Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/269



OHN GEORGE BUTLER, clergyman, is descended from old revolutionary stock, and was born in Cumberland, Maryland, January 28, 1826. His grandfather. Reverend John George Butler, whose name he inherited, was for many years a well-knovn pioneer minister of the Evangelical Lutheran church, in various sections of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and had been a soldier in the American war for independence. His father, Jonathan Butler, carried on merchandizing, held strong antislavery views, was in the forefront in Christian work and was noted for his generous catholic spirit.

A very important part of Mr. Butler's education was gained behind his father's counter, in managing country stores, several of which his father owned. He spent a number of years intermittently at Cumberland academy; and, in 1846, he was admitted to Pennsylvania college, at Gettysburg, where he took a partial course in preparation for the ministry, supplementing with a full theological course in the Lutheran seminary at Gettysburg. In 1849, he received a call to St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, Washington, District of Columbia, and held that pastorate for nearly twenty-four years. St. Paul's was then a struggling mission, the only English Lutheran church in the city, and able to give its pastor but $400 salary.

St. Paul's pulpit was perhaps the first in Washington to declare itself unequivocably for the Union. The result of the firm stand by the pastor was that a few of the strongly Southern members withdrew, but many others came, and the church was filled to overflowing. Out of this condition grew the thought of Lutheran enlargement. A lot was secured, a chapel erected, and Sunday-school and preaching services begun. Finally in 1873 with about fifty members from St. Paul's, a congregation was organized with Mr, Butler as pastor. The church edifice proper was dedicated in 1874.

The name given the new organization was "Memorial," a "Memorial of God's goodness in delivering the nation from bondage and war, and of the restoration of peace."