Buttles was a Pennsylvanian by birth and immigrated to Wisconsin with his parents in 1843, settling on a farm near Fox Point, in the town of Milwaukee where he was married and spent the remainder of his life.
Buttles' diaries show that he was a local politician of influence. For thirty years or more he was town clerk and justice of the peace; he was also at times school clerk, county surveyor, and county superintendent of schools, as well as enumerator for the federal and state census.
He was accused of Know Nothing principles in 1856; maintained his Democratic faith through the Civil War; voted for Governor Taylor in 1872; and in 1880 switched allegiance to the Republicans. Besides remarks on national elections, there is information on local politics and political methods, particularly among the immigrant groups that surrounded the Buttles farm. His entries as justice of the peace and county superintendent shed light on the history of jurisprudence and educational methods in Wisconsin.
For the Civil War period, there are notations on the volunteer army, on the draft, on civilian privations, and on the Indian war scare. Buttles' brother was in the army; he himself in his capacity as justice of the peace made out affidavits for those who wanted exemption from army service.
Farm operations are touched upon on almost every page. Buttles speaks of systems of cropping, home manufacture of harrows, carts, neck yokes, and axe handles, of splitting rails, of making shingles, of building a house, of tapping sugar trees, of setting out an orchard, of butchering and smoking hams, and of curing tobacco. In most cases he describes in detail the operation. Road building was a matter of much importance; he frequently was called upon to make surveys; in 1870 he was engaged to survey the route for the Watertown railroad and tells of the many difficulties connected with the work.
Household economies, too, engaged much of his attention. He describes soap making and sauerkraut making. In 1861 a kerosene lamp was purchased; in 1871 a Singer sewing machine; in 1888 a gasoline stove; and in 1872 the whole family helped to put down a new carpet, underlaid with straw.
In 1865 Buttles had his life insured and later wrote policies himself. He speaks of a number of smallpox epidemics and of administering a vaccine to the whole neighborhood. He also describes an epidemic among horses in 1872, affecting animals in the whole region, so that the streets of Milwaukee were filled with oxen instead of horse teams.
Happenings outside of his own community are also commented upon. In 1856 he writes of witnessing a balloon ascension in Milwaukee; in 1860 of the Lady Elgin steamboat disaster; in 1871 of the Chicago fire and the terrible wind storms; in 1886 of the Milwaukee strike and the terror of the residents of the city; and in 1861 and 1893 of the panic and mob rule following bank closures. The Buttles family seldom missed a circus performance; they also attended dances, barn raisings, kirmisess, and the annual state fair. In 1880 they witnessed the Grand Review in Milwaukee and in 1893 spent several days at the Columbian Exposition.
Mr. Buttles seems to have been a collector, too, as he mentions his brother's bringing home from the war some curiosities for his cabinet. He read widely--books on travel, adventure, history, biography, and fiction--as well as magazines and newspapers. His lists of books read and his occasional comments are a valuable index to what an educated citizen of Wisconsin was reading
during the last half of the nineteenth century.
Predominant in the diary is the record of the life of the Buttles family. The diarist's parents, his wife's parents (immigrants from Holland), and children of both families, as well as the eleven children of Mrs. and Mr. Buttles are subjects of lengthy comment. A sister, Olive, married a son of Solomon Juneau, and some of the responsibility of the rearing of their seven children fell upon Anson Buttles. The accounts of the movements of all these relatives occupy more and more space as the years go on, and the closing volumes are devoted almost exclusively to family affairs.
