Plumas County CA Archives Biographies.....Buckbee, John R. 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 3, 2006, 7:37 pm

Author: Fariss & Smith (1882)

JOHN R. BUCKBEE.—Mr. Buckbee's first labors in Plumas county were at mining at
Smith's bar on the east branch of tie north fork of Feather river. On the fourth
of July, 1852, John delivered the oration at the celebration. He was a man of
considerable native talent, with a fair education. He came from New York, where
he had studied medicine, but never practiced in California, being engaged in
mining. His legal attainments were first made known to the public some time in
July, 1852, when he prosecuted the man Joshua for the murder of Bacon, before a
miner's court. In the spring of 1854 he took up his residence at Quincy, and
turned his attention to the law, and was admitted to practice at the first
session of the district court held in Plumas county in July, 1854. In the fall
of that year he was elected district attorney, and held it till the spring of
1857, when he returned to New York, married, and emigrated to Wisconsin. In 1860
he came back to Quincy and resumed the practice of law. He also associated
himself with Matt Lynch in the Plumas Standard, a democratic sheet. He was a
strong advocate of the right of states to secede, until the war broke out, when
he became a Douglas unionist. He ran for district attorney in the fall of 1861,
and was defeated by P. O. Hundley. He was elected to the office in 1863 by a
fusion of the Douglas democrats and the republicans, and was re-elected in 1865.
Buckbee was retained by James H. Yeates in the lawsuit about the shrievalty
which occurred at this time. S. J. Clark was the republican contestant for
sheriff, and Buckbee's advocacy of Yeates got him out of favor with the old-line
republicans. The county court decided in Yeates's favor, which decision the
supreme court first sustained and then reversed. Mr. Buckbee gave his whole time
to politics. He took an active part in the senatorial fight between his
relative, Cole, and Sargent, in which the Litter was defeated. Buckbee was
elected to the assembly in 1867, defeating John D. Goodwin, the democratic
candidate. The Virginia and Oroville railroad act, in which Buckbee was
concerned, proved the death-blow to his political existence in Plumas. He
returned to his constituents to find the people fearfully indignant, and it was
apprehended by some that he would be mobbed. It was some time before the public
became sufficiently tranquil to listen to Buckbee in vindicating his course. In
a short time he went to San Francisco and obtained a situation in the mint. A
softening of the brain finally resulted in insanity, and he was taken to the
asylum in February, 1873, where he died June 29, 1873.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/plumas/bios/buckbee256nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 3.3 Kb