George Butterfield - A Forgotten Benefactor

 

     This is the story of an almost forgotten donor to the Watch Tower Society, whose financial contributions played an important part in its history. Two of his donations in the second decade of the twentieth century totalled around $15,000. If we allow for over a century of inflation this would not be far short of $400,000 in today’s values.

     His full name was George Augustis Butterfield. He lived until 1959.  Much of his life story comes from an obituary in The Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota for April 7, 1959.

     The reproduction of the cutting is quite poor, but we will quote from this as needed in the rest of this article. His early days are described as follows:

“He was born in Garrison, Iowa. He grew to manhood in that state and in 1900 drove a covered wagon to a site near Haxtun, where he homesteaded and began farming.”

     The obituary noted that George had been married three times and outlived all three wives. His first wife was Allie (Alice) Rice, born c.1872. They were married in 1894. There is no record of any children in the 1900 census and they divorced in 1901. His second wife was Ethylin Addie Woods (1878-1947). They married in 1903 and had three children, but divorced in 1910.

     When George eventually started his interest in the Bible Student message is not known. Two newspaper accounts have been found in that part of the United States linking the name George Butterfield with religion, but they may refer to a different person or persons. The name is a surprisingly well-used one in newspaper and genealogical records of the day.

     The first account comes from two Iowa newspapers. The Daily Times for April 8, 1913 and The Gazette (Iowa) for April 4, 1913.

     The Times has an unfortunate combination of terms – linking George Butterfield, religion and demented.

     

Whereas The Gazette (Iowa) adds a crucial detail:

    

 According to The Gazette this disturbed George Butterfield was “a young man.” Our George would have been 45 years old at this time.

     The other reference to a George Butterfield comes from the Bible Student newspaper the St Paul Enterprise.  In its issue for November 5, 1915 the St Paul Enterprise mentioned a colporteur of his name losing his voice.

     If this one is our George he obviously got his voice back later, but the account as it stands does not suggest a person of means.

     On perhaps firmer ground, genealogical records show that OUR George’s parents, Edgar and Sarah, died within a few weeks of each other in April/May 1915. Edgar was both a farmer and a landlord, so George may have inherited some of his assets. George’s own death certificate described him as farmer (retired) in both grain and cattle. Farming in Colorado was very profitable at that time (see Boulder County’s Agricultural Heritage by Deon Wolfenbarger, 2006) which may have allowed George to build up a reasonable fortune on his own account. 

     Where we can be more positive about the story is when George started making donations. The first example is found in the transcript of the Rutherford vs United States trial. He made a contribution that was used towards the publication of The Finished Mystery. The transcript below has Joseph F Rutherford being cross-examined by the prosecution:

.

    

 A few pages later in the trial transcript, the “certain sum of money” was specified:

    

 It was clarified that George had not just made a loan, this was a straight donation and in line with existing arrangements he received Watch Tower Society voting shares in return.

     The trial resulted in eight defendants being found guilty and sentenced to long years in prison. The Brooklyn properties were either sold off or closed down and operations returned to Pittsburgh. However, once the eight were released in early 1919 the decision to move back to Brooklyn on a permanent basis happened very quickly. It was another donation from George that helped make that possible. The account was given by A H MacMillan in his book Faith on the March in 1957.

     Over pages 110-111 MacMillan describes how he had a visitor at the temporary headquarters in Pittsburgh. A man walked in “who had been associated with the work for many years and whom I knew well. He was a man of considerable means from one of the Southern states.”

     They went to a private room and MacMillan continued: ”He began to take his shirt off as I talked to him. I thought he had gone crazy. He looked a little dirty and travel-worn, whereas ordinarily he was a tidy and well-kept man. When he got down to his undershirt he wanted a knife. Then he cut out a little patch he had on there and took out a bundle of money. It was about $10,000 in bills.”

     The visitor had sat up all night in a train sleeper guarding the money. Seeing people he knew and trusted at the headquarters he gave MacMillan the money.

     MacMillan quoted him as saying “I didn’t know who was in charge of the work, but now that I see you brothers here whom I know and I trust, I am glad that I came!’’ MacMillan responded: “We’re certainly glad that you came too.”

     MacMillan’s account only called the visitor by his first name, George. But when the story was repeated word for word in the 1975 Yearbook on page 121 the account was prefaced: “One morning a Christian, George Butterfield, a person of considerable means, walked into the office.”

     George had still been alive, although very elderly, when MacMillan’s book first came out. However, by the time the same account was given in the Yearbook he had died, so now his full name was given.

     It was after these events that George was to marry for the third time.

     Wife number three was Nellie Krakel (1889-1957), and she came from a Bible Student background. At the time of the marriage there was a considerable disparity in their ages. George was 51 and Nellie was 29. From The Democrat, of Kearney, Nebraska, for January 16, 1919 – George and Nellie were planning to exchange single blessedness for married blessedness.

     Nellie had previously been listed in the 1917 St Paul Enterprise newspaper as eclessia secretary for Sterling, Colorado. Her family were Bible Students and when her father, Henry Krakel, died in Sterling, his Bible Student obituary in The New Era Enterprise for November 1926 listed Nellie Butterfield as one of his children.

     The 1920 census has George down as married to Nellie and working as a book agent. However, his obituary stated that “in 1925 George retired from farming and traveled throughout the mid west in connection with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

     George and Nellie were to have one child, Edgar Leland Butterfield (1921-2007).

     In the 1930 census the family of three are in Nebraska, and George’s occupation is given as colporteur, working on his own account as a distributor.

     Their one son Edgar grew up to work for the Watch Tower Society. In his Draft Registration document dated February 16, 1942, he gave his employer’s address as Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn and his next of kin as George Butterfield of Haxtun, Colorado. He also made the newspapers when he failed to report for the draft. From the Greely Daily Tribune for February 6, 1943:

    

 Edgar was to marry Antonetta Bradley (born 1928) and raise a family. In a 1952 Colorado trade directory they are running a sewing machine company.

     Returning to the previous generation, George’s wife Nellie died, seemingly quite suddenly, in 1957. The newspaper report from The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) for June 25, 1957, noted that a “presiding minister for Jehovah’s Witnesses” conducted the funeral.

     

Returning to George’s own obituary, when this happened in 1957 he went to live with Edgar who was now based in North Dakota.

     So looking back on George’s life and the Watch Tower – as a grain farmer and rancher he donated very large sums of money to the cause when he could. Later when retired from business he represented the Watch Tower Society as a colporteur for virtually no renumeration. Both showed his serious level of commitment.

 

     (With grateful thanks to Gary who started me on this particular journey and Jeff who supplied some of the references)