Columbia County PA Archives Biographies.....BUCKALEW, John M. 1826 - living in 1899
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  Author: Biographical Publishing Co.
  
  CAPT. JOHN M. BUCKALEW, a progressive business man of Fishing Creek township,
  Columbia County, has been extensively engaged in the lumber business for many
  years and was a captain in the Civil War. He is a son of John M. and Martha
  (Funston) Buckalew, and was born near his present homestead October 17, 1826.
  
    The Buckalew family originated in Scotland, but many centuries ago removed to
  France, the native land of Francis Buckalew, who immigrated to Long Island, N.
  Y., while it was still a Dutch province. Later Francis moved to South Amboy,
  Middlesex County, N. J., where he became a landowner and resided the remainder
  of his days. He was a large man, of powerful strength, which has ever been a
  characteristic of the family, our subject being six feet tall and weighing
  considerably over two hundred pounds. This sturdy old pioneer lived to reach the
  remarkable age of 110 years before overtaken by the Silent Reaper some time
  between 1752 and 1755. Samuel Buckalew, his son and the great-grandfather of our
  subject, was born in South Amboy, N. J., in 1698, where he lived all his life,
  dying August 4, 1796, at the ripe old age of ninety-six years. He was the
  progenitor of a family of five children, three daughters and two sons, one of
  whom was John, the grandfather of our subject.
  
    John Buckalew was born in Middlesex County, N. J., in 1743, and at an early
  age was united in matrimonial bonds to Mary MacKinney, a daughter of Mordecai
  MacKinney of Hunterdon County, N. J., and a sister of Capt. John MacKinney, who
  made an enviable record in the service during the Revolutionary War. He had a
  command in the 9th Regiment of Pennsylvania in the battles of Brandywine and
  Germantown, but subsequently was transferred to the 3d Regiment, and later to
  the 5th. He was at the surrender of Cornwallis and accompanied Gen. Wayne on his
  southern campaign. He served with distinction throughout the entire war, after
  which he moved to Kentucky, where he resided until his death. About the year
  1775, John Buckalew, with his wife's father, moved to Muncy, Lycoming County,
  Pa., where they purchased a tract of 300 acres of land and engaged in its
  cultivation. He was associated with Capt. Brady in the war on the borders during
  the Revolution, and was a member of the first Committee of Safety in 1776, at
  the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the militia and took
  his turn in scouting duty, as his brother-in-law was away fighting and it fell
  to his lot to remain at home for the protection of the two families. After the
  war had been in progress for some time Indian depredations became so frequent in
  their neighborhood that the families sought safety in other localities. Mr.
  MacKinney moved to Harrisburg, Pa., but Mr. Buckalew moved to Harford County,
  Md., where he engaged in the milling business, which was his trade formerly. He
  took a contract from the Continental Congress and there still remains an unpaid
  bill for from £700 to £800. After the close of the war and in the latter part of
  1785 John Buckalew settled on the Chillisquaque Creek, in Northumberland County,
  where he remained until 1796, when he moved to Little Fishing Creek and erected
  a gristmill a short distance below Ives Grove. He remained there until 1816,
  when he decided to move to a smaller farm on Huntington Creek, Fishing Creek
  township, as he was growing old and was in need of a rest and his children were
  nearly all married and had left home. As a result he purchased a farm adjoining
  the one upon which our subject now resides and lived there until his death in
  1833, at the age of ninety-one years. His family consisted of the following
  children: Sarah, who married William Collins of Chester County, Pa., and moved
  to the Mississippi Valley in Illinois, where she died in 1843; Nancy, deceased;
  Rachel, who married Samuel Earl of Huntington, Luzerne County; Rebecca, whose
  first husband was Daniel Woodward, and who also married Rev. Epaphras Wadsworth,
  a descendant of Capt. Wadsworth of Charter Oak fame; Elizabeth, who married
  Jacob Ogden and resided in Luzerne County, Pa.; Amos, who was a lumberman and
  died in Middletown, Pa., at a comparatively early age; John M., the father of
  our subject; and James, from whom Russell C. Buckalew of Bloomsburg, whose
  sketch also appears in this Book of Biographies, is descended.
  
    John M. Buckalew, father of our subject, was born on Chillisquaque Creek,
  December 17, 1786, and early in life learned the trade of a millwright, which he
  followed all of his life. He was also engaged extensively in lumbering and
  farming and was decidedly successful in all of his business ventures. He was
  united in the holy bonds of wedlock to Martha Funston, who was born near
  Bethlehem, Pa., in 1789, and died in Luzerne County, January 1, 1840, and their
  happy union was blessed by the birth of nine children, five of whom grew to
  maturity, namely: William, who was born November n, 1816, and died September 6,
  1864, was a millwright by trade, also a surveyor, and resided in Fishing Creek
  township, Columbia County; Perry, a farmer of Fishing Creek township, born
  January 30, 1820, and died January 4, 1888; Charles R., who was born December
  28, 1821, attained distinction as an attorney-at-law in Blooms-burg and was
  elected to the United States Senate; Mahala, who was born September 17, 1823,
  married Benjamin C. Hess, and resides in Fishing Creek; and Capt. John M., the
  gentleman whose name heads these lines.
  
    Capt. John M. Buckalew attended the public schools of his native town and
  after attaining manhood engaged in the lumbering business, which he has always
  followed, with the exception of the time spent in the army during the Civil War.
  He was captain of Company A, 178th Pa. Reg., being mustered into service October
  30, 1862, and receiving his honorable discharge in July, 1863, when his term of
  enlistment expired. Mr. Buckalew is a man of excellent judgment and has been
  very successful in his business ventures. Although he obtained but little
  education in the common school he is a man of scholarly attainments and has been
  a life-long student. He has an excellent memory and few if any are as well
  posted as he on the early history of his section of the county. He is recognized
  as an authority upon local historical events, and when the legislature
  authorized the compilation, and publication of the "History of the Frontier
  Forts of Pennsylvania" Gov. Pattison appointed him as one of the corps to do the
  work, assigning him the territory between the North and West Branches of the
  Susquehanna River, including Sunbury. He set about getting the desired data, and
  the manner in which he wrote his part of the book proved entirely satisfactory
  to everybody concerned and gained many favorable comments for him.
  
    In 1861 our subject was united in marriage to Miss D. K. Creveling, a daughter
  of Andrew S. Creveling, late a farmer of Fishing Creek township. Politically
  Capt. Buckalew is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. Socially he is a
  member of Ent Post No. 250, G. A. R., of Bloomsburg; a member of Lodge No. 234,
  I. O. O. F., of New Columbus, Pa., of which he is past noble grand; Washington
  Lodge No. 265, F. & A. M., of Bloomsburg; Bloomsburg Chapter, No. 218, R. A. M.;
  Mt. Moriah Council, No. 10, R. & S. M.; Crusade Commandery, No. 12, K. T.;
  Orient Conclave, No. 2, Red Cross of Constantine; and Caldwell Consistory, S. P.
  R. S., 32d Degree N. M. J., Bloomsburg, Pa.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  Extracted from:
  
  Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District
  Published by 
  Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)
  
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