To most, Pierce Butler was a soldier, wealthy plantation owner, statesman, and one of 39 men (George Washington being the first) to sign the U.S. Constitution.
To us, he's "Uncle Pierce", whether he likes it or not.
It's believed that Pierce's sister was Judith Butler, who eloped with Thomas Tennant, stonemason. It was their son, Thomas, who brought his family to Canada in 1820. The Butlers disinherited Judith for marrying a Tennant. Pierce's story is no less interesting.
The Butler family bought a commission for Pierce in the British army; in those days officers were often hifalutin' muckety-mucks whose families literally payed for their rank.
Pierce travelled to America in the mid 1700's, and was responsible for quieting the growing anti-British feeling in the colonies.
Then Pierce make a quick 180. He left the British Army, started a plantation, and made a fortune. Throughout his life he was a staunch supporter of slavery. He's said to have drafted the "Fugitive Slave Clause" of the U.S. Constitution.
By the late 1700's he sided with the revolutionaries against the British. He was a member of the Continental Congress, a powerful statesmen, and became one of the "framers" of the U.S. Constitution. Among the other 38 signatories are Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton.
1 comment:
Mike:
My wife works at Country Hill branch of Kitchener Public Library and she is working on getting a copy of Pierce Butlers personal letters which will come out in Dec of 2008 through inter library loan. I hope to be able to establish a link between Judith Butler and her brother Pierce to settle this familial lore of the Tennants and Butlers being related through their marriage. I live in Cambridge and descend from Richard Tennant and Jane Cardiff.
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