INTRODUCTION.
In this country inherited fortunes, or ancestral honors, have little effect on a man's reputation; but inherited disposition and early surroundings have much effect on his character.
My father's ancestors were from New England.

His father, Phineas Butler, came from Saybrook, Connecticut, where the Congregational Churches framed the Saybrook platform.

His mother's people, the Pardees, came from Norfork, Connecticut.

The Pardees were said to have been descendants of the French Huguenots.

Ebenezer Pardee emigrated to Marcellus, now known as Skaneateles, Onondaga Co., New York.