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Dr. Robert Butler (1784-1853) was a Treasurer of the State of Virginia from the town of Smithfield in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
Dr. Butler and his second wife, the former Otelia Voinard, originally from Petersburg, Virginia, were the parents of Otelia Butler Mahone, who in 1855 married William T. Mahone of neighboring Southampton County, who was a civil engineer, teacher and builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (a well-engineered predecessor of Norfolk and Western Railway and a vital link in modern times for Norfolk Southern).
During the American Civil War, "Little Billy" Mahone became a Confederate Major General and was later a Senator in the United States Congress. Said to be from a "cultured" background, and a "character" in her own right, strong-willed Otelia Butler Mahone became almost as well-known in Virginia as her famous husband. She is credited for naming 5 towns in Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, and Prince George Counties along the arrow straight 52 mile tangent main line of her husband's new railroad. Four of the names derived from a novel by Sir Walter Scott she had been reading. Otelia was a nurse in Richmond during the Civil War.
Dr. Butler's grandson, Robert Butler Mahone (1859-1914) was assigned to his father, William T. Mahone Sr. as private secretary for a number of years and afterward was in the government service. He was appointed Consul of the United States at Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across the U.S. border at Laredo, Texas.
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