R. G. BUCKNER

The following bio was taken from page 133 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Robert Garrett Buckner left his home in Nacogdoches County about the year 1882 on a visit to his Uncle Bob Buckner, at New Salem. But, when the visit ended, he stayed on as a boarder and "raised a crop." It turned out to be a beginning as well as an end.

Bob’s wife, Jenny, had a sister four years younger than the new boarder. According to Earnest Washburn, who remembered the wedding, "Miss Etta was the prettiest woman in Rusk County." Lorey Etta Swink and R. G. (Buck) Buckner were married November 11, 1883, the day before her nineteenth birthday.

The young couple moved to Ellis County, where their eldest son was born and died. They lived next with relatives in Johnson County. Their second son was born there.

Somewhere around this time, Etta’s father divided his property among his children. The brothers and sisters drew lots for the parcels of land. Etta’s share was 460 acres.

In a dog-run cabin, the couple shared life’s joys and sorrows, rearing eleven children: John, Annie (Mrs. Jim Moore), Allie Mae (Mrs. Marvin Moore), Archie, R. C., Benona (Mrs. George Miley), Joe, Russell, Sara (Mrs. Brown Johnson), Dollie (Mrs. J. P. Lowe), and Kaull. Four other children died young. One was little three-year-old Nina. Somehow Nina wandered away from the house one day. A search was organized as soon as she was missed, with scores of neighbors assisting. They even hunted through the night by the light of pine torches. On the second day she was found in the Reed Slough, face down in eighteen inches of water. The Reverend Rob Wilson, Buck’s first cousin, performed the funeral in Mays Cemetery. He also wrote a newspaper account as follows: "A father, almost wild, bending over the lifeless form of his darling; 150 men, brave and strong, all weeping in the lonely swamps of the Angelina River."

The Buckner children had fond memories of their childhood. Theirs was a loving and affectionate family in which corporal discipline was rare. Benona Miley said she remembered being spanked only once by her mother when she was about two. "I walked between the baby and the fire," she explained. "Mama had told me not to do that because the baby was sick." (The baby was the one who died.)

The years passed. The children left home. Annie and Allie Mae were the first to marry. A double wedding with the Moore brothers was planned, but Annie and Jim kept breaking up. Allie Mae and Marvin finally grew tired of waiting. Three days after their wedding, Jim and Annie also tied the knot.

More than sixty years later, Jim said, "She’s always told me what to do. And I always do it."

Times changed. R. C. went to war and waited on Woodrow Wilson’s table on the troopship that brought him home. The horse and buggy, which Archie drove at a pace, that worried his father gave way to the car. "He was going to see his girlfriend," the others laughed. "And I was the slowest of the bunch at driving a car," Archie said.

Submitted by M. R. Buckner