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 42nd regiment of
the Alabama Infantry. The 42nd
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
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