Hugh Lee Butler, son of Le Grande Cornelius Butler and Martha Watkins Simpson Butler, was born in 1871 in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Butler's parents moved to Norfolk when he was nine; he attended public schools in Farmville and Norfolk. He married Effie Lee Grace; they had four children. Butler began as an office boy at the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1884 and was eventually promoted to contracting freight agent, a position he held until retirement at age 70. He served on the Common Council, which became the Norfolk City Council, from 1902 until 1938. He served as a member of the Charter Commission and the Select Council and on numerous city committees. He was a member of the Democratic Committee from Brambleton, and chair of the Local Draft Board No. 1 in 1919. He became especially involved in responding to the needs of civil servants and the African American community. Butler's service of 36 years was the longest in Norfolk's modern history. He died in 1946.
From the description of Papers of Hugh Lee Butler [mixed materials] : 1896-1952. (Old Dominion University). WorldCat record id: 42025871
