Featured Box made in 1868. Looking for some info on it

Googled I.C. Butterfield 1889
It was the second or third item shown.

Maybe @Bakersgma can check ancestry

 

Amazing!

Sorcery...

 

Okie dokie. This had been a very interesting search. Found no I C Butterfield, but I found 3 J C Butterfield's in Illinois in the late 1800's - oldest born 1823 in New Hampshire, middle born 1852 in New Hampshire, youngest born 1866 in Illinois. All 3 are named John C Butterfield.

Both the men born in New Hampshire were living in Chicago in 1880 and listed their occupations as "machinist." The youngest was only 2 when the wood collection started, but in 1900 he lists his occupation a carpenter.

The oldest - listed a in published history of his family as John Charles Butterfield, but in his widow's will listed as John Coolidge Butterfield - was a "noted inventor" and holder of the patent on a "stamp mill" for crushing gold quartz, claimed to be the "best" in use in California at the time of his death (1887.) The family book says he died in North Carolina, but his will was probated in Chicago. He and his wife had no children, so the John C born in 1852 is not their son, but may be a nephew. His widow died in 1892 (Chicago) and her will leaves everything, including the patents she inherited, to a George Day Butterfield (name at birth George Edgar Day) who they had raised from infancy (born about 1855 in Massachusetts.)

The 1852 John C Butterfield removed to St Louis, Missouri by 1900.

The 1866 John C Butterfield was apparently born in Stephenson County, IL and was still in the county in 1900 when he was listed as a carpenter. But by 1910 he had moved his family to Yakima, Washington, where they remained.

I favor the oldest of the 3 as the possible collector of the wood, but wonder whether someone else made the box from the samples.

 

Interesting. Thank you
I know when it comes to silver a lot of the old J initials were written as I.

None of them were listed as homeopathic doctors?

 

Nope, no doctors. Keep in mind that the 1890 Census was lost in a fire, so the only census records available online between 1880 and 1900 were done by states or cities and do not cover the entire country. Without knowing where that doctor lived at any other time, I started my search with "lived in Chicago" and only got the 3 I mentioned.

Medical training took much less time back then than it does now, so with a graduation year smack in the middle of the 1880-1900 gap it's impossible to say where your J C Butterfield was from. It's also likely that he was born in the 1860s, making a connection to the start date for the wood collection awkward.

 

Wow thank you that is impressive

 

I'll snap a pic of the branding later today.

 

Bakers
I found these:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=50392496&df=all&

https://familysearch.org/search/col...~ +surname:Butterfield~&collection_id=2171435

https://books.google.com/books?id=w...ield Waukegan, Lake, Illinois, United&f=false

 

Good finds, Cluttered. As is well-illustrated here, no single search is perfect.

And I just figured out why I got no results for I C Butterfield. The one you found did not use his middle initial in census records. But he was a carpenter!

The other interesting thing is that there are 2 different Find-A-Grave records - this one is for the same person, but lacks the middle name.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=35230841&ref=acom

 

What an interesting post!

First off, I love the box. I read the description and when I scrolled down, I actually called out, "OH!" when I saw the photo. It is a stunner!

Equally impressed w/the research skills here.

 

Yes me too! Butterfield road is actually a pretty popular road that's used in the n. Suburbs of Chicago along the lake. could be relation to whom the road was named after. Butterfield doesn't really seem like that common of a name.

 

I did a little looking, and I think it's likely that Butterfield Road was named for Lyman Butterfield, an early settler of DuPage County (that county borders on Cook County, where Chicago is, for anybody who doesn't know).

Whether the person who made the box is related to Lyman Butterfield would be a good question to investigate.

By the way, as a diversion... the musician Paul Butterfield (of Paul Butterfield Blues Band that played at the Woodstock festival in 1969) was born in Chicago. He could have been related, too.

 

i know nothing about your piece but that is pretty cool and for the age its also really nicely kept.

 

AWESOME piece, and AWESOME history search Ladies!!!!!!!!!