William Calmes Buck II (part 2)

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Photographs and Memorabilia

Because of the house fire in the early 1920s in Florence, there are no photographs of an adult W. C. Buck and also none of Mattie Clardy Buck until her old age. 

Helen Clementine Masterson Mason had the picture below of W. C. Buck as a child and described it in her notes.  She said that she had copies made and distributed.  Many years later, Marcia Buck Cole sent me a scanned version from her father’s photo album.

William Calmes Buck II

Martha Elizabeth Clardy Buck

Family Lore

When my father was about six years old, W. C. Buck, his grandfather, visited them in Decatur, Alabama.  This would have been just before his death.  He remembered watching his grandfather shave with a straight razor when his grandfather noticed a wart on my dad’s hand.  “What’s that, boy?” his grandfather said.  “A wart.”replied my dad.”Let me see it.”  When my dad extended his hand, his grandfather used his straight razor to slice the wart off before my dad knew what was happening.   Of course, it bled a lot but it never grew back. 

Mattie Clardy Buck outlived her husband, W. C. Buck by 26 years so more is known about her than about her husband.  She was a kind and caring woman, if a bit eccentric.

Her son, Hubert Nelson Buck, wrote that his mother was “An unreconstructed rebel until the day of her death (in her 92nd year). The misrule, fears, and chaos of reconstruction days having left searing and indelible marks in her memory.”

Family lore is that Mattie Buck was such a staunch rebel that she refused to travel down Grant or Sherman streets in Decatur.   However, she actually lived on Grant Street and then later on Sherman Street.  Another story is that Mattie Buck disowned her brother, George, when he moved to Pennsylvania in the 1920s. 

Helen Clementine Masterson, a granddaughter of Mattie Clardy Buck, wrote that “Granny” was Episcopalian before her marriage.  Mattie “wore her wedding slippers out dancing on her wedding day because she knew she would never be allowed to dance again -- Southern Baptists didn’t dance.”  Helen was a favored grandchild until she married a “damn yankee” at which time her grandmother reclaimed some jewelry that she had given to Helen.

Her grandson, Gordon S. Buck Sr. remembered “She was very tall, perhaps 5-9" or more; taller than her husband.  Her brothers were all big men -- more than six feet tall.”

Daddy told me a story of how his brother “Buddy” once almost got kicked out of the church because there was a rumor (which was probably true) that he had had a few drinks before going to a party.  A disciplinary committee was formed and, to their surprise, Grandma Buck showed up at their meeting.  She looked each of the members in the eye and reminded them that she was aware of problems they had had while growing up.  No action was taken.  

My dad always said (and his brothers and sisters agreed) that, on the death of her husband, his Grandma Buck forgave many debts that were owed him as a building contractor.  In particular, there were many debts from small churches that he had built or helped to build.  This caused some of her children to be greatly upset.  It is said that these debts were valued at approximately two hundred thousand dollars and that she either wrote “Paid in Full” on them or tore them up.  

Being named after my dad, I’d always heard how he and Nelson were named using maternal surnames.  When Daddy and I began our genealogy studies, I asked about the details of those ancestors.  Of course, he knew the Sandlin family and we quickly found the Roberts family but have never found any information on a Gordon or a Nelson family.  

Another grandson, Nelson R. Buck remembered that his Grandma Buck always said that she wasn't pretty and knew that she wasn't.  But she had a little poem that she often quoted:

"I know how ugly I are
I know my face ain't no star
But I don't mind it
for I'm behind it
the fellow in front gets the jar."