El
Dorado County
Biographies
LOWRY T. BUTTS
The
oldest public eating place in Placerville is the Forum Café, which was
established and still operated by Lowry T. Butts, who has been a resident of
this city for the past thirty years. He
was born on a farm in Montgomery County, Illinois, on the 2nd of
September, 1867, and is a son of Nathaniel G. and Sarah (Hampton) Butts. The family first came to California in
1870. The mother’s death occurred at
Angel Camp, Calaveras County, and the father took his family back east, where
they remained until April 1888, when the family again came to the coast by mule
team via northern trail, locating at Modesto, where the father was employed in
farming until his death. Lowry T. Butts
received his education in the public schools, after which for fourteen years he
was engaged in farming in Stanislaus County, this state. Selling his interests there, he came to
Placerville on July 3, 1901, and was for three years engaged in the contracting
business. In 1904 he opened a grocery
store, which he conducted for seven years, when he disposed of it and embarked
on his present enterprise, the Forum Café, in the conduct of which he has been
very successful. His place is modern in
its furnishings and equipment and is run in a manner that has attracted a large
number of regular customers, besides a considerable tourist trade. Mr. Butts in the third oldest business man
here, having been in Placerville since 1904.
Mr.
Butts was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Millican,
of Stanislaus County, this state, and they are the parents of two sons, Leslie
T. and Clare, both of whom are associated with their father in the
restaurant. There are also two
grandchildren. In his political views
Mr. Butts is a democrat and takes a deep interest in public affairs. He is a Knight Templar Mason, a Noble of the
Mystic Shrine, and a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and various civic
organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Butts are
both greatly interested in children, among whom they are very popular, even
their grandchildren addressing them familiarly as “Dad” and “Ma.” They are well liked throughout their
community, and they have well merited the success which is theirs.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 203-204. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies