William Calmes Buck's Children: Charles Willis Buck (1835-1900) (continued)

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Charles Willis Buck was

A Baptist minister, like his father.  He served as chaplain to various Alabama regiments during the Civil War, and later as pastor of a number of churches in central Alabama, his eleven children being born in eight different locations.  Most of his descendants reside (or did) in Alabama and Georgia.
                                         -- notes of Hubert Nelson Buck, 1965

Susan Croom Sparrow was a reigning belle of her day.  "A very lovely woman." - (Emma Virginia Buck)                              

Family lore is that C. W. Buck was a dentist.  His tombstone reads "Dr. C. W. Buck".  My dad remembers his father (C. L. Buck) saying that his grandfather pulled teeth.  Miriam Quarles remembered hearing that C. W. Buck developed procedures for "painless" dentistry.

Charles Willis Buck

Susan Croom Sparrow Buck

A letter from Charles Willis Buck to his wife during the Civil War.

Near 2hr Stewarts Div Hospital (Marietta, GA)

June 29, 1864

My Dear Precious Wife

I write again not because I have any news but because I know that you will wish to hear from me.  I wrote on Saturday and again on Sunday but this is Wednesday.  This morning as I was walking through town I saw a man whose face seemed familiar but I could not place him.  I went up to a gentleman who seemed to be acquainted with him and inquired his name and was told that it was Lewis Craig.  I called to him and after teasing him awhile as to myself I made myself known and you may be sure it was a pleasant meeting.  Lewis is the oldest living child of my mother’s sister Ann.  He and his brother Willis, Gid and myself were raised together and our attachment for sure awhile was as strong as brother’s love.   He informed us of the death of ….

(the back of the page was not available)

I consoled several and dressed some of their wounded.  We have been blessed in the last month of fighting as have lost only those killed in the present month, several wounded but none mortally.  I hope Pa and Silas write.  I must again say farewell for the moment.  Kiss my pretty boys for me and tell them Papa says “Howdy”.  Remember me kindly to all friends.  And for yourself my Darling, I send my heart it is ever missing you.  Sleeping or waking my dreams are ever of you and my heart responses only to one sweet face and name.  I sometimes feel that I can bear our separation no longer and must return to my Darling but then duty says “stop” and I obey.  Our meeting will be but sweeter for our long separation and I look forward to the day when in the mercy of God we shall be separated no more in life.  God grant that the day may be near when this dreadful war will be over and the poor soldier be permitted to return to his home again.  My God bless and protect you and our children.  May Angels watch over our family and may your life be as happy as my absence will allow.

Your Aff. Husband,

C. W. Buck

William Calmes Buck's Children: Charles Willis Buck (1835 -1900) continued

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In the summer of 1858, C. W. Buck and others met in the Methodist Church to discuss forming a Young Men's Christian Association in Selma, Alabama.  This was the first YMCA in the state of Alabama.

In 1858, C. W. Buck and his brother Giddings attempted to open a school in Sumterville as indicated by their advertisement in the Independent of Gainesville Alabama newspaper of December 12, 1857.  Apparently, this school was not successful as no further mention of it is available.

C. W. Buck and Susan Croom Sparrow Buck must have moved from the Greene county area in late 1859 because "sister Susan Buck" was granted a letter of dismissal the Saturday before the second Sunday of October, 1859.

In the 1860 census, C. W. Buck is shown as a Baptist Minister living in Marion, Perry County, Alabama with his wife.  They appear to be living in a boarding house or hotel.

In lists of Confederate soldiers, Charles W. Buck is shown to be a Chaplain in the 42^nd regiment of the Alabama Infantry.  The 42^nd was organized at Columbus, Mississippi in May 1862.  It participated in the siege of Corinth and the garrison at Vicksburg.

In 1870, Charles and Susan Buck lived in the town of Butler in Choctaw County, Alabama with their young family. Again, he is shown as being a Minister.

An advertisement in the Livingston Journal of September 29, 1871 indicates that C. W. Buck was an agent for the Mississippi Valley Life Insurance Company.

In 1872, the "Tuscaloosa Times", listing the death of his daughter, Mary Emma, referred to Rev. and Mrs. C. W. Buck.

In 1873, C. W. Buck was "Editor and Proprietor" of the "Crystal Fount" a newspaper "Devoted to Temperance, Morality, Literature and General Intelligence -- Neutral in Religion and Politics".  This "Family Paper", published in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, cost two dollars per year. In the November 3 issue for 1873, C. W. Buck's column (dated October 3) was in favor of prohibition, closing with "Destroy it from the land by forbidding it made and sold; and we shall soon have no drunkards to convert and save."   His column of October 7 was "We make Ourselves" in which he said that God's works are perfect and "man made himself what he is".  This issue also noted publication of the paper would be suspended for one month due in part to "failure of subscribers to pay up" and pleaded for financial support.  "We have done wrong in sending out the paper without the money, and will hereafter strictly abide by the cash system."  The Crystal Fount was published for only about two years.

From 1879 to 1881, C. W. Buck served as pastor at the Girard Baptist Church in Russell County, Alabama.

In 1880, He lived in Brownville and Whittens in Lee County, Alabama.  In this census, Charles is shown as being a farmer.  In addition to his family, now numbering nine children, the household includes Lucy Parker as a (white) servant along with her two young children.

By 1884, C. W. Buck had changed his profession from minister to farmer and then to dentistry.  He practiced a form of “painless” dentistry which he called “Electrodentis”.  An advertisement in the Tuskegee News dated October 2, 1884 seems to indicate that he was travelling from town to town and pulling teeth.

In 1897, the Montgomery, Alabama City Directory includes Charles W. Buck as a dentist.

Charles Willis Buck died in Montgomery, Alabama on April 8, 1900 of pneumonia brought on by influenza.

In the 1900 census, Susan C. Buck is shown as a widow and living in Glennville, Russell County, Alabama with her son-in-law A. D. Quarles and his wife Belle Sparrow Buck Quarles.  A. D. Quarles is shown as being a farmer and blacksmith.

Susan Croom Sparrow Buck died in Phenix City, Alabama April 26, 1906 apparently as the result of being thrown from a carriage.

... to be continued

William Calmes Buck's Children: Charles Willis Buck (1835-1900)

Charles Willis Buck was the third son born to William CalmesBuck and his second wife Isabella Miriam Field Buck. He was born on September 26, 1835 in Woodford County, Kentucky "at 5 min. past 7 a.m." according to the memoirs of his father, William Calmes Buck (I).  He was named in honor of his grandfathers Charles Buck and Willis Field.

According to the U. S. Census of 1850, Charles Willis Buck, age 14, was living with his parents and siblings in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.  His father, William C. Buck, is shown as being a Baptist Minister.  Charles was attending school.

Although his father was largely self-educated (but even so, referred to as “Dr. Buck” later in his life), Charles Willis received a formal education.  His early school years were in Louisville, Kentucky.  At about age 14, Charles and his younger brother Giddings were enrolled and boarded at Georgetown College in Kentucky.  Georgetown College was chartered in 1829 and was the first Baptist college west of the Allegheny Mountains.  After a few years at Georgetown, Charles and Giddings were enrolled and boarded at Union University in Tennessee after their mother died in 1852.   In fact, they boarded at the home of the president of Union College, Dr. Joseph Eaton.  Charles and his younger brother Giddings attended Union College whereas their sister Emma attended the Female Academy.  Giddings graduated in 1857 and, perhaps, Charles did as well. 

On October 21, 1857, Charles’s sister, Emma, while visiting in Front Royal, Virginia, noted in her diary “Hope Brother Charlie will succeed in getting a situation very soon.”  He was 22 years old.  On November 21, Charles visited Front Royal and the surrounding area.  Charles and Emma left Front Royal on December 9 for Washington D.C. where they visited the Capitol, Rotunda, Library, Senate Chamber and House of Representatives.  They departed for Baltimore on December 11 to visit relatives.  On December 18, they departed for Norfolk, Virginia on the steamer George.  They used railroad and other steamers to travel to Selma, Alabama where their father was living.  In Selma, Emma noted that she met Mrs. Croom (who would become Charles' mother-in-law).

Charles Willis Buck and Susan Croom Sparrow were married on September 13, 1857 in Greene County, Alabama. Susan Croom Sparrow, daughter of Robert J. Sparrow and Nancy E. Croom, was born on July 13, 1838 in Greene County, Alabama. The Sparrows were a well-to-do farming family in Greene County, Alabama.  In the census of 1860, the Sparrow farm, run by her mother, Nancy, after the death of her father, appears to be relatively valuable and in near proximity to other valuable farms.

Charles Willis Buck and Susan Croom Sparrow had the following children:

• William Calmes Buck II (1861-1924); married Martha Elizabeth Clardy, December 1, 1881.  As my great grandfather, he gets his own post in this blog as well as this short summary. 
•  Frances Buck (1862-1863)
•  Charles Willis Buck Jr. (1863-1883); married Martha Mahalia Clay
•  Susan Croom Buck (1866-1906); married William Thomas Quarles
•  Mary Emma Buck (1867-1872)
•  Miriam Field Buck (1869-1936); married Charles Davis Stringer
•  Robert Sparrow Buck (1870-1930); married Lenna Adams
•  John Hickman Buck (1872-1956); married Annie Zerada Johnson
•  Belle Sparrow Buck (1874-1964); married Abram David Quarles
•  Katie Steiner Buck (1878-1957); married Haywood Johnson 
• Elizabeth Davidge "Bessie" Buck (1876-1965) 

(to be continued)

William Calmes Buck's Children: Silas Calmes Buck (1847-1908)

Silas Calmes Buck and his twin brother, Paul, were sons of William Calmes Buck and Isabella Miriam Field.  They were born on November 1, 1847 in Louisville, Kentucky. Paul was born at "20 min. after 5 and Silas at half past 7" according to the notes of their father. 

Paul died on July 5, 1848 of “cholera infantum” - an acute noncontagious intestinal disturbance of infants, now relatively rare.

Silas’s sister, Emma, wrote in her diary of February 14, 1862 that Silas and his brother Field were in school at Carrolton (probably Alabama).

While only fourteen years old, Silas accompanied and assisted his father who served as a missionary to the soldiers of the Civil War. Before he was sixteen, he joined the 16th Confederate Cavalry as Color Bearer.  This group was still fighting a week after Lee's surrender. When word of the surrender reached his unit, Silas removed the flag from the staff and hid it under some leaves.  Later, Silas retrieved the flag and gave it to his commanding officer Colonel Philip B. Spence.  Many years later, Col. Spence brought it to Texas to an old soldier's reunion in Dallas.  A photograph was taken of Silas with the flag and he was allowed to keep it for a year.

Silas also served in Company D, 12th Mississippi Calvary having enlisted on October 15, 1864 at Pickensville as a private.  He was surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama on May 4, 1865 and paroled at Cainesville, Alabama on May 14, 1865.  Philip B. Spence was lieutenant colonel of the 12^th Mississippi Cavalry which was also known as the 16^th Regiment of the Confederate Cavalry.

After the war, Silas studied law at Waco University (now Baylor).  He moved to Stephenville, Texas about 1875 where he continued the practice of law and was soon elected District Attorney.  He helped to bring law and order to those fourteen counties.  One of the most notorious criminals that he prosecuted was John Wesley Hardin whom Silas Buck sent to the penitentiary.  Overwork in his office resulted in ill health for much of the later years of his life.  With his poor health came financial hard times.

His daughter, Emma Virginia Buck, wrote that some thought him severe but he was actually was not.  He was "just in his disciple and a most loving and self-sacrificing father, and a devoted husband.  He was a humble sincere Christian, taught his children the Bible, tried to train them in its precepts and to instill in them a vital faith in God."

Silas Calmes Buck and Georgia Rebecca Titus were married on July 25, 1877 in Texas.  Georgia Rebecca Titus, daughter of Peter Wright Titus and Susan Torrence Hines, was born on June 9, 1854 in Texas. Her daughter, Emma Virginia Buck wrote that "No woman ever lived in Stephenville who was more beloved than my mother."  More than twenty nieces, nephews and grandchildren were taken into her home to attend the Stephenville schools.

Silas Calmes Buck and Georgia Rebecca Titus had the following children:

•         Mary Susan Buck (1879-1966); married Harrison D. Buck, 1918.  Harrison D. Buck was the son of Giddings Judson Buck and Mary Cottingham Halbert.
•         Emma Virginia Buck (1880-1975); married Rube Hendrix.  She lived in Stephenville all her life. Emma Virginia Buck was the author of a well-used and appreciated Buck family history.  In a letter to Gordon S. Buck, Sr., Emma wrote:  "... Cousin Charlie told me that his brother, Will, was the very best man he knew."  (This would be Charles Willis Buck, Jr. speaking of William Calmes Buck, II, grandfather of Gordon S. Buck, Sr.)
•        Silas Calmes Buck Jr. (1883-1963); married Ada Williams.
•         Mattie Buck (1887-1887)
•         William E. Buck (1887-1887)
•         Georgia Buck (1893-1977); married Thomas Jewell Arnold.  Thomas Jewell Arnold applied for a Confederate Pension for Georgia Rebecca Titus Buck in 1928.  The pension was approved October 1, 1928.  Her application and the approval process included information and even some letters from Silas.

Silas Calmes Buck signed his will on March 27, 1904 in Erath County, Texas.  His wife, Georgie Titus Buck, was the sole executrix of his will which was witnessed by Susie Buck (probably their daughter) and L. N. Frank.

Georgia Rebecca Titus Buck died on August 15, 1939 at the age of 85.  She was buried in West End Cemetery, Erath, Texas.  Silas Calmes Buck died in 1908 at the age of 61 in Erath County, Texas.