Black male, born about 1875 in Florida. He was single at the time of his death at about age forty on 7 July 1917. His occupation, as well as any information on his parents, was filled in with “Don’t know.” He died from syphilis with nephritis as a contributing factor, for which he was treated by W.L. Andress from July 5 to July 6. There is no address given on the death certificate, but the fact that the informant, A.T. Rice, was superintendent of the Poor Farm, and the fact that the death certificate was written in the Kupfrian Park precinct of Escambia County, Florida, means that he was probably at the Poor Farm at the time of his last illness. He was buried by F.R. Pou in the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.
Robert’s death notice appeared in the Pensacola Journal on 16 July 1917, but provides no further information than the death certificate.
There was a Butterfield family in Pensacola at the time Robert would have been alive, headed by John (sometimes called “Jack”) Butterfield, but I cannot find a connection between them. I have found two mentions of a Bob Butterfield in the Pensacola newspapers, in reference to an arrest for assaulting a train employee in the Bohemia area of town in July 1902. There does not seem to have been any reporting on the disposition of his specific case.
Other than that, I have not located a Robert or Bob Butterfield in any records, even in a nationwide search, who is a man of color with any connection to Florida.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death for Robert Butterfield, No. 7082, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
“Negro Tramps Acted Ugly,” The Daily News (Pensacola, FL) 24 JUL 1902, p. 8.
“Charge is a Serious One,” The Daily News (Pensacola, FL) 25 JUL 1902, p. 5.
“News Notes,” The Daily News (Pensacola, FL), 11 AUG 1902, p. 5.
“Vital Statistics,” The Pensacola Journal, 16 JUL 1917, p. 4.