Benjamin Butterworth

Benjamin Butterworth (October 22, 1837 – January 16, 1898) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a U.S. representative from Ohio and commissioner of patents.

Biography Butterworth was born near Maineville, Ohio, on October 22, 1837. Butterworth attended the common schools of Warren County, the academy in Maineville, and Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

"His father was a Virginia planter, who, notwithstanding his property Interests, was so devoted to the cause of universal liberty that he freed his slaves and removed with his family to Ohio. In that state, he became associated with Levi Coffin in the Underground Railroad and assisted fugitive slaves until the close of the war."

Butterworth studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1861 and commenced practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was appointed assistant United States district attorney in 1868, and served as member of the Ohio Senate in 1874 and 1875.

He was appointed secretary of the 1893 World's Fair Columbian Exposition project at Chicago during the early 1890s and was widely recognized for his role in the success of that enterprise.

Butterworth was regarded as "one of Ohio's big four politically". The quartet was William McKinley, Joseph Benson Foraker, Charlie Foster and Butterworth. He died January 16, 1898, from a severe attack of pneumonia, at Thomasville, Georgia, where he had gone for his health.