Chester Pierce Butler

Chester Pierce Butler (March 21, 1798 – October 5, 1850) was an American politician and lawyer who served as an Anti-Masonic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and later as a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where he spent much of his life and built a career that combined legal practice, educational leadership, and public service.

Butler received his early education at the Wilkes-Barre Academy, an important local institution in the Wyoming Valley. He went on to attend Princeton College (now Princeton University), from which he graduated in 1817. Demonstrating an early commitment to education in his home community, he returned to Wilkes-Barre and became a trustee of Wilkes-Barre Academy in 1818, a position he held for two decades until 1838. During this period he also served as secretary of the academy, helping to oversee its administration and development.

After completing his collegiate studies, Butler pursued legal training at the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, one of the leading law schools in the United States in the early nineteenth century. He studied law there and was admitted to the bar in 1820. Upon admission, he established a private legal practice in Wilkes-Barre, where he built a professional reputation as an attorney. His legal expertise and local prominence soon led to his appointment as register and recorder of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, a post he held from 1821 to 1824, managing important public records and legal documentation for the county.

Butler’s political career began at the state level. He was first elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1832 as a member of the Anti-Masonic Party, reflecting the influence of that movement in Pennsylvania politics during the period. He later aligned with the Whig Party and returned to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Whig in 1838, 1839, and 1843. Through these nonconsecutive terms, he participated in state legislative deliberations during a time of evolving party structures and significant debate over economic development, internal improvements, and the role of state government.

Advancing to national office, Butler was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses, representing Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives. His service in Congress, covering the period from March 4, 1847, until his death in 1850, occurred during a significant era in American history marked by the Mexican–American War, debates over territorial expansion, and intensifying sectional tensions over slavery. As a member of the Whig Party representing Pennsylvania, Chester Pierce Butler contributed to the legislative process during his two terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents in the national legislature.

Butler’s congressional service was cut short by his death in office. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 1850, while still serving in the Thirty-first Congress. Following his death, he was interred in Hollenback Cemetery in his native Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, returning to the community where he had been born, educated, and long engaged in public and professional life.