Israel L. Butt was born a slave in Virginia in 1848. He was raised a Methodist by his family. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Butt became a preacher in 1874 and a deacon in 1878. In 1877, he joined the Virginia Annual Conference and in 1903 became the conference's General Secretary. That same year he received a Doctorate of Divinity from Wilberforce University of Xenia, Ohio.

Nora Rubel