Martin Butterfield

Martin Butterfield (December 8, 1790 – August 6, 1866) was a United States Representative from New York.

Born in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, he attended the common schools, farmed, and was active in the Grafton Agricultural Society. In 1828 he moved to Palmyra, Wayne County, New York. He engaged in the hardware business and also in the manufacture of rope and cordage. Butterfield continued to farm, was active in Palmyra's Union Agricultural Society and served as its President.

He was active in the Episcopal Church, and was a delegate to diocese conventions and other meetings. In 1843 he was one of several Palmyra residents who signed a public letter stating that they personally knew Joseph Smith, and that in their view he was not trustworthy, and that his claims of religious visions and revelations leading to publication of the Book of Mormon should not be believed.

Butterfield was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1848 and was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth Congress, holding office from March 4, 1859 to March 3, 1861; he was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.

Butterfield declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1860 and resumed his former business and agricultural pursuits. He died in Palmyra on August 6, 1866 and was buried Palmyra Cemetery.

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