Preston County, West Virginia Biography of J. ALLEN BUCKLEW This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 559-560 Preston J. ALLEN BUCKLEW, a veteran Union soldier and retired railroad man at Terra Alta, has spent his life in Preston County, and has contributed his share to the honorable record of the Bucklew family in this section of West Virginia, where they have lived and performed their work since pioneer times. His great-grandfather was the founder of the family here before the close of the eighteenth century. J. Allen Bucklew, his father and his grandfather were all natives of the county. The grandfather, William Bucklew, was born in the Whetsell settlement of this county, where he lived to old age. He married a Miss Elzy, and they are buried on the old home farm. Their children were Jacob; Annie, who died unmar- ried; Rebecca who married Baldwin Fairfax; Dellah, who married Andrew Hawley; and John E. John E. Bucklew with three of his sons served in the Union Army during the Civil war. John E. Bucklew was born in 1818, near the old Fairfax Ford of Cheat River, in the locality of Caddell, and all his life was passed in Preston County. He had no education because of the lack of school facilities in his day, but was a man of great vigor and lived usefully and honorably. He came out of the war much broken in health, and though he kept his home on his farm the rest of his years he could do little of its practical work. It required the help of two canes to enable him to get about, and he suffered more or less the many years he survived. He died near Terra Alta June 6, 1892. He married Abigail Sipolt, who died April 28, 1898. She was the daughter of Christopher and Mary (Martin) Sipolt. The children of John E. Bucklew were: Eugene, a resident of Terra Alta; J. Allen; Christopher C., who died during the Civil war; Mary Ann, whose first husband was John Knotts, a soldier, and her second was Washington Shaffer, and she died in Jackson County, Kansas; and Ruth, who married Isaac Whiting and died in Preston County. J. Allen Bucklew was born January 16, 1843, on Beech Hill, near Albright, but grew up on the Sipolt farm in the same vicinity. The family subsequently moved to Pint Run, where he remained until he entered the army. He had only a common and private school education, but has always passed as a man of substantial knowledge and judgment. Mr. Bucklew and his father and his brother Eugene were all in the same company and regiment, Company O, Sixth West Virginia Infantry, under Captain Joseph M. Godwin and Colonel Wilkinson. J. Allen enlisted in September, 1861, while his father, John E., joined in February, 1862. Eugene served three years lacking two months, and was mustered out in June, 1865. The other son, Christopher C. was in Company A of the Seventh West Virginia Infantry. He was wounded at the battle of Weldon Railroad, taken prisoner, and while at Belle Isle was starved to death in that prison. The Sixth West Virginia was broken up into squads and detachments for guard duty along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Martinsburg to Wheeling and Parkersburg. The regiment was never assembled until its fifteen companies were ordered to Wheeling to be mustered out on June 15, 1865. The squad with which J. Allen served was captured while guarding the Oakland Railroad bridge, but the Federals were pursuing the party so closely that the prisoners were released after being paroled. The little party remained out of the service and in camp for some days and were then exchanged at Wheeling and returned to duty. Bushwhack- ing formed a part of the service of the regiment, and in this J. Allen had some part, covering Tucker, Hardy and neigh- boring counties. The war over, J. Allen Bucklew returned home and entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Company at Oakland on the section as a track man. For twenty-four years he was watchman at Rodamers, guarding the tunnel and other interests there. He then became assistant foreman in the camp of the company and later resumed section work. He continued in the service until he retired aa a pensioner of the company in 1905, after forty years of usefulness. He enjoys the privilege of an annual pass for himself and wife. In 1906 Mr. Bucklew established his home in Terra Alta. He was elected constable in 1906, and served eight years in that office and as town police, after which he resigned to retire permanently. At Oakland, Maryland, February 19, 1863, Mr. Bucklew married Louisa Chambers, daughter of David and Mary Ann (Bosley) Chambers. Mrs. Bucklew was born and reared near Oakland and died November 27, 1904, more than forty years after her marriage. A brief record of her children is: Mary A., who married Allen Shatter, of Somerset, Pennsyl- vania, and died January 1, 1893; Ida May, wife of Sam DeWitt and a resident of Manheim, West Virginia; John D., an employe of the M. & K. branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway; Albert, also in the Baltimore & Ohio service at Keyser, married Kate Riley; Maude, wife of John Hoben, of Grafton; Margaret, who died in Baltimore as Mrs. Roland Shields; and Eugene, who died at Trinidad, Colorado, while a soldier in the Regular Army, on February 19, 1908. J. Allen Bucklew in August, 1905, married Mrs. Permelia Henline, widow of John Henline and daughter of Chris Guthrie and Almyra (Smith) Guthrie. Mrs. Bucklew was born in Preston County, February 28, 1850. J. Allen Bucklew is a republican, and he voted while in the army for Abraham Lincoln for president, but his first ballot was cast when he was only eighteen years of age and in favor of Western Virginia remaining in the Union. For more than fifty years he has been active in the work of the United Brethren Church. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic late in life and is a member of Preston Post at Terra Alta.