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Martha Haines Butt (after marriage, Bennett; November 22, 1833 – February 9, 1871) was an American proslavery author primarily known by her maiden name. She was a contributor to various periodicals and magazines, in both the North and South.[1] At the age of 19, she published Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, an 1853 plantation fiction novel.[2] Though she had written anti-woman's rights editorials in the 1850s, by 1870, she supported women's suffrage.

Martha Haines Butt Bennett
Born	Martha Haines Butt November 22, 1833 Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Died	February 9, 1871 (aged 37) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	author suffragist
Language	English
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Patapsco Female Institute Harrisburg Female College
Genre	short stories essays sketches
Notable works	Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South
Spouse	Nathan Ives Bennett ​ (m. 1865)​

Biography

Martha Haines Butt was born in Norfolk, Virginia, November 22, 1833.[3] She was an only child.[4] Her father, Francis Butt, was of English ancestry; her mother, Mary Ann Morriss Butt, a milliner, was of French ancestry.[3]

During the period of 1847–50, Butt was educated at Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott's Mills,[3] near Baltimore, and received her diploma there. She was presented with a gold medal and the degree of A. M. (Artium Magister) by Harrisburg Female College.[4]

Butt's first appearance in print was at the age of fourteen, although she had written for several years before that time.[4] Her 1853 novel, Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, was a proslavery response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.[5][6] Butt's volume of Leisure Moments was a collection of her short stories, essays, and sketches. Pastimes with Little Friends was published in 1866.[1][4] Butt was an occasional contributor to the periodical press of the country, and a frequent writer to the Ladies' Home Journal.[7]

On July 6, 1865, in Norfolk, she married Nathan Ives Bennett, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They lived in Bridgeport before removing to New York City.[4][3] After marriage, she continued to be primarily known by her maiden name.

In 1870, Butt served as vice president of the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association.[3]

Death and legacy

Martha Haines Butt died of pneumonia at the Grand Central Hotel, New York City, February 9, 1871.[3][7]

Butt's arm and hand were copied as a model by the artist William Randolph Barbee, of Virginia, for the statue of the Fisher Girl.[4]

Selected works

• Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, 1853
• The Leisure Moments of Miss Martha Haines Butt, A.M., 1860
• Pastimes with My Little Friends, 1866

References

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Davidson, James Wood (1869). The Living Writers of the South (Public domain ed.). Carleton. ISBN 9780608428185.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Tardy, Mary T. (1870). Southland Writers: Biographical and Critical Sketches of the Living Female Writers of the South. With Extracts from Their Writings (Public domain ed.). Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger.

Bibliography

• Larson, Kerry (20 November 2008). Imagining Equality in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-32121-2.
• Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly (2008). Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11614-0.

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