Isaac Butts Papers

Collection — Box: 1, Folder: 8-9

Identifier: 1946-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the papers of Isaac Butts. The papers date between 1852 and 1881. The materials include letters from H. Sibley, Freeman Edson, Samuel Selden, and others associated with Western Union. Incoming Western Union correspondence. It also includes a Powers Banking House account book.

Dates

Creation: 1852-1881

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use in any current or future manifestations must be obtained in writing from the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

Biographical Note

Isaac Butts was born in Dutchess County on January 11, 1816. He moved to Irondequoit with his family as a child. He attended the Rochester Free Academy before entering the newspaper business in Rochester in 1844 as part-owner of the Daily Advertiser. He sold this interest to Warner, Medbury & Co. in 1848, only to purchase an interest in the paper again in 1850 and sell again in 1851. With Joseph Curtis, he purchased the stock of the new Daily Union newspaper but a few months after it commenced publication in 1852. This interest, in what became the Union and Advertiser, he held until retirement in 1864. Butts served as the paper's editor, and was well-known in civic and business circles from this position.

Butts, despite his involvement in the partisan newspapers of the era, was not a politician and only held the office of Manager of the House of Refuge and as a local delegate to Democratic conventions. He was heavily involved in other businesses, including serving on the boards of directors of the Rochester Gas Light Company, the Mechanics Savings Bank, the Pacific Telegraph Company, and the House Printing Telegraph Company. It was through the latter company that he entered the board of Western Union at its formation in 1866. Butts also invested in commercial real estate in Rochester. Butts married Mary Smyles, of Irondequoit, at an unknown date. Together, they had five children: Lille, Mary, Carrie, DeWitt and Isaac J. Isaac Butts passed away after an extended illness on November 20, 1874.