John Warren Butterfield
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John Warren Butterfield was an operator of stagecoach and freight lines in the mid-1800's in the American northeast and southwest. He founded companies that became American Express and Wells Fargo. From 1858 to 1861 he ran a stage route running from St. Louis to San Francisco, establishing an important connection between the new state of California and the government and economy of the contiguous eastern states.
He was born on a farm in Berne, New York in 1801. By the age of 19 he was a professional stage coach driver working out of Albany, New York, conveying passengers and freight to Utica. In 1822 he married Malinda Harriet Baker of Berne. He later established stage routes thoughout New York State, and other means of transportation including packet and steamboats on Lake Ontario, the street railroad in Utica, and local plank-roads. He organized the Black River railroad. In 1850 his firm of Butterfield, Wasson & Co. merged with Livingston, Fargo & Co. and Wells & Co. as the American Express Co. under his direction.
In 1857 he organized the long Butterfield Overland Mail route and, until 1861, contracted with the US government to carry mail and passengers between St. Louis and San Francisco. In 1860, due to debts, Butterfield was forced out and Wells Fargo took over the route. He retired to his home in Utica and, after serving briefly as mayor there, died in 1869.
