Fred M. Butler

Fred Mason Butler was born in Jamaica, Vermont on May 28, 1854, the son of Aaron Mason Butler (1815-1886) and Emeline (Muzzy) Butler (d. 1877).[1] He was educated in the public schools of Jamaica, and graduated from Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend.[1]

Butler had started his legal studies in the Jamaica office of Jonathan G. Eddy while still at Leland & Gray.[1] After graduation, he continued studying law under his uncle in the same Jamaica office that included Hoyt Henry Wheeler and Eleazer L. Waterman.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1877, after which he moved to Rutland.[1]

Butler established a law practice in Rutland, first in partnership with Joel C. Baker, then with Lyman W. Redington, and finally with Thomas W. Moloney.[1] From 1906 to 1907, Butler was president of the Vermont Bar Association,[2] and he was succeeded by Alexander Dunnett.[3] He was also involved in several businesses; he was a member of the board of directors of the Baxter National Bank and Rutland Railway Light & Power Company,[1] and was an original incorporator of the State Mutual Fire Insurance Company.[4]

Active in politics and government as a Republican, Butler served as a delegate to numerous city, county, and state party conventions.[1] He also served in local office including grand juror (1882–84), city attorney (1884-89), and judge of the Rutland city court (1889–95).[1] In 1908 he was elected to the Vermont Senate.[5]

Butler was an active leader of the Baptist church.[6] He was a member of First Baptist Church in Rutland, and served as president of the state Baptist convention from 1909 to 1910.[6]

In 1908, the Vermont General Assembly enacted a law expanding the Vermont Supreme Court from four justices to five.[7] The appointment as an associate justice went to George M. Powers, who was serving as a judge of the Vermont Superior Court, and had been an associate justice prior to the passage of a previous law reducing the size of the state Supreme Court.[7] Butler was selected for the resulting vacancy on the Vermont Superior Court, and resigned from the State Senate in January 1909 in order to accept.[8][9] He continued to serve on this court until 1923.[10] From 1921 to 1923, Butler served as chief judge, having succeeded Zed S. Stanton.[10][11]

In 1923, associate justice Willard W. Miles retired from the state Supreme Court.[10] Butler was appointed, and he served until 1926, when he retired.[10][12] He was succeeded by Sherman R. Moulton.[13]

Butler died in Rutland on December 24, 1932.[14][15] He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland.[16]

In 1875, Butler married Lillian Harriet Holton (1852-1935), a resident of Bangor, New York.[17][18] They were the parents of three daughters: Anza Lillian (1876-1933) was the wife of Wallace W. Nichols of Rutland;[19] Helen Maria (1885-1981), the wife of John A. Barney of Rutland;[20][21] and Florence Muzzy (1892-1973), the wife of Leon E. Ellsworth of Enosburg Falls and Roy S. Woodward of Waterville.[1][22][23] A son was born in 1879 and died in 1880.[24] Another son, Aaron Mason Butler, was born and died in 1891.[25]

Butler's siblings included Edgar M. Butler (1857-1928), who served as a member of the Vermont Senate.[26][27]