Butler, Gov. Ezra, was born in Lancaster, Mass., in September, 1763. He lived for some years with Dr. Stearns, of Claremont, N. H., where he had the management of a large farm.

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Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Post by Jim Curran

Butler, Gov. Ezra, was born in Lancaster, Mass., in September, 1763. He lived for some years with Dr. Stearns, of Claremont, N. H., where he had the management of a large farm. In his twenty-second year he removed to Waterbury, Vt.. where he commenced farming. He was almost literally in a wilderness, there being but one other family in the whole place. Indeed, the whole sec- tion was but little better than a dense forest for miles in every direction. When he was twenty- seven years of age he became a hopeful Christian. His conversion was a remarkable one, and plainly the work of the Holy Spirit. He was baptized by “Hilder” Call in his wilderness home. In due time Waterbury attracted to itself inhabitants, and to- wards the end of the year 1800 there were a suffi- cient number of persons holding Baptist sentiments to lead to the formation of a Baptist church, and Mr. Butler was chosen and ordained its pastor, which office he held over thirty years. Being a person of superior education he was called to fill various civil offices, as town clerk, jus- tice of the peace, and representative for several terms to the General Assembly of Vermont. For a number of years he was chief justice for Wash- ington County. From 1813 to 1815 he was a mem- ber of Congress, and for two years he was governor of the State. ‘‘ His administration as governor was distinguished chiefly by a vigorous and successful effort for the suppression of lotteries, and by some essential improvement in the system of common school education.”’ In 1836 he officiated as one of the electors of the President of the United States. Amidst-all the responsibilities connected with the civil trusts committed to his hands he never lost sight of the higher office which he held as an ambas- sador of Christ. While he was governor of the State an extensive revival was in progress in his own town, in which he took the deepest interest, his heart being greatly gladdened by the circumstance that several members of his own family were among its fruits. Gov. Butler died July 12, 1838, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. In the report of the travels of Messrs. Cox and Hoby—a deputation from the Baptist churches in England to the Baptist churches in this country— we find the following extract taken from Dr. Sprague’s ‘ Annals.”’ The language is Mr. Hoby’s: ‘At Waterbury I paid a visit to Gov. Butler, who, you remember, though a pastor in our de- nomination, had once the honor of being governor of the State of Vermont. His eye is not so dimmed with age but that you may clearly discern that it was once expressive of the intelligence and energy equal to the responsibilities of such an office, how- ever undesirable it may be to blend it with pastoral engagements. Forever let his name be honored among those who steadfastly determined and la- bored with untiring zeal to disencumber the State of the burden of a religious establishment, and re- ligion of the manifold evils of State patronage. As he walked towards the town he told me that fifty years ago he cleared the first spot in this cultivated district, which was then all wilderness. Now his children’s children are growing up around him, to inherit the land and the liberties (??) owe so lit- erally to their fathers.” From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart photo from findagrave