Early Life
Butler was born in Wytheville, Virginia, on April 9, 1827, the youngest son of George Taylor. His father died before Roderick was one year old. At age 13, he was bound out as an apprentice to John Haney of Newbern, Virginia, to learn the tailor's trade. After a six-year apprenticeship, he moved to Taylorsville, Tennessee (modern Mountain City) to work as a tailor.
At the age of 21, Butler began reading law with Carter County attorney Carrick W. Nelson. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and practiced in Johnson County and Carter County in partnership with Nelson until the outbreak of the Civil War.
At a young age, Butler aligned himself with the Whig Party. He was appointed postmaster of Taylorsville by President Millard Fillmore, and was elected to a county judgeship in 1855. He was also a major of the First Battalion of the Tennessee Militia, having been elected to the rank around 1850.
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“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
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