Caspar Butz

Caspar Butz
City Clerk of Chicago
In office 1876–1879
Preceded by	Joseph K.C. Forrest
Succeeded by	Patrick J. Howard
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 57th district
In office 1858–1860 Serving with Ebenezer Peck
Preceded by	Isaac N. Arnold A.F.C. Mueller
Succeeded by	Solomon M. Wilson Homer Wilmarth
Personal details
Born	October 23, 1825 Hagen, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	October 19, 1885 (age 59) Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Political party	Republican

Caspar Butz (October 23, 1825 – October 19, 1885) was a German American journalist and politician who served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1858 to 1860 and as City Clerk of Chicago from 1876 to 1879.

Biography

Butz was a Forty Eighter who immigrated to the United States in 1851, settling first in Boston. A journalist by trade, he quickly became politically active and joined the newly-created Republican Party, serving as a political writer for both the Frémont and Lincoln campaigns. Butz himself was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1858, where he served alongside Ebenezer Peck as Representative from the 57th District. Butz was actively involved in German language journalism in the United States, and held several positions in a number of publications, including the Illinois Staats-Zeitung and the Michigan Tribune, the latter of which he briefly owned.

Butz died in Des Moines, Iowa in 1885, at the age of 59.