AFTER a week’s visit to Bermuda, his ancestral homeland, US Congressman George K. Butterfield is back at his desk at the Capitol in Washington, DC.He spent his time here entertaining his many cousins and being entertained by them, as well as by US Consul General Gregory Slayton.

We had opportunity to talk briefly with the Congressman about his local roots as well as to intrigue him with some deeper insights about his Bermudian ancestors gleaned from this writer’s research on Bermudians who migrated to the US in the late 1800s and early 1900s and became eminent n their respective fields..

“My father, Dr. George Kenneth Butterfield, Sr., was a very proud Bermudian,” the Congressman said. George’s father was James Peter Butterfield, a tailor by profession who lived in St. George’s.

His wife was Ann Harriett Giles Butterfield. They had 12 children, four of whom went abroad and eight stayed in Bermuda. One of the four who migrated was George, Sr, who later became Dr. Butterfield. He was born in 1900. At age 16 he went to Florida seeking broader horizons.

Harriet’s brother, George Giles, had migrated to Florida around 1895, and had become one of the leading black entrepreneurs there.

Rep. Butterfield admitted he did not know much about the Giles side of the family, and he became intensely interested when I was able to inform him about my research. I plan to profile the great George Giles in a subsequent column.

In any case, young George Butterfield volunteered to serve in the US Army, and fought as an artilleryman in World War One. Following an honourable discharge, he furthered his education, entering Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Shaw was a prestigious black institution at that time and still is today. There George met his future wife. He graduated after four years and went on to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon receiving his dental degree at Meharry, he returned to North Carolina, got married and settled in her hometown, Wilson, North Carolina.

That’s where he stayed for the next 50 years. He was a community activist. In 1928 he registered to vote.

“The white community told him it was a favour they were according him, as he was a professional man who had married a lady who was well respected in the community.”

Dr. Butterfield became the 40th black person to register to vote in Wilson.

“When my father tried to encourage other black people to register to vote he met with resistance from the white power structure. They told him, ‘We did this for you’, but we are not opening this thing up for others.

“My father did not endorse their rationale, but he went along with the programme for the time being, until after the Depression, then World War Two.

“My father stepped up his activism after the war. The city was divided into six Districts for the City Council. We lived in District Three. He got several hundred blacks to vote despite the fact that there was a literacy test in force; one had to be able to read and write in order to register to vote; and even if you could read and write it was up to the Registrar to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

In 1953 Dr. Butterfield ran for a seat on the City Council and won. He became the first black elected official in his city and the fourth in the whole of North Carolina.

That was very significant. In 1955 he ran again and won. In 1957 the city decided to abolish District voting for City Council and substituted at-large voting, enabling all voters in the town to vote, not just those in the respective districts. In the shuffle, Dr. Butterfield lost his seat.

Rep. Butterfield said he saw the manoeuvrings as a challenge, and that it was what motivated him to enter the legal profession and to become a politician.

“I saw how government could help you, or hurt you; or to go forward or backwards.”

He became a Superior Court Judge, and in 2004 was elected to Congress, representing the First District of North Carolina.All 12 of siblings of James Peter and Ann Harriett Butterfield are deceased. The last to pass away last year was Mrs. Enid Darrell, who lived with her daughter Mrs. Marilyn Smith in Southampton. “Each of the 12 had children, the eldest being Thelma Packwood, at age 99 she is just as spry as ever. She resides in St. George’s with her brother Henry Dowling. I visited her. I am the youngest grandchild.

“We have several generations in Bermuda who are doing very well, such as Norris Pearman of the People’s Pharmacy. I am so proud of them, he added.”

We pictured US Congressman, George K. Butterfield, third from the right standing, with several of his many Bermudian cousins whom he entertained to dinner at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel. Others standing from the left are Mrs. Aleathea Rabain, Vandyke Allen, Darren Smith (slightly hidden), Mrs. Marva Allen, Norris Pearman, Ms Donna Pearman and Ms Elaine Bean. Sitting, from left, are Ms Valeisha Butterfield, the Congressman’s daughter; Jonathan Allen, Mrs. Vanetta Symonds and husband Carlos Symonds.