Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler

The narrative delves into his upbringing, family background, and the significant events that shaped his character and faith, highlighting his experiences against the backdrop of social and religious movements of the time. At the start of the work, the author's daughter, Mrs. Rosetta B. Hastings, explains her intent to supplement her father's written recollections with her memories and insight into his life, underscoring his modesty and the challenges he faced. The opening chapters introduce the reader to Butler's family lineage, their migration patterns, and his formative years characterized by hardship, determination, and a commitment to religious principles. These personal details set the stage for a broader narrative about the religious fervor of the time, including the emergence of Christian movements and controversies surrounding slavery, as Butler navigated his roles as both a preacher and a community member amidst the tumultuous social landscape of 19th-century America.

I had been employed for one year in Iowa as a co-laborer with Bro. N. A. McConnell; but the church at Davenport, which was the strongest and richest church in the Cooperation, determined to sustain a settled pastor, and this left the churches too poor to support two preachers, and I was left to find another field of labor. When I first came to Cedar County I came simply as a farmer; and there were but nine families in the township in which we settled. But when the country came to be settled up the result was not favorable to the expectation that we should have prosperous churches in that region. Those who have watched the progress of the temperance reform in Iowa have noticed that, while the prohibitory law is enforced almost throughout the State, there are yet exceptions in the cities of Davenport and Muscatine and the adjacent counties. Here the law is set at defiance. This is owing to the presence of a German, lager-beer-drinking, law-defying population, Godless and Christ-