ShermanGraham8 at 00:58, 12 November 2025

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{{Short description|American evangelist and author}}
{{distinguish|text = her mother, [[Clementina Rowe Butler]] (1820-1913), Irish-born American missionary}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
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| name = Clementina Butler
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| image = CLEMENTINA BUTLER.jpg
| caption = Photo in ''[[A Woman of the Century]]''
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| birth_date = January 7, 1862
| birth_place = [[Bareilly]], [[British India]]
| death_date = December 5, 1949 (aged 87)
| death_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| resting_place = Newton Cemetery, [[Newton, Massachusetts]]
| citizenship = American
| occupation = evangelist, author
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| genre = biography
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| parents = {{hlist|[[William Butler (missionary)|William Butler]]|[[Clementina Rowe Butler]]}}
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}}
'''Clementina Butler''' (January 7, 1862 – December 5, 1949) was an American evangelist and author. She was a founder of the [[Pandita Ramabai|Ramabai]] Association, an organization that established the first school in India for widowed women.<ref name="BostonGlobe-8dec1949" /><ref name="BostonGlobe-10oct1933" /> She was also the founder and chair of the "Committee on Christian Literature for Women and Children in Mission Fields, Inc.<ref name="OklahomaCityStar-30dec1949">{{cite news |last1=Fowler |first1=Mary |title=Women in the Church |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oklahoma-city-star-women-in-the-church/184789932/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=Oklahoma City Star |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=30 December 1949 |page=3 |format=Public domain}} {{open access}}</ref>{{sfn|The Missionary Review|1936|p=187}} In addition to other writings, she was the author of three biographies: her father's (''William Butler : the founder of two missions'', 1902), her mother's (''[[Clementina Rowe Butler|Mrs. William Butler]]: Two Empires and the Kingdom'', 1929), as well as ''[[Pandita Ramabai|Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati]] : pioneer in the movement for the education of the child-widow of India'' (1922).

==Early life==
Clementina Butler was born in [[Bareilly]], [[British India]], January 7, 1862. Her father, Rev. Dr. [[William Butler (missionary)|William Butler]], was commissioned in 1856 to open mission work for the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]].{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=142}} Her mother, [[Clementina Rowe Butler]], was a co-founder of the [[Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church]]. Her brother, [[John Wesley Butler]], was an author and served as a Methodist missionary to Mexico for more than four decades.{{sfn|Anderson|1999|p=104}}

After passing through great perils during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Sepoy rebellion of 1857]], Bareilly was settled as headquarters. The family moved their home seventeen times during the next eight years according to the needs of the work. Returning to the United States, after a few years' rest, Dr. Butler was requested to organize mission work in Mexico. There the linguistic ability of the daughter was of great service.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=143}}

==Career==
In 1884, Butler went with her parents to revisit India, and her observations during an extended tour in that country served as the theme of many of her addresses and articles. On account of the infirmities of age and the heavy responsibilities they bore for so long, Dr. and Mrs. Butler settled quietly in [[Newton Centre, Massachusetts]], and from their home, the daughter went out to inspire others with her own belief in the possibilities for women everywhere, when aided by Christianity. Butler was interested in missionary work of all kinds, medical missions for the women of the East being her favorite subject. As a [[International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons|King's Daughter]], she worked in the slums of [[Boston]], besides pleading in the churches and on public platforms for the needy in other countries. A short residence in [[Alaska]] gave her an insight into the condition of the people there, and she was a champion of their rights in regard to suitable educational grants and the enforcement of the laws prohibiting the sale of liquor in that Territory.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=143}}
[[File:Clementina Butler was obliged to adopt this Mexican dress in order to get out of Puebla.png|thumb|Butler was obliged to adopt this Mexican dress in order to get out of Puebla, Mexico.]]
In January 1914, she left for Mexico with her brother, John, the missionary, where she was to relieve the principal of the school at [[Puebla]].{{sfn|Woman's Foreign Missionary Society|1913|p=52}} In April, the [[United States occupation of Veracruz]] seriously affected the missionary school and Butler was forced to flee Mexico and return to the U.S.{{sfn|Lutheran Publication Society|1914|pp=406-10}}

Butler was her father's assistant in his literary work. She also wrote for missionary publications.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=143}} She established magazines for children in Burma, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Latin America;<ref name="BostonGlobe-10oct1933" /> and was the author of books for women in India.<ref name="BostonGlobe-9dec1949">{{cite news |title=Clementina Butler 'Greatest Methodist Woman in 50 Years:' Bp. Hartman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/433407162/?terms=Clementina%20Butler&match=1 |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=The Boston Globe |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=9 December 1949 |page=40 |format=Public domain}} {{open access}}</ref> Butler was the author of her parents' biographies, ''William Butler: The Founder of Two Missions'' (1902) and ''Mrs. William Butler: Two Empires and the Kingdom'' (1929).{{sfn|Anderson|1999|p=104}}

A member of the [[Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church]], Butler founded a missionary museum within it and fundraised for windows.<ref name="BostonGlobe-8dec1949" />

==Later life and death==
In 1933, Butler retired as an executive of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church after being active in its service for five decades. At some point, she removed from Newton Centre to live in [[Barrington, Rhode Island]] with her sister, Mrs. William H. Thurber.<ref name="BostonGlobe-10oct1933">{{cite news |title=Retired Missionary Executive is Honored. Methodist Social Union Hears Tributes to Miss Cementina Butler and Her Family. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/431661412/?terms=Clementina%20Butler&match=1 |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=The Boston Globe |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=10 October 1933 |page=6 |format=Public domain}} {{open access}}</ref><ref name="BostonGlobe-13sep1913">{{cite news |title="Mother of Missions". Mrs William Butler, Aged 93, Passes Away at Newton. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/430902794/?terms=Clementina%20Rowe%20Butler&match=1 |access-date=5 April 2021 |work=The Boston Globe |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=13 September 1913 |page=16 |format=Public domain}} {{open access}}</ref>

Butler's death at Hotel Brunswick in Boston, December 5, 1949, was sudden. Interment was at the Newton Cemetery.<ref name="BostonGlobe-8dec1949">{{cite news |title=Clementina Butler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/433406989/?terms=Clementina%20Butler&match=1 |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=The Boston Globe |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=8 December 1949 |page=45 |format=Public domain}} {{open access}}</ref>

==Selected works==
* ''William Butler : the founder of two missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By this daughter. With an Introduction by Bishop C. C. McCabe'' (1902) ([https://archive.org/details/williambutlerfou00butl Text])
* ''Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati : pioneer in the movement for the education of the child-widow of India'' (1922) ([https://archive.org/details/panditaramabaisa00butl_0 Text])
* ''Ownership : God is the owner, I am His steward. By Clementina Butler, Author of "Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati"'' (1927) ([https://archive.org/details/ownershipgodisow0000butl Text])
* ''Mrs. William Butler: Two Empires and the Kingdom. By the same author, "William Butler"'' (1929) ([https://archive.org/details/mrswilliambutler0000butl Text])
* ''Newest thing in "A.B.C.'s"'' (19--) ([https://archive.org/details/newestthinginabc00butl Text])

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Attribution===
* {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|author=Lutheran Publication Society|title=Lutheran Woman's Work|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2czAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA406|edition=Public domain|volume=8|year=1914|publisher=Lutheran Publication Society|chapter=A Lone American Woman in Puebla, by Miss Clementina Butler}} }}
* {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last1=Willard|first1=Frances Elizabeth|author1-link=Frances Willard|last2=Livermore|first2=Mary Ashton Rice|author2-link=Mary Livermore|title=A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life|chapter=Clementina Butler |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woman_of_the_Century/Clementina_Butler|edition=Public domain|year=1893|publisher=[[Charles Wells Moulton]]}} }}
* {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|author=Woman's Foreign Missionary Society|title=Woman's Missionary Friend|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XanNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA456|edition=45-46|year=1913|publisher=Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.|chapter=Personal Mention}} }}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gerald H.|title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA104|year=1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4680-8}}
* {{cite book|author=The Missionary Review|title=The Missionary Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xpXAAAAYAAJ|volume=59|year=1936|publisher=Princeton Press}}

==External links==
* {{wikisource-inline|Woman of the Century/Clementina Butler}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Clementina Butler}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Clementina}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century]]
[[Category:People from Bareilly]]
[[Category:American evangelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American biographers]]
[[Category:19th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American women biographers]]
[[Category:School founders]]
[[Category:American magazine founders]]
[[Category:American women founders]]
[[Category:American founders]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]
[[Category:International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons]]

Clementina Butler - Revision history

ShermanGraham8 at 00:58, 12 November 2025