144:âHe became interested in packet boats on the canal, and in steamboats on Lake Ontario, in the construction of plank roads leading to Utica and was the originator of its street railroads. He more than any other secured the building of the Black River and Southern railroads. When the practical uses of the electrical telegraph were demonstrated he joined Faxton, Wells, Livingston and others in establishing the New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Company, and urged the extension of other lines and companies. âŚHe was a pioneer in the transportation business, and aided in developing it from the crude methods of the stage coach to those of the fast trains of our own time.â
157:
William Fargo was from Pompei, NY (50-miles from Utica) and their express companies of Wells & Co., and
Livingston, Fargo & Co. became competitors of Butterfield, Wasson & Co. Butterfield saw the benefit of forming one company by consolidating the three separate companies. In 1850, The American Express Company was formed from the three companies into one consisting of two subdivisions. The company's subdivision of Wells, Butterfield & Co. would control the express business from Buffalo, NY, to the east, and the subdivision of Livingston, Fargo & Co. would control the express business from Buffalo to St. Louis, Missouri.
209:
123:âIn early life we find him in the employment of Thorpe & Sprague, of that city , as a driver, and through the solicitation of Mr. Theodore S. Faxton came to Utica , where he for a time was employed in picking up passengers from the taverns and boats for Parkerâs stages. After a time, he started a livery with but small accommodations. His connection to Parker & Co. continued so long as they were still in business, and was succeeded by lines of his own, wherein he was a leading manager in the State until staging was superseded by railroads.â
764:
152:âIn 1849 he formed the express company of Butterfield, Wasson & Co. being among the first who saw the profit to be gained by the rapid carriage of merchandise that would bear express charges. The success of that important enterprise was largely owing to him; he was a directing power in it during his life and reaped from its great distinction and pecuniary power. Later the business was conducted and is still known as the American Express Company, among the greatest corporations of the countryâ
174:
and cost $ 3,500,000 to build and maintain. Some of the money was borrowed from the banks of express companies such as Adams
Express and Wells, Fargo & Co. Express. William B. Dinsmore, who was also president of Adams Express Co., was the second largest stockholder and was Vice President of Butterfieldâs Overland Mail Company. The largest lender may have been Wells, Fargo & Co. Express, since they were the most successful of the express companies.
603:, Vol. XLV, No. 4, December 1966, A New Look at Wells Fargo, Stagecoaches and the Pony Express, pp. 291-324. Jackson was a paid consultant for Wells, Fargo & Co. In 1968 a complete and clear rebuttal was made by Waddell F. Smith, the grandson of one of the founders of the Pony Express, to Jacksonâs article stating that there was no ownership by Wells, Fargo & Co. of the Overland Mail Company. Waddell F. Smith,
33:
569:, Letter from The Postmaster General, 46th Congress, 3d Session, Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 21. This government document is thirty-seven pages long for the six-year contract made with John Butterfield and includes all the variations made to the contract. It should also be noted that the Pony Express was made part of the Overland Mail Company contract on March 12, 1861.
582:, Winter 2005-2006. Volume 23, Number 4, âThe Abbot, Downing & Companyâs Famous Thirty Stagecoaches: The Wells Fargo & Company Order, October 8, 1867,â pp. 142-157. This article is about the first order ever made for stagecoaches by Wells, Fargo & Co. Wheeling is considered to be the foremost authority concerning the history of Concord stages.â
251:
173:
Congressional authorized researcher
Sanders put into perspective Wells, Fargo & Co.âs only direct involvement with the Butterfield Overland Mail Company. He stated âWells Fargo may have run a âtrunk routeâ off the Butterfield in LA but it was NOT Butterfield per se.â The line was very expensive
177:
Ownership of the six-year contract for John
Butterfieldâs Overland Mail Company was by stockholders only and therefore any ownership was as stated on the stock certificates. Nowhere in the six-year contract, with all its various changes from 1858 to 1864, is the name of Wells, Fargo & Co. to be
444:
It is often erroneously stated that âWarrenâ was John
Butterfieldâs middle name. There is no primary source for this common error. He signed his stock certificates with only John Butterfield. Most important is his signed name of John Butterfield on his will which must be his legal full name. Also,
165:
The
Resource Study Act, to designate the Butterfield Trail as a National Historic Trail, was authorized under the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (Public Law 111-11) signed by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The act was completed and in June 2018 the bill was presented to Congress by
182:âAlthough Wells Fargo & Company shared board members with several stagecoach companies, it was not primarily in the stagecoach business, it was, first and foremost, an express company, concerned with expediting the shipment of almost anything between a paying sender and an intended addressee.
156:
Because of the pioneering success to establish an express company, other entrepreneurs in upstate New York, not far from John
Butterfield's home in Utica, also started express companies by using Butterfield's vast transportation network. Henry Wells was from Auburn, NY (80-miles from Utica), and
136:âMr. Butterfield devoted his attention largely to lines running North and South. At the height of stage coaching he had forty lines running from Utica as headquarters to Ogdensburg and Sacketts Harbor on the North, and South to the Pennsylvania line, and through Chemung and Susquehanna valleys.â
199:
It wasnât until 1867, five years after
Butterfield ceased operations on the Southern Overland Trail, that Wells, Fargo & Co. entered the staging business when they scraped off the name on the transom rails of the Pioneer Stage Line and added their own. The line was operating on the western
195:âNo conclusive evidence has been ever discovered to prove that Wells, Fargo & Co. had outright ownership of the Overland Mail Company and the Pioneer Stage Line on or before July 1, 1861, the date on which the overland mail contract was transferred to the central line.â
119:, on the Van Rensselaer Manor, near Albany. In 1822 Daniel married Malinda Harriet Baker. John was born November 18, 1801, in Berne. He attended schools near his boyhood home, but his education was meager. He was employed in the staging business at an early age.
105:
was the longest stagecoach line in the world. The line operated from 1858 to 1861 on the
Southern Overland Trail and established an important connection between the new state of California and the government and economy of the contiguous eastern states.
114:
John
Butterfield was a descendant of Benjamin Butterfield, who brought his family from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. Benjamin settled in Woburn and settled there as a freeman. John Butterfield's father, Daniel Butterfield, lived at
186:
In the late 1960s, some historians tried to make the case, through deductive reasoning only, that Wells, Fargo & Co. was an active part of Butterfieldâs Overland Mail Company. One of these was Ralph Moody even though he stated in his book
292:, A Cochise County Historical Publication, Vol. 46 -No. 1 â Spring/Summer 2016, 50th Anniversary Issue. All articles were by Gerald T. Ahnert concerning the history of Butterfield's Overland Mail Company.
373:
680:
Presidential Payola: The True Stories of Monetary Scandals in the Oval Office that Robbed Taxpayers to Grease Palms, Stuff Pockets, and Pay for Undue Influence from Teapot Dome to Halliburton
873:
383:
330:
Oregon-California Trails Association, Identifying Butterfield's Overland Mail Company Stages on the Southern Trail, 1858â1861, Volume 32, Number 4, Winter 2014â2015, pp. 140â163.
471:
Edited by Julia Lorrilard Butterfield, The Grafton Press, New York, 1904, pp. 1-2. Note: This reference is authored by the wntains a significant biography for John Butterfield.
309:, a publication of the Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, The Construction of the Butterfield Trail in Eastern Arizona, June 2013, p. 18.
97:(November 18, 1801 â November 14, 1869) was a transportation pioneer in the mid-19th century in the American Northwest and Southwest. He founded many companies, including
323:
a publication of the Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Researching the Butterfield Trail Through Arizona, January 2013, pp. 7â9.
344:
A Service of SCVTV/Local Television for Santa Clarita, California, CEO Leon Worden, Construction of the Overland Mail Co. Stage Line in California, January 2014.
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374:
https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/files/butterfield_overland_mail_company_stagecoaches_and_stage_wagons_used_on_southern_trail_1858-1861_gerald_ahnert.pdf
384:
https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/files/construction_of_butterfield_overland_mail_company_stage_line_in_california_gerald_ahnert_coyright_2013.pdf
823:
595:, University of Nebraska Press, 1998. This book is reprinted from the original 1967 edition by Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York. Noel M. Loomis,
220:(1831â1901), was a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War, and Assistant U.S. Treasurer. Daniel is credited with creating the bugle call
372:
Director Roger Deshi, âButterfield Overland Mail Company Stagecoaches and Stage (Celerity) wagons used on the Southern Trail, 1858-1861,â 2013.
316:
a publication of the Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Arizona's Sentinel Plain, January 2016, pp. 8â12.
236:
84:
687:
662:
858:
863:
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285:, Canastota Publishing, Co. Inc., Canastota, New York, 2011. This book is a comprehensive account of the Butterfield Trail in Arizona.
212:
In 1958 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Overland Mail stage line express.
358:
A Service of SCVTV/Local Television for Santa Clarita, California, CEO Leon Worden, Butterfield Overland Mail Co. Celerity Wagon.
365:
A Service of SCVTV/Local Television for Santa Clarita, California, CEO Leon Worden, Butterfield's Overland Mail, Co. Timetable.
351:
A Service of SCVTV/Local Television for Santa Clarita, California, CEO Leon Worden, Stagecoach or Celerity Wagon, January 2014.
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208:
170:. Kirby Sanders was the consulting historian and lead researcher for the Butterfield study for the National Park Service.
483:
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss, 1878.
382:
Director Roger Deshi, âConstruction of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company Stage Line in California, 1858-1861,â 2013.
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148:
John became aware that there was a need to ship parcels (express) by his varied transportation companies.
632:, Publication of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Vol. 32, No. 4, Winter 2014-2015, pp. 143-145.
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838:
337:
Surviving a Ride of a Butterfield Stagecoach, Volume 53, Number 4, August 2015, pp. 220â225.
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235:
Butterfield died on November 14, 1869, at his home in Utica. Butterfield was buried in
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817:
557:, The Tucson Corral of the Westerners, No. 17, Spring 1868, Tucson, Arizona, p. 150.
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301:
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/butterfields-overland-mail-company-2308/
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in Utica New York, where he lived when the established his first stage coach line.
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607:, The Tucson Corral of the Westerners, No. 17, Spring 1868, Tucson, Arizona.
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The Butterfield Trail and Overland Mail Company in Arizona, 1858-1861
599:, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, 1968. W. Turrentine Jackson,
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132:
He started stage lines based in his hometown of Utica, New York.
528:
This is from his statement to historians on his Facebook site
703:
Booth, Russell H. (December 1977). "Butterfield and 'Taps'".
495:
Oswego, NY, âButterfield Stables Sold,â June 13, 1894, p. 1.
299:
Butterfield's Overland Mail Company, Editor Guy Lancaster.
16:
American businessman and transportation pioneer (1801â1869)
392:(Facebook site) "John Butterfield and the Overland Mail."
682:. Beverly, Massachusetts: Fair Winds Press. p. 59.
505:
A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIAL of GENERAL DANIEL BUTTERFIELD,
469:
A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIAL of GENERAL DANIEL BUTTERFIELD,
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NY, "American Express Company, "April 5, 1850, p. 1.
297:
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture,
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61:
39:
23:
874:Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Utica, New York)
458:. Lowell: Young People's League. 1876. p. 6.
394:https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-butterfield/
8:
418:. Utica Cemetery Association, Utica New York
140:He soon expanded his transportation empire.
601:The California Historical Society Quarterly
226:, a variation of a bugle call known as the
445:only John Butterfield is on his tombstone.
402:. Smithsonian National Postal Museum. 1958
31:
20:
797:John Butterfield and the Overland Express
295:Ahnert, Gerald T. & Nancy Hendricks,
161:John Butterfieldâs Overland Mail Company
567:Contract with the Overland Mail Company
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200:section of the Central Overland Trail.
101:which is still in operation today. The
777:Forest Hill Cemetery, official website
655:Historical Dictionary of the Civil War
290:The Cochise County Historical Journal
7:
869:19th-century American businesspeople
849:Businesspeople from Albany, New York
854:Businesspeople from Utica, New York
809:Berne (New York) Historical Project
642:Smithsonian National Postal Museum
542:Butterfield Overland Trail Friends
530:Butterfield Overland Trail Friends
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103:Butterfield Overland Mail Company
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657:. Scarecrow Press. p. 243.
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249:
824:People of the American Old West
776:
747:. November 15, 1869. p. 3
721:. West-point.org. July 4, 1969
678:Craughwell, Thomas J. (2011).
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792:John Butterfield (Desert USA)
481:HISTORY OF ONEIDA, NEW YORK,
456:Tyngsboro' Centennial Record
859:People from Berne, New York
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719:"Detailed History of Taps"
864:Mayors of Utica, New York
829:Butterfield Overland Mail
380:California Parks Service,
370:California Parks Service,
265:Butterfield Overland Mail
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653:Jones, Terry L. (2011).
517:Syracuse Daily Standard,
493:Oswego Weekly Palladium,
218:Daniel Adams Butterfield
802:March 20, 2008, at the
745:The Buffalo Commercial
617:Moody, Stagecoach West
416:"Forest Hill: History"
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834:Wells Fargo employees
400:"Overland Mail Issue"
335:The Carriage Journal,
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88:Utica, New York, U.S.
630:The Overland Journal
237:Forest Hill Cemetery
85:Forest Hill Cemetery
544:, October 16, 2014.
390:Legends of America,
378:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
368:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
361:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
354:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
347:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
340:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
333:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
326:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
319:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
312:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
305:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
288:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
281:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
628:Gerald T. Ahnert,
553:Waddell F. Smith,
388:Ahnert, Gerald T.,
214:
707:. pp. 35â39.
689:978-1-59233-451-3
664:978-0-8108-7811-2
532:, March 22, 2014.
328:Overland Journal,
166:Arkansas Senator
128:Business ventures
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67:(1869-11-14)
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844:1869 deaths
839:1801 births
597:Wells Fargo
232:, in 1862.
818:Categories
751:October 6,
432:References
270:Stagecoach
110:Early life
46:1801-11-18
725:March 23,
619:, p. 205.
216:His son,
800:Archived
243:See also
406:May 11,
741:"Died"
686:
661:
422:May 9,
204:Legacy
178:seen.
75:, U.S.
56:, U.S.
507:p. 4.
753:2022
727:2011
684:ISBN
659:ISBN
424:2022
408:2022
223:Taps
62:Died
40:Born
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