Dorothy Buck (1654 - ?)

The younger sister of Thomas Buck II, Dorothy, was born in June of 1654 according to later court documents. At the unbelievably young age of eleven (correct: 11), Dorothy married Robert Tallant in 1665. To my knowledge, nothing else is known about Dorothy or, for that matter, Robert Tallant. If there is more information available, I’d sure like to know about it.

In his will, Dorothy Buck’s father, Thomas Bucke I, gave his house and land to his son, Thomas II. The rest of his estate was to be shared equally between Thomas II and Dorothy. Their guardians were Richard Smith and Nicholas Bond.

There is some speculation that perhaps Dorothy’s early marriage was a legal ruse to obtain her inheritance; however, there is no evidence to support this speculation.

Given the tendency to name children after spouses and siblings, it seems strange that the name “Dorothy” does not appear in the Buck family line again for many generations. Perhaps this is an indication of the number of missing branches from that tree or perhaps a very interesting story that has yet to be told!