Samuel Butcher
Occupation: Miner
Born: N/A
Birthplace: N/A
Died: N/A
Details regarding Samuel Butcher’s time in Leadville are unclear. Harriet and Fred Rochlin, writing in Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West, refer to a Sam Butcher who worked in the mining industry during the city’s early years.
A few Jews did make industrial mining their lifelong trade. Sam Butcher, a strapping Hungarian Jew who came to Colorado in 1875, worked in Leadville and later in Cripple Creek hacking out a living and a reputation as an able hard-rock miner and blaster. Aware that miners could be abusively anti-Semitic – he had seen a man beaten for no other reason than that he was Jewish – Butcher took pains to conceal his identity. A Leadville tailor, however, gave away the Hungarian’s secret. Challenged by a knot of tough miners to cite a single Jew in their line, the tailor could not resist naming his muscular coreligionist. By then, however, Butcher was an accepted member of the hard-rock miners’ fraternity, and the revelation was received with nothing more than surprise and disbelief. [1]
The authors did not cite the source for the above information, and we have been unable to find the source through our own research.
The name Samuel Butcher does appear in Leadville newspapers from 1879 to 1880 in reference to a court case between Samuel and the Bald Mountain Tunnel Co. [2] regarding the transfer of one-sixth mine shares for the Little Tremont from Butcher to W. L. Wright and D. C. Barringer. [3] This Samuel Butcher’s clear connection to the mining industry indicates that he could have been the individual described in Pioneer Jews; however, no one by the name of Sam or Samuel Butcher, born in Hungary or of an appropriate age to be working in mining appears in Colorado census records in 1880 or 1885. Further, Leadville’s city directories between 1879 [4] and 1887 never listed an individual named Samuel Butcher. While a rag seller named Samuel Butcher does appear in Leadville’s 1888 city directory, [5] three Samuel Butchers – one of whom was a miner – are listed in Denver’s city directory for the same year. [6] The absence of vital information while Samuel was in Leadville makes it difficult to single him out from the numerous others who shared his name throughout Colorado.
An Austro-Hungarian [7] Jew named Samuel Butcher did live in Denver, Colorado, reportedly for forty-five years by the date of his death on May 24, 1945. [8] This Samuel married twice: first to Kate Feldman on April 7, 1889, [9] and second to Anna Rosenthal on April 16, 1912. [10] He was a member of the 24th Street Synagogue, [11] otherwise known as Denver’s Beth HaMedrosh Hagadol (BMH) and known today as Beth HaMedrosh Hagodol-Beth Joseph after merging with Beth Joseph. He is buried at Aurora’s Mount Nebo Cemetery in Aurora, Colorado. [12]
Lacking vital records for the Samuel Butcher found in Leadville makes it difficult to state with certainty that he was the same Samuel Butcher in Denver. To further complicate matters, Denver’s city directories typically reported Samuel’s occupation as real estate, [13] never mining. While it is possible that they are the same person, the absence of conclusive primary sources that tie the two together does not permit us to make such a claim.
1 Harriet and Fred Rochlin, Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984), P38.
2 District Court (Leadville, CO: Leadville Daily Chronicle), May 8, 1879, P1.
3 The Mines (Leadville, CO: Leadville Weekly Herald), March 20, 1880, P1.
4 1879 was the first year publication year for Leadville’s city directories.
5 J. H. Ballenger and W. H. Richards, Ballenger & Richards’ Ninth Annual Leadville City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. in the City of Leadville, for 1888 (Leadville, CO: Ballenger & Richards, Publishers, 1888), P81.
6 T. B. Corbett and J. H. Ballenger, Corbett & Ballenger’s Sixteenth Annual Denver City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. in the City of Denver, for 1888 (Denver, CO: Corbett & Ballenger, Publishers, 1888), P198.
7 Census records reported Samuel Butcher’s birthplace as Austria during the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and as Hungary after its dissolution.
8 Obituaries (Denver, CO: Intermountain Jewish News), May 31, 1945, P11.
9 “Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/55536:61366?tid=&pid=&queryId=9ee385141516da589640819fae763c2a&_phsrc=mFk190&_phstart=successSource: accessed May 2, 2023), marriage record report for Samuel Butcher and Kate Fieldman (Feldman); citing Marriage Records, Colorado Marriages (Denver: State Archives, Denver, Colorado, n.d.), film no. 001690059.
10 “Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/55537:61366?tid=&pid=&queryId=cdab7660da0a3f4505392ee9f3e1f473&_phsrc=mFk203&_phstart=successSource: accessed May 2, 2023), marriage record report for Samuel Butcher and Annie Rosenthal; citing Marriage Records, Colorado Marriages (Denver: State Archives, Denver, Colorado, n.d.), film no. 001690059.
11 Obituaries, May 31, 1945, P11.
12 Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77705723/samuel-butcher: accessed May 2, 2023), memorial page for Samuel Butcher (1857 – May 25, 1945), Find a Grave Memorial ID 77705723; citing Mount Nebo Memorial Park, Aurora, Arapahoe County, Colorado, USA, maintained by WalksWithAngels (contributor 47205696).
13 J. H. Ballenger and W. H. Richards, Fifty-Fifth Year Ballenger & Richards Denver Directory and Classified Buyers Guide 1927 Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. (Denver, CO: The Gazetteer Publishing and Printing Co., 1927), P730.
Bibliography
Ballenger, J. H. and W. H. Richards. Ballenger & Richards’ Ninth Annual Leadville City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. in the City of Leadville, for 1888. Leadville, CO: Ballenger & Richards, Publishers, 1888.
Ballenger, J. H. and W. H. Richards. Fifty-Fifth Year Ballenger & Richards Denver Directory and Classified Buyers Guide 1927 Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. Denver, CO: The Gazetteer Publishing and Printing Co., 1927.
“Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006.” Database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/55536:61366?tid=&pid=&queryId=9ee385141516da589640819fae763c2a&_phsrc=mFk190&_phstart=successSource: accessed May 2, 2023). Marriage record report for Samuel Butcher and Kate Fieldman (Feldman); citing Marriage Records, Colorado Marriages. Denver: State Archives, Denver, Colorado, n.d. Film no. 001690059.
“Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006.” Database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/55537:61366?tid=&pid=&queryId=cdab7660da0a3f4505392ee9f3e1f473&_phsrc=mFk203&_phstart=successSource: accessed May 2, 2023. Marriage record report for Samuel Butcher and Annie Rosenthal; citing Marriage Records, Colorado Marriages. Denver: State Archives, Denver, Colorado, n.d. Film no. 001690059.
Corbett, T. B. and J. H. Ballenger. Corbett & Ballenger’s Sixteenth Annual Denver City Directory: Containing a Complete List of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, Etc. in the City of Denver, for 1888. Denver, CO: Corbett & Ballenger, Publishers, 1888.
District Court. Leadville, CO: Leadville Daily Chronicle. May 8, 1879.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77705723/samuel-butcher: accessed May 2, 2023). Memorial page for Samuel Butcher (1857 – May 25, 1945). Find a Grave Memorial ID 77705723; citing Mount Nebo Memorial Park, Aurora, Arapahoe County, Colorado, USA. Maintained by WalksWithAngels (contributor 47205696).
Obituaries. Denver, CO: Intermountain Jewish News. May 31, 1945.
Rochlin, Harriet and Fred. Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.
The Mines. Leadville, CO: Leadville Weekly Herald. March 20, 1880.
To cite any of the information in this biography, please use the following reference.
AUTHOR: Quinn Whittington
EDITOR: William Korn
SOURCE: Jewish Surnames/Butcher
PUBLISHED BY: Temple Israel Foundation. Leadville, CO; USA. 2023
STABLE URL: http://www.jewishleadville.org/Butcher.html
