This is a photograph of Thomas Butcher who came to the United States from Steeple Claydon in Buckinghamshire England at age 20. After arriving in New York, he and several friends went to Jackson, Michigan to work and save money to purchase farms. Butcher saved his money to purchase land and bring his fiance, Elizabeth Mills, to the United States. He came to Kansas looking for land, and he eventually bought acreage located five miles north of Sun City in Barber County, Kansas. His fiance arrived in Hutchinson in the company of his brother William on April 25, 1875, and Thomas and Elizabeth were married on April 28, 1875. Butcher raised corn and wheat, pastured sheep for himself and nearby farmers, freighted between Sun City and Hutchinson, and did occasional butchering. The farm afforded an adequate living until about 1892 or 1893, when a combination of circumstances, severe heat and cold and prolonged drought, market instability, and over extension of credit to land-buyers increased the number of farm failures. Butcher's farm was among those that failed. He moved to a nearby farm and later moved to Lake City, Kansas where he stayed for one year. In June 1896, he made a trip through southeastern Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma, and southwestern Missouri where he looked for new opportunities. Eventually, he moved his family to Earlsboro, Oklahoma and later to Oklahoma City.
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