My grandmother found this story amongst some of our family belongings. This is just the first part as it is a pretty long story.
The founder of the Buck family in American was Hosea Buck, who came from England shortly after the Quakers settled Pennsylvania, about 1638, and settled about 40 miles from Philadelphia.
He had some money or he became possessed in some way of a large tract of land. As was the custom in those days, aided and abetted by his good wife they raised a large family, and of the family were 8 boys, enough to stock the entire country with Bucks. The family prospered, and their name was given to a County, and to a mountain. Bucks County and Bucks Mountain stand as monuments to our family name that time cannot destroy.
When I was there some 30 years ago, every fourth person was named Buck. While the original stock of Bucks came from England, a large influx of Germans settled near and inter-married with the Bucks and as a result the English language was forgotten and that mongrel language known as Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken, down to my father’s time, who went to school to learn English. The founder of this western branch of the Buck family was Andrew Jackson Buck, who was born in Pennsylvania and grew to manhood there but decided that he would see what the country was like farther west. He had learned the trade of shoemaker, so that he was assured of finding work at all times. With his kit of tools slung over his shoulder and a sound pair of legs, he set out to walk to Ohio, which he reached in due time. He stayed in Ohio for several years, but walked back to Pennsylvania once to see his folks and then returned to Ohio. He was not satisfied there and shouldering his kit of tools he set out for Indiana. He had almost crossed the state before he found a place to his liking.
The village of Crawfordsville contained 3 or 4 log cabins, but it looked like a good place for a shoemaker, and it was. The shoemaker went from house to house and stayed until he had made foot wear for all of the family, which in families of 10 to 15 was no small job. In the home of one of his patrons he fell in love with a daughter, and being a young man of good habits and possessing a good trade, the young lady was perfectly willing. So my grandfather build him a log cabin of his own and stopped boarding from house to house to make shoes, but opened a shop and had his customers come to him. This shop he worked in for more than fifty years.
To be continued.
Charles F. Buck, Prominent Marshal County historian and nature student, has been an honorary member of the Journal staff for many years and his readers are found wherever the Journal goes. Mr. Buck is a former postmaster and only last year retired from active business as a groceryman and secretary of the Lacon Building and Loan association. He is well versed in Marshall County history and his resources have been a valuable aid in making the Centennial edition more interesting. Mr. Buck was President of the Old Settler’s Association when the city of Lacon celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1931. Now retired, Mr. Buck enjoys the best of health and takes a keen interest in the things he has always liked, but pressing matters of business before have always made it impossible to give his time to his hobbies, such as history, nature study, and geology.
[My grandmother's note states this was an article found in a scrapbook]
