This glamorous photograph is undated, but it captures Carrie (spelled here as Carey) Butler, born in 1886, posing for a formal portrait, leaning against an ornate column with a background that resembles a parlor fireplace setting.
Such an elaborate backdrop would usually be associated with the 1890s, but in this case it’s likely the photographer used older equipment or props, based on the subject’s age and appearance. Carrie’s attire further suggests that the photo was probably taken before 1915.
Carrie Butler was a daughter of Olive Miranda Fowler Butler (1852-1921) and Capt. Samuel Butler (1845-1905), who served as a soldier in the Civil War. Her mother was born on Montaukett land in Montauk, and both the Butler and Fowler families were prominent in the Montaukett community.
Samuel Butler fished and farmed to support his family, sometimes as a day laborer. The census shows that the Butlers owned their home. Later, as a widow, Olive Butler worked as a laundress.
Carrie and her siblings attended East Hampton public schools, and The East Hampton Star made note of her excellent attendance. The third youngest of nine children, she was 18 when her father died.
By 1910, Carrie no longer lived in her mother’s house. She was still alive and using her maiden name in 1931, when her sister Bertha (Mrs. William Mitchell) died, which suggests she never married. It is not clear what happened to Carrie after 1931, or when she died.
The caption on the reverse of this image was written by the controversial anthropologist Red Thunder Cloud, a.k.a. Carlos Westez, who documented indigenous people here and whose claims to membership in the Catawba tribe have been disputed. Red Thunder Cloud claimed that “Carey” and her siblings were known for their very long hair and that the Butler siblings died of “dropsy,” an old-fashioned name for edema. Funeral records list causes of death such as apoplexy and diabetes, but not dropsy.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the head of the Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Library.
