Will County IL Archives Biographies.....BUCK, GEORGE ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 12, 2007, 1:59 am Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD GEORGE A. BUCK. After years of industrious applications to agricultural pursuits, Mr. Buck retired from his farm and established his home in Joliet, where he has resided since 1883. When he came to this county, in June, 1857, he bought a tract of unimproved land in section 17, Manhattan Township. Building a home, he began the task of clearing and cultivating his property. He became the owner of many hundred acres, and at one time fenced and controlled more than three thousand acres, of which he personally owned over eighteen hundred acres. At first he made a specialty of wheat, but later turned his attention to corn, and often raised large crops of this product. For years he was extensively engaged in raising sheep and cattle, and on his place he had a number of high-grade Durhams. The improvements on his homestead were first- class, and included a splendid residence erected at a cost of $7,000, which has since been destroyed by fire. In 1880 the Wabash Railroad was built through his farm, and cut off forty acres of the same. A portion of the village of Manhattan lies on the property he once owned. He sold his farm in 1890. Mr. Buck was born in Lanesborough, Berkshire County, Mass., September 10, 1829, a son of Hon. Asahel and Sophia (Mason) Buck, natives of Cheshire, Mass. The family of which he was a member comprised four daughters and two sons, namely: Achsah G. and Sarah H., who died at the ages of sixteen and twenty-two years; George A.; Mrs. Harriet Linn, of Joliet; Truman T., of Omaha; and Laura M., Mrs. Cole, who died in Poultney, Vt., at the age of twenty-nine. The father was a son of Asahel Buck, Sr., a sol- dier in the war of 1812 and a farmer in Massachusetts. Hon. Asahel Buck was a man of local prominence and active in the Democratic party. Both in the house of representatives and the senate of Massachusetts he rendered efficient service to his fellow-citizens, and he was a member of the constitutional convention of that state. In religion he was a Baptist. He died in Poultney, Vt., August 19, 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, who was a daughter of Silas Mason, a carpenter and builder in Berkshire County, died in Poultney, Vt., April 30, 1891, at the age of eighty-eight years. Until twenty-three years of age our subject remained in his native town, and afterward for a time clerked in Cheshire. In October, 1856, he settled in Waukegan, Ill., where he clerked a few months, coming from there to Will County the following year and buying section 17, near Manhattan village. In the years that followed he became recognized as one of the most prosperous and enterprising farmers of the county. He held a number of public offices, including those of township clerk, township treasurer and township supervisor, holding the last-named office for six years. During almost the entire period of his residence in the township he served as school director. Politically he is a gold Democrat. Prior to his removal from Massachusetts Mr. Buck married Miss Helen Wolcott, who was born in Cheshire, Mass., and died in Waukegan, Ill., April 16, 1857. She was a daughter of Russell B. Wolcott, member of an old family of Cheshire and by occupation a farmer. The second marriage of Mr. Buck took place in Joliet March 22, 1859, and united him with Miss Sarah H. Baker, who was born in Hoosick, Rensselaer County, N. Y., October 20, 1836. She was one of eight children, the others being Julia E., of Evanston; Norman J., who died in California; Mrs. Mary S. Barnes, of Joliet; Gibson S., who died at two months; Clark M., who resides in Manhattan; Mrs. Elizabeth E. Fisk, of Evanston; and Gideon, who is in Kansas. The father of Mrs. Buck, Jirah E. Baker, a native of Hoosick, was a son of Jirah, Sr., who was born in Rhode Island and spent his last years on a farm near Hoosick. His father, Benjamin, a native of England, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and died before its close, of disease contracted in the army. With him in the service were his two oldest sons. Jirah E. Baker removed west in 1856, joining his brother, Clark, who had settled in Manhattan, Ill., in 1848. Soon afterward he removed to Arkansas and died there. The mother of Mrs. Buck bore the maiden name of Almira Gifford and was born near Hoosick, N. Y., her father, Gideon Gifford, having removed there from Connecticut. She died in Chicago at an advanced age. Of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Buck we note the following: Helen C. is the wife of John Cockle, of York County, Neb.; Josephine, who was born May 8, 1861, died at five years; Sophia M. was born November 28, 1862, and died in October, 1865; Laura C, Mrs. Tenny, lives in Milwaukee, Wis.; George A., Jr., was born June 22, 1867, and died June 3, 1870; Werden is engaged in the grocery business in Joliet; Jennie T. is the wife of Arthur Baldwin, of Joliet; Kate F. married Prof. O. L. Manchester, of Normal, Ill., and died April 11, 1892, when less than twenty years of age; Paul Revere was born November 12, 1875, and died March 22, 1877; Fred A. was born May 7, 1877, and died December 16, 1889; and Lucy Mason, the youngest of the family, was born February 19, 1882. Additional comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/buck1684nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb