Marion County WV Archives Biographies.....Butcher, Bernard Lee September 12, 1853 - November 7, 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Connie Burkett marionwvusgwarch@gmail.com April 22, 2010, 2:23 am Source: West Virginia and Its People Author: Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell West Virginia and Its People by Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913 Volume II, Pages 157-158 The Hon. Bernard L. Butcher, son of Eli Baxter Butcher, was born September 12, 1853, near Huttonsville, Randolph county, West Virginia. He was reared in Randolph county, receiving his early education in the Huttonsville Academy and the public schools; and then attended the Fairmont State Normal School, from which he graduated with the class of 1874. During his continuance in the Normal School and for a year afterward, he studied law with the late Judge Alpheus F. Haymond, of Fairmont, and was admitted to the practice of law in Randolph county in the fall of 1875, and has been in active practice since that time. He became owner and editor with V. B. Trimble, of the Randolph Enterprise in 1875-76. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Randolph county in the fall of 1876, and served the term of four years acceptably to the people of that county. During this time he was also a member of the board of regents of the State Normal Schools, being appointed in 1877 by Governor Henry M. Mathews. His interest in the public schools and the State Normal Schools brought him to the attention of the educational leaders and others, and he was nominated and elected on the Democratic ticket in 1880 for state superintendent of free schools, at the age of twenty-seven, and served the term of four years, removing from his home at Beverly to Wheeling, then the capital of the state. During his term of office important progress was made in educational development. The Normal Schools were re-established in public favor and the appropriations made permanent and greatly increased. He re-established the School Journal: obtained legislation providing for the education of colored teachers: established Arbor Day in the schools of the state in 1882, being the first state east of the Mississippi; and did many things to make the schools of the state more uniform, and stimulated the efforts to provide better houses and better teachers. His term of office was aptly termed a "revival of education" in the state. About the close of his term of office, or early in 1886, he was appointed permanent secretary of the Business Men's Development Association of the State, presided over by the late United States Senator Johnson N. Camden; he continued in that position for some time, preparing, printing and distributing literature in relation to the resources of the state and the advantages for investors and those seeking homes in the state. The association was the beginning of the great development, which has since come, of the natural resources of the state of West Virginia; bringing in large capital for investment and for development, especially in coal, oil, gas, and timber, resulting in extensive railroad building. Mr. Butcher was actively engaged with others for several years during the succeeding period, until about 1893, in the purchase of large boundaries of timber and coal lands, having removed to Beverly from Wheeling in the meantime. In 1892 he was elected one of the presidential electors, voting for Grover Cleveland for president. The following year, 1893, he was one of the jurors in the Forestry Department of the World's Fair at Chicago, and spent several weeks there, during the fair, assisting in advertising the attractions of the state. He moved about that time to Fairmont, where he has since resided, engaged in the practice of law. He has always been actively identified with the advancement of public education, being one of the directors of the Public Library for many years; trustee of Davis and Elkins College; and was for ten years a member of the board of regents of the State Colored Institute, near Charleston, West Virginia, which has grown to be a great industrial and educational institution for the colored race. In 1901 he was appointed referee in bankruptcy by the late Judge John J. Jackson, judge of the United States district court, and has been reappointed from time to time by his successor, Judge Alston G. Dayton. In 1906 he was nominated by the Democrats of Marion county for judge of the intermediate court, but declined the nomination. He was active in the organization of the Marion County Law Library and the Marion County Historical Society, having been a member of the State Historical Society for a long time. He has been for many years a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder; a member of the Masonic fraternity; and a director in the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Butcher has been an active Democrat and taken a prominent part in the councils of his party, both state and local, and has a wide circle of acquaintances and friends. He married, January 23, 1878, Mary Ellen, born September 7, 1856, in Marion county, West Virginia, daughter of Daniel H. and Hannah (Bunner) Ayers. They were married at her home in Palatine, now Fairmont, Marion county, West Virginia. They had four children, one dying in infancy: 1. Willa Hart, born October 8, 1878, at Beverly; teacher; married John L. Lehman, Esq., of Fairmont. West Virginia, April 23, 1909; died November 11, 1911. 2. Samuel Hutton, born June 12. 1881, in Fairmont; attorney-at-law; married Mary Williams, April, 1911. 3. Birch L., born in Wheeling, June 23, 1883; civil engineer: unmarried. Additional Comments: Marion County Death Certificate, #5297, Reg. No. 1444 Bernard Lee Butcher died 7-Nov-1918 at 65 years of age Born in Randolph County WV, son of Eli Baxter Butcher and Elizabeth Hutton Occupation: Lawyer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Marion County Death Certificate, #5007 Mary Ayers Butcher died 21-Apr-1933 at age 76y-7m-14d widow of B. L. Butcher residence: 107 Gaston Avenue born in Harrisville WVa dau of Daniel Ayers and Hannah Bunner Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1910 Census, Marion County WV ED:61, Sheet 15A Fairmont City, Ward 4 Lines 4-10, Dwelling 273, Family 309 107 Gaston Avenue BUTCHER, Bernard (head) 56, m1-32yrs, WV-WV-WV, Lawyer ", Mary E (wife) 53, m1-32yrs, 3-children/3-living, WV-WV-WV ", Samuel (son) 28, WV-WV-WV, Lawyer ", Birch L (son) 26, WV-WV-WV, Mining Engineer LEHMAN, John L (son-in-law) 35 m1-1yr, Pa-Pa-Pa, Lawyer ", Willis H (dau) 31, m1-1yr, WV-WV-WV - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1900 Census, Marion County WV ED:53, Sheet 19A, Fairmont Ind. Dist Lines 22-26, Dwelling 347, Family 367 107 Gaston Avenue BUTCHER, B. L. (head) 46, b.Sep-1853, WV-WV-WV, Attorney ", Mary E (wife) 43, b.Sep-1856, WV-WV-WV ", Willis Hart (dau) 21, b.Oct-1878, WV-WV-WV, Student ", Samuel H (son) 18, b.Jun-1881, WV-WV-WV, Clk R.R. Office ", Birch (son) 16, b.Jun-1883, WV-WV-WV, at School - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/marion/bios/butcher88nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/wvfiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb