Charles Butler, son of B. Butler and Hannah Tylee, was born on February 15, 1802 in Kinderhook Landing, Columbia County, New York. He married Eliza Abigail Ogden on October 10, 1825, in Walton, Delaware County, New York. They had five children: Abraham Ogden Butler, Emily Ogden Butler, Arthur Bronson Butler, Charles Butler Jr., and Eliza Anna Butler.
Martin Harris visited Charles Butler when seeking a loan to cover the cost of publishing the Book of Mormon.[1] At the time, Charles was not only a lawyer but president of the Union Theological Seminary.[2] According to journalist James Gordon Bennett, who produced the earliest known written account of what Martin Harris said about his trip to New York, Harris told Charles Butler that Anthon “said that he did not know what language [the caractors] were” and referred Harris to Dr. Samuel Mitchill.[3]
Charles died on December 13, 1897 in Manhattan, New York. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The following was etched on the gravestone of Charles Butler:
Loving and devoted in every relation of life. Large hearted, liberal, patriotic and devout. A leader in civic and Christian efforts for the public good. Honorably identified with the growth and development of his native state and of the west. Associated for over sixty years with the New York University and the Union Theological Seminary of New York. For many years and at the time of his death President of both corporations.[4]
[1] Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:274.
[2] “North America, Family Histories, 1500–2000,” Ancestry.com.
[3] “History, circa June 1839–circa1841 [Draft 2],” in Joseph Smith Papers;Backman, Joseph Smith’s First Vision, p. 30
[4] “Charles Butler,” in Find a Grave Index.