Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 74

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 74

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412

BUCHANAN.

Miss Hattie Starr, daughter of Judge Charles R. Starr of Kankakee, Illinois, and a sister of Major C. G. Starr of the United States Army, now serving in the Philippine Islands and one of the staff officers of the late Gen- eral Lawton. Mrs. Buchanan's father was a native of Nova Scotia, but came in early boy- hood to the United States. Her mother, whose maiden name was Almena Stevens, was a native of Portland, Maine, and both parents were educated and refined people. After graduating from the Kankakee high school, Mrs. Buchanan completed her educa- tion at the Southern Illinois Normal Univer- sity and the St. Louis Art School. She is a lady of refined tastes and rare culture, and is very active in her efforts in behalf of kinder- garten education and good home training for the young. The children of Professor and Mrs. Buchanan are Helen Almena, Agnes, Rachael, Richard Bell and George Victor Buchanan, Jr.

Buchanan, George W., was born April 23, 1814. in Smythe County, Virginia. His grandfather, James Buchanan, came from the north of Ireland and settled in what was then Washington, now Smythe County, Virginia, on a farm granted to him by King George II, and which is still in the posses- sion of one of the family. His father, George Buchanan, was born in Smythe County, Vir- ginia, and his mother, Agnes (Lammie) Buchanan, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. "My father," writes Katharine, a daughter of George W. Buchanan, "received his earlier education in the country neighborhood schools. He afterward attended college at Greenville, Tennessee, where he took a thor- ough classical course and graduated with honors in 1835. Henry Hoss, a noted cduca- tor, was then president of the college. After leaving college my father read law with Col- onel Preston at Marion, Virginia. On Jan- uary 7, 1838. he bade farewell to family, home, friends, and all the scenes of his child- hood and started forth to seek his fortune among a strange people in a strange land, in what was then known as the 'Far West,' traveling all the way on horseback. He ar- rived at Independence, Missouri, on March 6, and 'put up' at the Noland House for sev- eral weeks. He then went to board with Colonel Lewis Jones and in a short time com- menced teaching school. In an old journal

he thus describes Independence as it was when he first saw it: 'Independence is a handsomely situated place about three miles south of the Missouri River, and has a popu- lation of about three hundred and fifty to four hundred. There are some distinguished advantages over not only the towns in upper Missouri, but over almost every other town or city in the Union. Situated as it is, it enjoys the entire advantages accruing from the Santa Fe and Rocky Mountain trading companies.' My father returned to Virginia in the fall of 1838, when he was married to Miss Louise Buchanan. Owing to the deli- cate health of his wife he remained there all winter, her death occurring a few months after their marriage. He returned to Inde- pendence, this time traveling in a light spring wagon, and with the exception of two years, 1863 and 1864, when he and his family lived in St. Louis, has continued to make Inde- pendence his home, living in the same house which he and his present wife started to housekeeping in a little more than fifty years ago. He taught school several terms, was postmaster for a time and served as sheriff of Jackson County for two terms, from 1847 to 1851. He has been a lifelong Jefferson- ian Democrat, and prides himself on the fact that he has never scratched a Democratic ticket. An extract from a letter written to me when I was away at school shows how little he aspired to political office. He writes: 'When I was young, like most oth- ers, I had my aspirations for the honors and high places of the world, and many and gorgeous were the castles which I built in the air. Many of them, I have little doubt, I could have reduced to realities had my worldly ardor continued, but fortunately (mark the word 'fortunately'), about this time I reached mature manhood and the scales of ambition fell from my eyes and I was enabled to see pretty clearly that the greatest glory consisted, not in the abundance of thisworld's goods that I might possess, nor yet in the high places to which the partiality of the giddy throng might exalt me, but in first seeking the glory of God.' My father has always been a great lover of children and they have been just as fond of 'Uncle Buck,' as many of them call him. As was said of Jean Paul Richter, so may be said of him: 'He loved God and little children.' He has ever been the friend and advisor of young

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men. Several of the most distinguished men at the bar to-day read law with him in his office. He began the practice of law many years ago, and for a time lie was alone. In 1853 he entered into a partnership with Mr. J. Brown Hovey, which continued until 1859. They had a very large practice. After the dissolution of this partnership he formed one with Judge Strode, in the same year, and this continued several years. Judge Strode concluded to return to his old home-I think in Illinois-so the partnership was dissolved. About this time the Civil War broke out and business of all kinds was almost destroyed. In the spring of 1863 my father went to St. Louis to reside. In a short time he and Judge Russell Hicks, one of the foremost law- yers of his day, entered into a partnership which lasted until the fall of 1865, when my father returned to Independence, Judge Hicks remaining for some time longer in St. Louis. Some time after this he and Judge Hovey were again partners, but not for a long period. Then, as he began, so he ended the days of his active practice, alone. He retired from the bar in 1887. Being of the ancestry that he is, Scotch-Irish, it would be next to impossible for him to be anything but a Presbyterian. He united with the church in January, 1843, was made elder in 1844, and has continued in office ever since. Many of his family were ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church. He is devoted to his church. As long as he was physically able he was a regular attendant at the services and was a faithful worker in the Sunday school. Deeply interested in the cause of education, he participated prominently in the organization and support of the female col- lege at Independence, conducted under the auspices of the denomination to which he be- longs. Mr. Buchanan was married Novem- ber 23, 1849, to Miss Eliza J. Galbraith of Rockbridge, Va., and of this happy and greatly blessed union there are four living children: James F., George V., Mrs. Scottie B. McCoy and Katharine Agnes Buchanan. There are thirteen grandchildren, and every member of the family honors the name of this good man, who endured the hardships of early years, and ends his days in the enjoy- ment of an unlimited respect and love from those who are acquainted with his fruitful life and noble character."

Buchanan County .- The territory out of which Buchanan County was formed in 1838 is a part of the Platte Purchase acquired from the Iowa, Sac and Fox Indians in 1836. It was named after James Buchanan, who was a prominent diplomat and adherent of Andrew Jackson at the time it was formed. It is situated in the northwestern part of Missouri, is in the same latitude with Phila- delphia, Denver and San Francisco, and on the meridian that passes through Lake Itasca and Galveston. Its altitude is one thousand feet above the level of the sea, being six hundred feet above St. Louis and four hun- dred feet above Chicago. The highest point in the county is Reservoir Hill, north of St. Joseph, which is three hundred and twenty feet above low-water mark. St. Joseph is the county seat. Buchanan County is bound- ed on the north by Andrew County; on the east by DeKalb and Clinton Counties ; on the south by Platte County, and on the west by the Missouri River, which curves eastward at St. Joseph. The county is well watered. In every part there are living streams, on some of which the mill sites saved the early settlers . many privations and inconveniences. The Platte River flows through the county from north to south and receives One Hundred and Two River, Bee Creek and some smaller streams from the west, and Third Fork, Cas- tine Creek and Malden Creek from the east. The streams are clear and never failing, and springs of good, pure water abound every- where. In the western part of the county, in the Missouri Bottoms, there are a number of lakes of a curving shape. The principal of these is Contrary Lake, semicircular in shape, six miles long and half a mile wide. It is a few miles southwest of St. Joseph and is becoming quite a public resort. It abounds in fish in the spring and summer. and ducks and geese in the fall, and thus affords good sport for anglers and huntsmen. The distance from the lake to the stock yards is less than two miles, and an electric railway connecting it with the city is in course of con- struction. The lake receives its name either from the treacherous character of the storms which agitate its surface, or from Contrary Creek, which flows into it in a direction con- trary to the current of the Missouri River. There are seven other lakes south of it, namely : Sugar, Horseshoe, Muskrat, Lost,

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BUCHANAN COUNTY.

Singleton, Prairie and Marks, which, though smaller, abound in fish, ducks and geese, and afford good fishing and hunting. On the west of the county flows the Missouri River, navigable for steamboats of consid- erable size during a greater part of the year. The channel opposite St. Joseph is from four hundred to five hundred yards wide and from fifteen to thirty feet deep at low-water mark. High water deepens in twenty-three feet. About three-fourths of the water that flows out of the river at its mouth passes St. Jo- seph. One hundred and seventy thousand gallons per second flows past St. Joseph at the ordinary spring flood. The bedrock is forty feet below the bottom of the river, thirty feet of which is coarse and fine sand, five feet stiff blue sand, and five feet of gravel and bowlders. Through this last layer a stream of pure, clear water flows. With two feet of ice on the surface of the river and the thermometer below zero, the tempera- ture of this spring is 54 degrees. The soil of the river bottoms is very deep and rich, and is well adapted to the raising of corn. . Away from the river bottoms the land is an undulating prairie, presenting a rare diversity of country ; and, notwithstanding the surface is somewhat broken along the divides, the soil is productive and well adapted to the growth of grasses and cereals, especially corn. Good crops can be raised during very wet or very dry seasons. The soil is porous and ten hours sunshine will make the roads passable and the fields tillable. The crops can thus withstand much moisture and thrive, or endure prolonged drouths. There are no waste lands, as even the sloughs may be drained and turned into corn lands. The climate is dry and pure. The temperature is subject to sudden changes, except that the winters are uniform. The climatic condi- tions are favorable to health of mind and vigor of body. From the beginning the county has made provision for the care of its indigent sane and insane. From 1840 to 1850 the sick and infirm were granted a monthly or yearly allowance in addition to clothing and medical attendance. In 1857 a farm of one hundred and fifty acres was pur- chased. The farm was maintained until 1868, when the patients and paupers were brought to St. Joseph and maintained by contract for over three years. In 1871 a farm of one hundred and sixty acres close to St. Joseph

was bought, upon which a large frame house had been built. To this seven men and six women were transferred. In 1873 a frame building was erected for the insane who had been returned from State Asylum No. I at Fulton on account of its crowded condition. In 1881 the county built an asylum with mod- ern equipments for the care of the incurable insane, large enough to accommodate one hundred and fifty patients. The curable in- sane are maintained at State Asylum No. 2, the average number being one hundred and twenty. The county defrays the expenses of maintaining the indigent and sick at the county farm. The superintendent receives a salary of $75.00 a month. Buchanan County is a blue grass region and consequently the raising of cattle is a very large industry. Formerly many farmis were devoted to the breeding of fine cattle, but now the farms are all stocked with superior breeds, so that this specialty is no longer profitable. The rais- ing of fine horses is a specialty of which some very fine specimens have recently been sold.

Education has been carefully fostered in Buchanan County. As early as 1846 a pub- lie convention of influential citizens was held in the interests of public education. Suit- able buildings and competent teachers re- ceived earnest attention. This convention recommended an association of teachers. The associated efforts of over fifty years has resulted in a system of county schools which measure up to the highest ideals. There be- ing no large towns in the county outside of St. Joseph, the work of grading has been difficult, and yet commendable progress has been made. Competent authority pro- nounces the Buchanan County schools equal to the best in the State. There are seventy schools in the county and eighty-five teach- ers, and an enrollment of six thousand pupils. The length of the school term is eight months and the annual disbursements for school purposes $30,000. The agricultural products are wheat, corn, grass, oats, pota- toes.

The first settlers came from Clay County, and Platte Township was the scene of the first struggles of the pioneers. Absalom En- yard came in 1836, and Pleasant Yates, Isaac Farris, Levi Jackson, John Johnson, Robert Prather. Philip Walker and Robert Wilson in 1837. Among the earliest settlers that came to Crawford Township, was O. M. Spencer.

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BUCKLIN-BUCKNER.

Dr. Silas McDonald, the first physician in the county, came in 1838. The three towns in this township, Halleck, Wallace and Faucett, are described elsewhere. Hiram Roberts came to Bloomington Township in 1836. Then came Cornelius Roberts, Isom Gard- ner, Amos Horn, John Underwood, Holland Jones, Thomas Hickman, William Hickman, William Ballow, Matt Geer, Hardin Hamil- ton, Mrs. Sally Davis, Thomas Hill, Francis Drake Bowen, Stephen Field, James Hamil- ton and Isaac Van Hoozier in 1837. Robert N. Stewart, who became Governor of the State, came the next year. Rush Township was first settled in 1837 by William Allison, John Allison and James Canter. Peter Price and Isaac Lower were the first settlers of Wayne Township. Center Township was settled by Richard Hill, Jesse Reames, Zach- ariah Waller, Elijalı W. Smith, Thomas Moore, Lucas Dawson and John Martin in 1837. Agency Township was settled in 1837 by James and Robert Gilmore, Samuel Poteet and William McDowell. In 1839 Robert Gilmore established a ferry over the Platte River which continued to be operated until the county built the present wagon bridge in 1868. Ishmael Davis in 1837 was one of the first settlers in Tremont Township, and R. T. Davis was the first white child born in the county. This was near "Rock House Prairie," described elsewhere. Calvin James, of barbecue fame, located in Marion Town- ship in 1837. In 1900 Buchanan County had a population of 121,838.

T. R. VICKROY.

Linn County, the crossing point of the Han- nibal & St. Joseph and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads, twenty miles southeast of Linneus, and two hundred and four miles from St. Louis. It has Baptist, Catholic, Methodist Episcopal and Union Churches, a graded public school, a bank, gristmill, saw- mill, a weekly newspaper, the "Herald," and about thirty-five other business enterprises, including stores, lumber and coal yards, shops, etc. Population 1899 (estimated), 800.

Buckner, Alexander, lawyer, legisla- tor and United States Senator from Missouri, was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, in 1785, and died in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, June 6, 1833. After studying law,

he removed to Charleston, Clark County, In- diana, in 1812, where a number of soldiers who had served under General George Rog- ers Clark in the Northwest Territory of Vir- ginia, were settled on the military grant made to them by the State of Virginia. He lived there until 1818, when he removed to Missouri, it is said on account of a duel to which he was a party, in Indiana. In his re- moval to Missouri he was accompanied by his father, Nicholas Buckner, and his five sisters. He settled at Cape Girardeau, and entered on the practice of law. His talents and virtues brought him into conspicuous recognition at once, and he soon became a leading lawyer. In a few months after his arrival in the State he was appointed cir- citit attorney and shortly afterward was elected one of the five delegates from Cape Girardeau County to the first Constitutional Convention of Missouri, the one which, in 1820, formed the constitution on which it was admitted into the Union as a State. On the meeting of the convention he was made pres- ident. After its admission, he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1830 was elected United States Senator to succeed David Bar- ton, being the third United States Senator from Missouri. Three years after, he died of cholera on his farm five miles south of Jackson, his wife falling a victim to the same disease, in the same house, a few hours later. They were both buried in the same grave, on their farm. They left no descendants. Senator Buckner, while a young man in Indi- ana, was an active and zealous Mason, a mem -. ber of the Blazing Star Lodge of Charleston,

Bucklin .- A city of the fourth class, in . and when the Grand Lodge of Indiana was

organized in 1817, chiefly through his efforts, he was elected first grand master. Through his efforts the Unity Lodge of Jackson, Mis- souri, was established. He left a good name behind him in Indiana when he removed to Missouri, and it was at the instigation of the Freemasons of that State that on the 28th of September, 1897, sixty-four years after his death, his bones were taken up and reinterred in the city cemetery in the city of Cape Girardeau. The work was performed with full Masonic funeral ceremony, repre- sentatives of Masonic lodges of seven States being present, Honorable Mason J. Niblack, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Indiana, con- ducting the exercises ; Past Grand Master M.

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BUCKNER.

C. Crawford. of Illinois, acting as master of ceremonies, the prayer being offered by Chaplain J. D. Dillard, of St. Mark's Lodge, Jackson, and with an eloquent eulogy by Mr. Houck, of Cape Girardeau, and representa- tives from lodges of seven different States being present and taking part in the final obsequies of a brother whom all delighted to honor. 'The expense of the reinterment, to- gether with the monument placed over the new grave, was borne by the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Senator Buckner is represented as of medium height, with a bearing digni- fied, but affable and agreeable. He was a persuasive, rather than eloquent speaker, of industrious habits, fond of his profession and successful in the practice of it. His high honor was recognized by all who came in contact with him, and he enjoyed the confi- dience and esteem of the people of the State ; and when he died at the early age of forty- eight years, in the vigor of manhood and the zenith of his usefulness, it was felt that the State had lost one of its most promising citizens.

Buckner, Aylett Hawes, lawyer and Congressman, was born at Fredricksburg, Virginia, December 14, 1817, and died at Mexico, Missouri, February 5, 1894. He was a son of Richard and Mildred (Strother) Buckner. His father died while Aylett H. Buckner was fifteen years of age, leaving a widow and six sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest, and a heavily en- cumbered estate. Prior to his father's death, Aylett H. Buckner was sent to Georgetown College, District of Columbia, and afterward took his degree at the University of Virginia. Later he was instructed by his uncle, Dr. Aylett Hawes, who for sixteen years repre- sented the Culpeper (Virginia) District in Congress, and who at his death liberated one hundred and twenty slaves, and provided for their deportation to Liberia. For a while young Buckner taught school. In 1837 he removed to Palmyra, Missouri, where he was appointed a deputy sheriff. The day time he devoted to the duties of his office and the nights to the study of law. In 1838 he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Missouri. IIe located at Bowling Green, the county seat of Pike County, and for a num- ber of years Judge Gilchrist Porter and him- self were the only resident lawyers of that

town. About 1840 he purchased the "Salt River Journal,"which he managed and edited, and supported through its columns Martin Van Buren for President in 1840. In 1841 he was elected clerk of the County Court of Pike County and refused renomination at the end of his term. During his period in office he diligently augmented his knowledge of law by hard study. He practiced at the bar of Pike and other northeastern counties until 1850, when he removed to St. Louis and opened an office there. In 1852 he was elected attorney for the old Missouri State Bank and the same year was appointed rail- road commissioner by Governor Sterling Price in conjunction with Claiborne F. Jackson and George W. Hough. In 1855 he returned to Pike County and took up his residence on a farm near Bowling Green. In 1857 he was elected judge of the Third Judi- cial Circuit, then comprised of St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Warren, Montgomery and Callaway Counties. While serving as judge he was elected by the Legislature one of the five delegates to represent Missouri in the "Peace Congress" at Washington in July, 1861. His colleagues from Missouri in the congress were General Alexander W. Doni- phan, John D. Coulter, Honorable H. W. Hough and Waldo P. Johnson. In 1862 Judge Buckner removed to St. Charles, Mis- souri, and became interested in the manufac- ture of tobacco in St. Louis. In 1867 he was elected to attend a convention of tobacco manufacturers at Cleveland and aided in establishing a system of stamping the manu- factured article. In 1868 he was chosen a member of the Democratic Central Commit- tee of Missouri, and in 1872 was sent as a delegate at large from Missouri to the Balti- more convention. The same year he was nominated for Congress from the Thirteenth District, now the Ninth, was elected and was his own successor for five terms. He was appointed on the committee of private land claims in the Forty-third Congress, and be - came the leading member of the committee. His speeches on the civil rights bill and on the contraction of the currency during that Congress attracted wide attention. In the Forty-fourth Congress he was made chair- man of the District of Columbia committee. During the session he prepared an elaborate report on the affairs of the district. He served during three terms of Congress as

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BUCKSKULL-BUECHLE.

chairman of the committee on banking and currency, and as a member of the same com- mittee one other term in a Republican Cou- gress. His speech on the resumption of specie payment and the national banking sys- tem was regarded as one of the ablest on that subject. In 1841 Judge Buckner was mar- ried to Mrs. Eliza L. Minor, a daughter of James Clark, of Lincoln County. Ilis widow resides at Mexico. By that union there are five children living, all married, four of whom reside at Mexico. They are Captain James C., a captain in the Confederate Army and at present circuit clerk of Audrain County ; Charles A., merchant ; Stonewall J., banker ; Mildred, wife of William F. Whitney, and Margaret, wife of Rev. W. H. Marquess of · Louisville, Kentucky.

Judge Buckner's long and useful life in the public service makes his name one of which his countrymen may well be proud, and a lasting heritage to his children and their descendants.

Buckskull .- See "Currentview."

. Budd, George Knight, who, as finan- cier, citizen and churchman, rendered to St. Louis services of inestimable value, was born February 12, 1802, in the city of Philadelphia, and died in St. Louis September 24, 1875. During the early years of his manhood, Mr. Budd followed a seafaring life, visiting vari- ous Mediterranean and South American ports and the British Indies as supercargo on trad- ing vessels owned by Henry Pratt, in those days a famous Philadelphia merchant. In the fall of 1835 he made his first visit to the West, and, as a result of his observations and a shrewd forecast of the growth and de- velopment of Western cities, removed with his family to St. Louis the year following. He brought with him to St. Louis a stock of merchandise, and for two or three years after his coming he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. He then turned his attention to the banking business, becoming associated with Andrew Park, as head of the banking house of Budd & Park. From the beginning of his career in St. Louis, he was an active, forceful factor in promoting the up-building of that city and the development of its tributary country, not only within the sphere of his action as a business man, but as a citi- zen, solicitous at all times for the general

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 74

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856