Thomas Buck I (1618 - 1659)

The first member of the BUCK family to come to the New World was the Reverend Richard Bucke who sailed from England on June 2, 1609 for Jamestown on the Seaventure. He was the second minister of the Virginia colony and is probably best known for performing the marriage ceremony of John ROLFE and Pocahontas in 1614. The Rev. Richard Bucke died about 1623 leaving three sons and two daughters. Of his children, only Elizabeth, who married Thomas Crump, had any offspring.

The progenitor of the Buck family of Virginia was Thomas BUCK (1618 - 1659) who left Gravesend, England for Virginia on August 21, 1635 onboard the ship George when he was seventeen years old. Because Gravesend is near Rochester, it is sometimes assumed that Thomas BUCK was related to Sir Peter Buck of Rochester. However, there is no proof of any such relationship.

There is also no known relationship between Thomas Buck and the Rev. Richard Bucke but there are several interesting, if perhaps circumstantial, similarities. They were from the same general area in England and settled into the same area in Virginia. It seems highly likely that Thomas would have known the children of Richard Bucke.

In addition to Thomas, emigration records show that there were six Bucks leaving England in 1635. This hardly seems coincidental. A William Buck and his son Roger went to Massachusetts on the ship INCREASE in that year and it is sometimes assumed that Thomas may have been a member of this family. If so, he must have taken the wrong ship!

In Virginia, Thomas Buck settled into York county. Little is known about him until 1658 when he is mentioned in the York county records of 1658 in a dispute over the time of service for his two indentured servants. Thomas Buck I died when he was 41; his wife is assumed to have died before him. Their two children, Thomas and Dorothy, were named in his will. The will states that Richard Smith and Nicholas Bond were "overseers and guardians of my children" as well as "full and whole Executors of ye estate for my children and I do appoint that my children be brought upp to learning, Read and Wright, and in Ye fear of God" also noted was "My cattle not to be transferred off ye ground". His will includes an inventory of his household goods which includes, among other things, a Bible and 8000 nails.

Dorothy BUCK was probably born about 1647 or later as she was a minor when Thomas I died in 1659. She married a Robert TALLANT but no other details are available about her life.

Thomas BUCK II married Elizabeth Wooding sometime before 1682, probably around 1670 and most likely in York Co., VA. His will, dated May 19, 1729, and probated June 16, 1729 is recorded in York Country general records book No. 16, Part 2, Folio 605. He had six children but there is little information on them except for his son Thomas BUCK III.