Grave Coordinates: (37.4147502, -79.1555822)
Daniel Butler was known by many in and around Lynchburg as a “scholar, orator, poet, politician, and a leader of his people.” Impressively, he had earned all of these titles and more before he turned 25.
Butler was born June 17, 1874, in Lynchburg to Royal and Mary Butler, both of whom were born enslaved. Butler’s parents worked hard in various jobs to build a life and modest wealth for themselves and their family. They were able to send Daniel to a private school at the age of five. At the age of seven, he entered Lynchburg’s public schools, from which he graduated as valedictorian in 1892. Even during his earliest days in school, his teachers noticed his intellect, leading one of them to remark that Butler was “more than the average scholar” and that he was “first rank among his classmates.”
However, it was Butler’s entry into the political arena in 1898 that is perhaps the most interesting and remarkable chapter of his life. During the Republican Convention of the Sixth Virginia Congressional District, two separate groups of delegates argued as to who truly represented the Republican Party in the district. The argument became so intense that one of the African American delegates, William Merchant, was escorted out of the building by the Sergeant-at-Arms. When this occurred, many of the other African American delegates, including Butler, followed Merchant to Fifth Street, where they held their own convention in True Reformers Hall. During this “Bolter’s Convention,” as it became known, Butler was chosen to be that faction’s candidate for Congress. Meanwhile, at the original convention, Charles A. Heermans of Christiansburg, a White man, was nominated as that faction’s candidate.
From the beginning, Butler and the other delegates felt sure that Butler would defeat Heermans in the election. Their confidence came, in part, from the fact that 90% of the district’s Republican vote was cast by African Americans. However, not all of the area’s African American leaders planned to vote for Butler. According to one account, Rev. Phillip F. Morris of Court Street Baptist Church declared that he would deliver the votes of all of his congregation to the conservative Democratic candidate. As a result, his church split, and Eighth Street Baptist Church was formed. Butler was undeterred and campaigned in every county and city within the Sixth District, giving impressive speeches at every rally.
Although the newspapers praised Butler, most realized that the split Republican Party would likely result in defeat. Rumors circulated that the Democratic Party had hired Butler to run against Heermans just to split the ticket. When the ballots were counted, Butler defeated Heermans but not the Democrat candidate, Major Peter J. Otey. In fact, when the two Republican candidates’ votes were totaled, they still only amounted to approximately half of Otey’s votes.
Shortly after the election, Butler’s political connections earned him a coveted appointment to the position of mail clerk in the Lynchburg Post Office. After living briefly in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a hotel waiter, Butler returned to Lynchburg and was an agent for the National Benefit Life Insurance Company. For the remainder of his life, he continued to learn, write poetry, and stay involved in politics.
Butler married Lillie Whitlock of Lynchburg in 1901, and they had 10 children together. Daniel and Lillie divorced around 1920 while the family was living in Boston. She remained there until her death in 1942, and he returned to Lynchburg to live with his widowed mother and sister. On November 8, 1942, Butler died at the age of 68 while traveling by train near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was brought home for burial in the Butler family plot with his parents.
Due to discriminatory laws passed during the decades following his defeat in the 1898 election, Butler was the last African American from Lynchburg to run for city, state, or federal office for nearly half a century.
References
Ferguson Harry F, The participation of the Lynchburg, Virginia Negro in politics 1865–1900, Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 22, 1898, p4
