Letitia Amelia Buck (1803 – 1885)

Letitia Amelia Buck was the eleventh child of Thomas Buck V and Anne Richardson.  She was born on April 7, 1803 and died on June 15, 1885 in Riverton, Virginia at the age of 82. She was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia.

Letitia Amelia Buck and John Mauzy Blakemore were married on July 31, 1820. John Mauzy Blakemore, the son of George Blakemore and Elizabeth Mauzy, was born on June 4, 1798. He died on July 29, 1853 of an apoplexy at the age of 55 and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia.

John Mauzy Blakemore was said to be of "distinguished bearing" and "so meticulous in his attire that he was known as ‘Gentleman John'".

Letitia Amelia Buck and John Mauzy Blakemore purchased "Bel Air" in 1837 from her father, Thomas Buck V for $5000.  Later they sold Bel Air to William Mason Buck.  As explained by their son, Thomas Fayette Blakemore, his father had “in a thoughtless moment” endorsed some loans by a friend and had to liquidate much of his property when those loans were called.

After selling Bel Air and other properties, Letitia Amelia Buck and John Mauzy Blakemore moved to Tennessee.   In 1842, Letitia Amelia Buck and John Mauzy Blakemore lived in "Homewood", New Providence, Tennessee.  Homewood was a farm and John Mauzy Blakemore was not well suited to be a farmer.  His son, Thomas Fayette Blakemore, was called upon to manage the farm “a task which I heartily disliked”.   Homewood was sold or traded, apparently at a loss, about 1846.    Letitia Amelia Buck and John Mauzy Blakemore then returned to Front Royal and built a house called “Retreat”.  In the 1850 census, Letitia Amelia Buck Blakemore and John Mauzy Blakemore are living in Warren County, Virginia.  According to his son, Thomas, John Mauzy Blakemore died in 1853 of an apoplexy.

In the 1860 census, Letitia Amelia Buck Blakemore is shown as a “Retired Lady” living on the farm of J. R. Richards and having a personal estate of $2800.  J. R. Richards was the son-in-law of Letitia Amelia Buck Blakemore being the second husband of her daughter Elizabeth Blakemore.  J. R. Richards is shown as having real estate or $26500 and personal estate of $19030.  Most people in the census have no entry under real estate or personal estate.

John Mauzy Blakemore and Letitia Amelia Buck had five children:

• Thomas Fayette Blakemore, born 1822; married Susan Payne Bayly, 1848; died 1896
• Elizabeth Mauzy Blakemore, born 1825; married Richard B. Bayly, 1841; married James Russell Richards, 1851; died 1891
• William Richardson Blakemore was born and died in 1832
• Marcus Newton Blakemore, born 1835; married Angela Warner, 1866
• Richard Mauzy Blakemore, born 1843; married Lily Bowen, 1892; died 1924

Isaac Newton Buck (1801 – 1877)

Expectations must have been very high for Isaac Newton Buck!  Sir Isaac Newton, the renowned English scientist, died in 1727.  Isaac Newton Buck is assumed to have been named after him.

Interestingly, there was also a Rev. Isaac Newton Buck, Sr. (1800-1873) who lived and preached in Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee.  He also had a mercantile store and a freight line.  He founded Buck College.  His connection, if any, to the Buck Family of Virginia is unknown.

Isaac Newton Buck was the tenth child of Thomas Buck V and Anne Richardson.   He was born on March 22, 1801 and died on Jan. 23, 1877 at the age of 75. He was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia.   His tombstone has a Confederate States Army Marker.

Isaac Newton Buck graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a medical doctor in 1822.  He then practiced medicine at Front Royal from 1822 to 1845 when his health became impaired and he moved to his farm, "Mountain View", nearby.

Dr. Isaac Newton Buck was a Methodist and a subscriber to the 1833 building fund for the Front Royal Methodist Church.   He was a member of the Virginia state legislature and was active in county affairs.

Dr. Buck was also said to be a good musician, carpenter and whittler.  He carried small blocks of wood while making his medical rounds and whittled gifts for children.  He was popular and his home on Chester Street had visitors almost daily; many stayed the night.

Isaac Newton Buck and Susan Taylor were married on Jun. 12, 1827.  Susan Taylor was born in 1810. She died in 1836 at the age of 26 and is buried at Walnut Hill, Frederick County, Virginia.

Isaac Newton Buck and Susan Taylor had five children:

• Catherine Elizabeth Buck, born 1832; married Marcus H. Blakemore, 1852; died 1909.
• Marcus Taylor Buck, born 1827; married Elizabeth Cramer, 1856; died 1862.
• Mary Cornelia Buck, born 1830; married Solomon G. Cunningham, 1854; died 1918.
• Ann Buck was born in 1834 and died in 1835.
• Susan Rebecca Buck was born in 1836 and died in 1880.

After the death of his first wife, Susan, Isaac Newton Buck married Janet Urquhart Lovell on November 21, 1839. Janet Urquhart Lovell was born on Jun. 10, 1815 to Charles Urquhart Lovell and Mary Evans Long.  She died on May 2, 1893 at the age of 77 and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia.  She was called "Jane".  H. N. Buck has her surname as Lovell in his Buck Family Tree, but only Urquhart is used on her tombstone.  William Mason Buck had her name as Janet U. Lovell.

Isaac Newton Buck and Janet Urquhart Lovell had five children:

• Thomas William Buck, born 1845; married Catherine Augusta Buck, 1875; died 1877.
• Charles Newton Buck, born 1842; married Annie Susan Deatherage, 1883; died 1925.
• Nannie Lovell Buck, born 1848; married Charles Anderton Brown, 1871; died 1934.
• Robert Lovell Buck, born 1851; married Katie Elizabeth Massie, 1877; died 1882.
• James Cunningham Buck, born 1854; married Nannie Miriam Wight, 1883; died 1936.

Elizabeth Price Buck (1794-1871)

Elizabeth Price Buck was the ninth child of Thomas Buck V and Anne Richardson.  She was born on September 5, 1794 in Shenandoah County, Virginia and died October 21, 1871 in Paris, Tennessee at the age of 77.

Elizabeth Price Buck and George Neville Blakemore were married on October 27, 1814. George Neville Blakemore, son of George Blakemore and Elizabeth Mauzy, was born in 1791 and died in 1847 at the age of 56. George Neville Blakemore was one of the original justices (1836) of Warren County, Virginia and also a trustee of the Old School Happy Creek Church in Front Royal.

George Neville Blakemore and Elizabeth Price Buck had seven children:

• Mary Rebecca Blakemore, born 1817; married Gustavus A. Williams, 1841; died 1897.
• Ann Elizabeth Blakemore, born 1815; married Presley Neville Helm, 1836.
• Thomas Luther Blakemore, born 1819; married Elizabeth Richards, 1839; died 1901.
• George William Blakemore, born 1821; died 1880.
• Lucy Virginia Blakemore was born 1824, died in 1859.
• Martha Letitia Blakemore, born 1826; married John Buck Helm, 1842; died 1854.
• Robert Newton Blakemore was born 1833; died 1917.

The family home of Elizabeth Price Buck and George Neville Blakemore in Front Royal was called “Rose Hill”.  Thomas Buck, Elizabeth’s father, had purchased this land in 1820.  Rose Hill was sold to William Richardson in 1841.  George and Elizabeth Blakemore then moved Tennessee near their daughter, Ann, who had married Pressley Neville Helm.  George died in Tennessee in 1847.

In 1860, Elizabeth Price Buck Blakemore was age 67 and living with her son Thomas and his wife, also named Elizabeth, in St. Joseph, Missouri.  This dwelling place was a hotel and probably owned by Thomas although he is listed as “bookkeeper” in 1870.  A total of 34 people were living there.  Elizabeth Price Buck Blakemore was not living at this hotel in 1870.  She had moved to Clay Brook, Tennessee and was living with her grandson, James L. Blakemore, the son of Thomas.

Thomas Luther Buck had transitioned from farmer to clerk to a partner in the hotel business with a hotel at Capon Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia) called “The Mountain House”.   The Mountain House was a luxurious, four-story hotel completed in 1851 to take advantage of the medicinal spring in the area.  At the time, The Mountain House was believed to be one of the largest structures in the South. In addition to Thomas, the partnership included John R. Richards, William Mason Buck and his brother John Buck.  Capon Springs had a 900 seat dining room and was intended to entertain Congressmen and their families from Washington, D. C.  However, Capon Springs was a business failure.    In 1857, Thomas moved to St. Joseph, Missouri and again engaged in the hotel business.  According to the 1880 census, Thomas was a farmer in Missouri so perhaps he had left the hotel business by then.

Rebecca Richardson Buck (1792 – 1878)

Rebecca Richardson Buck was the eighth child of Thomas Buck V and Anne Richardson.  She was born on Feb. 13, 1792 and died on Aug. 6, 1878 at the age of 86.  She was said to be "a woman of great amiability and charm” in the notes of H. N. Buck, 1965.

Rebecca Richardson Buck and William Richardson Ashby were married on Apr. 3, 1817.  William Richardson Ashby, son of Nathaniel Ashby and Margaret "Peggy" Mauzy, was born on Dec. 18, 1789. He died on May 21, 1843 at the age of 53 and was buried in Buckton Cemetary, Virginia.

William Richardson Ashby and Rebecca Richardson Buck had two children:

• Thomas Newton Ashby, born 1819; died 1878.
• Elizabeth Ann Ashby, born Sep. 25, 1820, Front Royal, Virginia; married William Mason Buck, Apr. 3, 1838, Front Royal, Virginia; died Jan. 24, 1904.

 William Mason Buck, nephew and son-in-law to Rebecca Richardson Buck, wrote his memoirs in 1880 which have been very helpful in documenting the history of families in those times.