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Below is a family biography included in The History of Bedford County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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JOHN S. BUTLER, clerk and master of the chancery court of Bedford County, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., March 13, 1832, being one of nine children raised by William S. and Nancy E. (Campbell) Butler. The father was a native of North Carolina and came to Shelbyville in 1816, and till 1830 pursued the carpenter’s trade. In 1819 he removed to Rutherford County, where he married the mother, and followed farming after 1830. He died in 1873; the mother is still living. The subject of this sketch engaged at the age of eighteen on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, occupying various positions, among which were, conductor, telegraph operator, ticket and express agent, remaining in that employ for eleven years. He enlisted in Maney’s First Tennessee Regiment, Confederate States Army, and was captain on the first and second organization of Company F. He was appointed military superintendent of telegraph lines in 1863, of Bragg’s division, and served in that capacity throughout the remainder of the war. After the war he lived one year in Nashville as agent of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad. In 1866 he came to Shelbyville and engaged at farming and saw-milling and still continues farming. He was elected magistrate of the Twenty-first District about 1876, and September 5, 1883, was appointed to his present office. Politically he is a Democrat. In 1866 he was married to Mary A. Sims, a native of this county. Four children have been born to this union, viz.: Nancy J., Laura, Mary and John S.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in The History of Bedford County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Bedford County was included within The History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Beford and Marshall Counties of Tennessee

View additional Bedford County, Tennessee family biographies here

View a historic 1888 map of Bedford County, Tennessee

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