Butterworth, Hezekiah 1839-1905

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BUTTERWORTH, Hezekiah 1839-1905

PERSONAL: Born December 22, 1839, in Warren, RI; died September 5, 1905, in Warren, RI; son of Gardiner M. (a farmer) and Susan (Ritchie) Butterworth. Education: Attended Brown University, Providence, RI. Religion: Protestant. Hobbies and other interests: Peace activism, anti-smoking campaigns.

CAREER: Writer and editor.

MEMBER: American Peace Society (vice president), New England Anti-Cigarette League (president).

AWARDS, HONORS: George Wood Gold Medal, American Tract Society, 1875, for The Story of the Hymns; or, Hymns That Have a History.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Sunday School Concert Book, Young (Boston, MA), 1872.

The Story of the Hymns; or, Hymns That Have a History, American Tract Society (New York, NY), 1875.

Zigzag Journeys in Europe. Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1880.

The Story of the Notable Prayers of Christian History, Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1880.

(Editor) Young Folks' History of American, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1881, published as Popular History of America, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1894, revised and enlarged as The Story of America, Werner (New York, NY), 1898.

Young Folks' History of Boston, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1881, published as Popular History of Boston, 1894.

Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands; or, Tommy Toby's Trip to Mount Parnassus, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1882.

Zigzag Journeys in the Orient. The Adriatic to the Baltic. A Journey of the Zigzag Club from Vienna to the Golden Horn, the Euxine, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1882.

Zigzag Journeys in the Occident, The Atlantic to the Pacific. A Summer Trip of the Zigzag Club from Boston to the Golden Gate, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1883, published as Zigzag Journeys in the Western States of America, Dean & Song (London, England).

(Anonymously) Up from the Cape. A Plea for Republican Simplicity, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1883.

The Great Composers, Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1884, revised and enlarged, 1894.

Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands. The Rhine to the Arctic. A Summer Trip of the Zigzag Club through Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA). 1884.

Poems for Christmas, Easter, and New Year's, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1885.

Zigzag Journeys in Acadia and New France. A Summer's Journey of the Zigzag Club through the Historic Fields of the Early French Settlements of America, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1885.

Zigzag Journeys in the Levant, with a Talmudist Storyteller. A Spring Trip of the Zigzag Club through Egypt and the Holy Land, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1886.

Ballads and Stories for Readings with Musical Accompaniments for Public Entertainments, Church Socials, School, and the Family Circle, Root (Chicago, IL), 1886.

Songs of History, Poems and Ballads upon Important Episodes in American History, New England Publishing (Boston, MA), 1887.

A Zigzag Journey in the Sunny South; or, Wonder Tales of Early American History, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1887.

Zigzag Journeys in India; or, The Antipodes of the Far East. A Collection of the Zenana Tales, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1887.

Zigzag Journeys in the Antipodes, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1888, published as Cruising in the Indian Seas, Sully (New York, NY), 1894.

Zigzag Journeys in the British Isles; or, Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1889.

The Story of the Tunes, American Tract Society (New York, NY), 1890.

The Log School-House on the Columbia. A Tale of the Pioneers of the Great Northwest, Appleton (New York, NY), 1890.

Zigzag Journeys in the Great Northwest; or, A Trip to the American Switzerland, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1890.

Zigzag Journeys in Australia; or, A Visit to the Ocean World, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1891.

The Christmas Book, Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1891.

In the Boyhood of Lincoln. A Tale of the Tunker Schoolmaster and the Times of Black Hawk, Appleton (New York, NY), 1892.

Little Arthur's History of Rome, from the Golden Age to Constantine, Crowell (New York, NY), 1892.

Zigzag Journeys on the Mississippi, from Chicago to the Islands of the Discovery, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1892.

The Boys of Greenway Court. A Tale of the Early Days of Washington, Appleton (New York, NY), 1893.

Zigzag Journeys on the Mediterranean, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1893.

The Parson's Miracle, and My Grandmother's Christmas Candle; Christmas in America, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1894.

The Patriot Schoolmaster; or, The Adventures of the two Boston Cannons, the "Adams" and "Hancock." A Tale of the Minute Men and the Sons of Liberty, Appleton (New York, NY), 1894.

Zigzag Journeys in the White City, with Visits to the Neighboring Metropolis, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1894.

In Old New England. The Romance of a Colonial Fireside, Appleton (New York, NY), 1895.

The Knight of Liberty. A Tale of the Fortunes of Lafayette, Appleton (New York, NY), 1895.

Zigzag Journeys around the World, Estes & Lauriat (Boston, MA), 1895.

The Wampum Belt; or, "The Fairest Page of History." A Tale of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians, Appleton (New York, NY), 1896.

Over the Andes; or, Our Boys in New South America, Wilde (Boston, MA), 1897.

True to His Home, A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin, Appleton (New York, NY), 1897.

In the Days of Massasoit. A Tale of Roger Williams, American Baptist Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1897.

The Pilot of the Mayflower. A Tale of the Children of the Pilgrim Republic, Appleton (New York, NY), 1898.

South America. A Popular Illustrated History of the Struggle for Liberty in the Andean Republics and Cuba, Doubleday & McClure (New York, NY), 1898.

In The Land of the Condor. A Story of Tarapaca American Baptist Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1898.

Lost in Nicaragua; or, Among the Coffee Farms and Banana Lands in the Countries of the Great Canal, Wilde (Boston, MA), 1898.

The Story of Magellan and the Discovery of the Philippines, Appleton (New York, NY), 1899.

The Bordentown Story-tellers; or, Little Lady Lucy and the Merry Berry Pickers, Bradley (Boston, MA), 1899.

The Treasure Ship: A Tale of Sir William Phipps, the Regicides, and the InterCharter Period in Massachusetts, Appleton (New York, NY), 1899.

Traveller Tales of South Africa; or, Stories Which Picture Recent History, Estes (Boston, MA), 1900.

Jack's Carrier Pigeons. A Tale of the Times of Father Taylor's Mariners' Home, Bradley (Boston, MA), 1900.

In the Days of Jefferson, Appleton (New York, NY), 1900.

In the Days of Audubon. A Tale of the "Protector of Birds," Appleton (New York, NY), 1901.

Little Sky-High; or, The Surprise Doings of Washee-Washee-Wang, Crowell (New York, NY), 1901.

Traveller Tales of China; or, The Story-telling Hangs, Estes (Boston, MA), 1801.

Traveller Tales of the Pan-American Countries, Estes (Boston, MA), 1902.

Philip, American Baptist Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1903.

Brother Jonathan, Appleton (New York, NY), 1903.

Little Metacomet; or, The Indian Playmate, Crowell (New York, NY), 1904.

The Young McKinley; or, School-days in Ohio. A Tale of Old Times on the Western Reserve, Appleton (New York, NY), 1905.

A Heroine of the Wilderness. The Story of Lincoln's Mother, Winston (Philadelphia, PA), 1906.

Contributed to several periodical publications.

SIDELIGHTS: Hezekiah Butterworth, inspired by an aunt who entertained his family with ghost stories, went on to a noteworthy career writing children's books in the nineteenth century. Butterworth, born into a well-established Rhode Island farming family, shunned farming himself. Bookish and fanciful, he submitted prose to the religious magazines to which his family subscribed. He moved to Providence, and after attending some classes at Brown University, settled in Boston, then an important publishing center. Butterworth's writing caught the attention of Daniel Sharp Ford, then editor of Youth's Companion. In 1870, at age thirty-one, Butterworth joined its editorial staff, and he worked for them for twenty-four years.

He continued working on his own, and The Story of the Hymns earned Butterworth his first literary award, the American Tract Society's George Wood Gold Medal. His reputation within Boston publishing, already established with his earlier short stories and his position at the Companion, received a further boost. A Nation reviewer noted that "many helpful historic and biographic facts are given; nor [does] the [author] … disdain anecdote."

Five years later, he embarked on the writing project for which he became most famous, a series of children's travel books published by the prominent Estes & Lauriat. Mark Irwin West wrote in Dictionary of Literary Biography: "In 1880 Dana Estes … approached Butterworth with a proposal. She had recently read Voyages en Zigzag … [which narrated] the adventures of a teacher who had taken a class of boys on a journey through Switzerland. She felt that [this] book could serve as a model for a new series of children's travel books."

Estes quickly recruited Butterworth, whose fiction had targeted youngsters. His first volume, Zigzag Journeys in Europe, was issued that same year. Butterworth's effort drew high praise, even though the tight deadline meant sole reliance on library research—and mistakes: Critics, for example, mentioned his erroneous referral to Westminster Abbey in London as King Henry VIII's chapel. He followed with several more "Zigzags," featuring the holiday travels of a schoolmaster and his charges through Russia, India, Australia, America, the Middle East and many other parts of the globe. The popular series incorporated snippets of history, folklore, legend and song.

With the series' success, Butterworth was able to travel extensively and write about lands more accurately. While Butterworth wrote about one "Zigzag" book a year, he was also working on his own writing projects, particularly youth oriented biographies and history books. His biography subjects ranged from George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's boyhoods to the life of John James Audubon, and often deviated from the record on moral grounds. Butterworth injected heavy morality, particularly condemning how early white settlers treated Indians. Butterworth, who never married, published at least two titles most years.

Butterworth, who earned a sizeable fortune, took time from writing to pursue other favorite causes, including peace and anti-smoking activism. He gave time and money freely to these causes and to relatives who asked him for help. In his later years, money was tight. He suffered from diabetes, and died at his brother's home. Although he had been one of the most prolific and influential writers in children's literature throughout the late nineteenth century, by 1920 his work was out of print and few recalled even his Zigzag series.