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Facts and Events
Notes
- 1831 - changed his surname to Butler in accordance with the will of his maternal grandfather, so that he and his brother John could inherit a half share of the biggest estate on the Altamaha River (worth $700,000)
- owner, Butler Island rice plantation in Georgia
- 1834 - married British actress Fanny Kemble
- 1839 - had 715 slaves working the Butler Island plantation and a cotton plantation on St. Simon's Island
- 1849 - Fanny divorced him due to differing opinions on slavery ; he won custody of their 2 daughters
- Abt 1850 - sold "Butler Place", his grandfather's country home in Germantown, PA
- 1856 - sold his grandfather's house on Chestnut St. in Philadelphia for $30,000
- 1859 - sold 436 slaves at the Ten Broeck Racetrack outside Savannah, GA for $300,000 - the largest single slave auction in US history
- 1863 - Fanny published Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 to educate the public about the conditions on her ex-husband's plantations
- 1867 - when he died his estate was worth approximately $1 million
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