Butler, Preston

Born: 1817-XX-XX Kentucky

Preston Butler was a grocer, daguerreotypist, and postmaster. Little is known about Butler's early life. By 1839, he was living in Decatur, Illinois, where he operated a grocery business and a daguerreotype studio. In May 1843, Butler married Catharine Laughlin, with whom he would have four children. An active member of the Whig Party of Macon County, Butler collaborated with fellow Whigs in corresponding with county parties in Decatur's congressional district to promote the use of conventions to select candidates for political office. From March 1849 to September 1851, Butler served as postmaster for Decatur. In 1850, Butler was working as a grocer in Decatur and living with his wife and three children. He owned real estate valued at $600. In 1856, Butler moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he intended to open a daguerreotype establishment. He purchased the Isles' daguerreotype studio on the south side of the Capitol Square, and in April 1856, he began advertising his new gallery. Butler made daguerreotypes, but he specialized in patented double glass ambrotypes. Between 1858 and 1860, Butler took approximately eleven pictures of Abraham Lincoln; he also made pictures of Mary Lincoln and possibly the Lincoln children. In 1860, Butler listed his occupation as artist; he owned real property valued at $600, and had a personal estate of $200. Butler returned to Decatur in 1864.

Mabel E. Richmond, Centennial History of Decatur and Macon County (Decatur: Decatur Review, 1930), 103, 157; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 18 May 1843, 2:6; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 March 1856, 3:1; 5 April 1856, 2:4; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), *471; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, DeWitt County, 15 May 1843, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), *528; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Macon County, IL, 127; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 221; Lloyd Ostendorf, "The Photographs of Mary Todd Lincoln," Journal of Illinois State Historical Society 61 (Autumn 1968), 280.