T. B. (Thomas Belden) Butler

Born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1806, he studied medicine at Yale and graduated from its medical department in 1828. He began practice in Norwalk, but later turned to law, was admitted to the bar in 1837, and built a second career there as an attorney.

Public service became the main thread of his life. He served for many years in the Connecticut House of Representatives, then in the state senate, where he was president pro tempore in 1848. As a Whig, he represented Connecticut in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1851.

Later, his work shifted fully to the bench. He became a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, was appointed an associate justice of the state supreme court in 1861, and rose to chief justice in 1870. He died in Norwalk in 1873, remembered as a figure whose career moved steadily from local practice to some of the highest offices in Connecticut public life.