Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3087ing place on the roll of the honored pioneers of this now favored and opulentcounty.Noah B. Butt was reared and educated under the conditions of what maybe designated as the middle pioneer era in the history of Marion County,and in his youth he learned the trade of carriage-making, which he followedas a vocation for many years, at Buena Vista, where he maintained a shop inwhich he turned out the stanchest of vehicle's, including wagons as well ascarriages. After his retirement from this line of enterprise he resumed hisassociation with agricultural pursuits, as one of the prosperous planters ofhis native county, and he was seventy years of age at the time of his death,in 1913, his sterling character and worthy achievement having given himinviolable place in popular esteem. When the Civil war was precipitated onthe nation Noah B. Butt was one of the valiant young men of Georgia whowent forth in defense of the Confederate cause, in which he made a recordof gallant and meritorious service, as a participant in many of the mostimportant battles in which the commands of General Lee and General Longstreetwere involved. He enlisted in May, 1861, as a member of CompanyH, Fifty-ninth Georgia Infantry, and continued with his command until theclose of the war, his good fortune having been to escape all wounds save oneof minor order. iHis more gracious memories and associations of army lifewere in later years perpetuated through his affiliation with the United Confederate Veterans, and his political allegiance was given unreservedly to thedemocratic party. His widow still resides in the old homestead and has beena resident of Marion County since the time of her birth, in 1854. She is adaughter of the late Francis and Harriet (Belk) Duke, and her father was.one of the substantial pioneers and successful agriculturists of this county.Mrs. Butt is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,and her husband held the faith of the Baptist Church. Of their eight children Judge John C., subject of this review, is the eldest; Henrietta, who wasafforded the advantages of the Georgia State Normal School at Athens, is nowa successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Buena Vista; William A. is an expert machinist and is employed in railroad shops at Columbus,Georgia; Richard Frank holds a position 1 as a skilled machinist in railroadshops at Macon, this state; Moses D. is a successful cotton clerk at Columbus;Noah B., Jr/, is more specifically mentioned in the closing paragraphs of thisarticle; Harry I. is a mechanic by vocation and maintains his home at BuenaVista; Annie V. is the wife of Leroy Hirshberg, of Carrollton, Carroll County.Judge John C. Butt made good use of the advantages afforded him in thepublic schools of Buena Vista, and as a lad of ten years he assumed the dignified office of page of the House of Representatives of the Georgia Legislature, the prerogatives of which post he effectively discharged during theyears from 1884 to 1887, inclusive. At the age of seventeen years he beganto lend vigorous aid in the work and management of his father's farm, andhe continued to remain at the parental home until he had attained to theage *f twenty-two years, when he began reading law under the able preceptorshipof Hon. J. E. Sheppard, a leading member of the Buena Vista bar.In 1897 he proved himself eligible for and was admitted to the bar of hisnative state, upon examination before Judge William B. Butt, who was thenpresiding on the bench of the Superior Court of Marion County and whoviewed with satisfaction the preferment which he was thus able to accord tohis aspiring and ambitious nephew. After his admission to the bar the present judge of the Marion County Court of Ordinary, engaged in the practiceof his profession at Buena Vista, where his technical resourcefulness andclose application soon gained to him marked success and prestige, with concomitant clientage of representative oj-der. He continued his active laborsas a general practitioner until 1904, when he was elected to the office of ordinary of his native county, a position in which he has since continued to serve