with him he said: “I was just thinking about ole Marse Gillam. If I could just get back there and see him and the old place and all the other folks I’d be ready to die.” (Note: Uncle Butler expects to find the plantation very much in the same condition as it was years ago, which of course cannot be true.) “If my God said “I acquire this soul today” I would be willing to go. I just want to see some of the old folks that I knew back there. I’d know ‘em too if I could see ‘em.”
 
      In these moods Uncle Butler talks with perceptible solemnity. Another remarkable thing about him is that he can change from a sad mood to one of hilarity in an instant. All you have to do is get his mind on a different subject by talking about it.
 
      After talking with Uncle Butler for a great many times, I have become convinced that, although it sounds incredulous that he could be one hundred and twenty-one years old, he nevertheless is this old. He talks with utter sincerity, and I do not believe he would tell a lie if he knew it. I have deliberately questioned him with reference to the ages of his children when the Civil War began, his age, his wife’s age, etc., trying to catch him in an anachronistic statement; but he has never varied over a few years in any of his answers and some of these questions I believe would have caught him had he been lying.
 
      He will talk to you as long as you will listen. This is one of the greatest pleasures of his life. He could give some of our world-famed personages a few lessons in interviewing. He says, “Let me have plenty of questions. I can answer most any of ‘em.” He can too. And he had rather be photographed than eat turtle-stew when he’s hungry, and to Uncle Butler that is a very delectable dish.
 
                                                                        Reuben A. Sumner
                                                                                    Nashville, Ga.
 
The remarkable story of Uncle Wilson Butler will be continued in the next issue of Quill, beginning with his visit to Greenwood and Saluda Counties. Readers will see just how much Uncle Butler remembered about the people and places in the area.

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