JOHN S. BUCKNER

The following bio was taken from pages 132-133 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited by Rusk County Historical Commission

Transcribed by Gloria Riley

Submitted by Gloria B. Mayfield, Rusk Co. CC

According to authenticated records in the congressional Library in Washington, the family of Buckner can be traced to 820 A.D. in English history. In Staindrop Church, where my ancestors are buried, a cousin of mine visited in the church when she went to England in 1939. Here is an account of her episode: Three charwomen were scrubbing. One of them said, “You cannot come in here.” “Oh, “ I said, “I have crossed the ocean to see my ancestors who are buried here.” “Oh, well,” she said, “I have just finished washing them up; come on in and look.” I went, and there they lay on their alabaster backs, with their heads on tasseled pillows and their feet on little dogs. There were four Buckner brothers who came to America together and they form the only original branch of the Buckner family in America. My great-great-grandfather, John S. Buckner, lived in Georgia. In 1845 the Buckners and the Kilgores started from Georgia, in covered wagons, to come “West”. The Kilgores stopped in Louisiana, while the Buckners came on to Texas. There were four in this family, John S. and his wife and two grown sons, Arthur and Munford. In 1851 my great-grandfather, Arthur, went back to Louisiana and married Myrtis Euphrasia Kilgore, whom he had left waiting for several years. They came back to Pine Hill, Texas to live. Arthur settled down to the business of getting ahead in the world. He had several successful years on his father’s farms, so he built a cotton gin and opened a mercantile store and a lumber sawmill. I have been told how he worked from sunup to sundown hauling logs with oxen. When Arthur was a middle-aged man, the Civil War broke out and he volunteered his service to the Confederate Union. He was placed under the command of Robert E. Lee, where he soon became a Captain and later a Major. He was with General Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox. He came home a tired and defeated soldier. Incidentally, his pistol and solid silver watch are still in the Buckner family. When Arthur came home, he found that his slaves had remained true. His wife and slaves had raised and hidden from the Yankees 100 bales of cotton, which he sold for $375.00 a bale, probably the peak of the cotton market for all time. Arthur operated his gin, store, sawmill and farms for the next few years until his slaves were all freed and some of them left to make homes for themselves. Myrtis covered her fire screens with fifty-dollar Confederate bills. Arthur divided his possessions with his children: John E., Allen K., Tom, Neely, Benjamin, and May (Mae), and Fannie. Allen K. Buckner, my grandfather, farmed his land and was a depot agent for the T&P Railroad at Pine Hill. Later he and his wife, Priscilla Hancock Buckner, opened the Buckner Hotel in Pine Hill. They raised eight children: James A., Blanche, Maude, Cecile, Allen Jr., Winnie Davis, Arthur W. and Andrew C. James A., my father, was a farmer and rancher. Blanche married J. J. Wylie, a mercantile merchant. Maud married a bookkeeper, Joseph Nelson. Allen Jr. married Bess Riley and was General Sales Manager for General Foods. Arthur W. married Mattie Mae Crim and was employed in oil field equipment. Andrew C. made a lawyer and practiced in Houston, Texas. The only survivors of this family at this time are: Mrs. Cecile Snapp Gary, age 91, and Mrs. Winnie Davis Wallace, age 85, who married Ernest Wallace, a bus line owner. James A. stayed on his farm and married Elizabeth Harris in 1902. There were three children born to them, Leonard H. Buckner, Agnes C. Buckner O’Kelley, and Frank H. Buckner. After fifteen years Elizabeth died, and two years later James A. married Sudie Dunn. Two children were born to them, Priscilla Buckner Vinson and Tom J. Buckner. At the present time I own and live in the original homestead that was built in 1867 by my great-great-grandfather, John S. Buckner, the first Buckner in these parts. Submitted for the Buckner family by Agnes Buckner O’Kelley