Born: Illinois, 1822.
Died: Illinois, 1909.
In 1822, when John Buckles was three weeks old, his parents left White County, Illinois, to find and make a home in that part of central Illinois now known as Logan County. John was the third child, and on this journey was carried in the arms of his mother, who rode on horseback. The distance was about 150 miles as the crow flies. The hardships of such a trip are unknown to most people of this day.
At that time there were only six families living within the present boundaries of Logan County. John's father, Robert Buckles, was a man of iron mold. Without the education of schools, he answered clearly all the questions that pertained to his business and life. At the outbreak of the Black Hawk War he was one of the first to enlist, and bunked with and fought side by side with Abraham Lincoln.
John's mother, Mary ("Polly") Birks Buckles, was one of the uncrowned heroines of history. She was the mother of fifteen children. The family residence was a mud-daubed cabin. In this for many years she did all the cooking before an open fireplace, made all the clothing for her family from the raw materials, and when her husband was absent from home at some distant market, or at war, she would fell the trees and cut the wood for use during the cold winters. It was a new land upon which the Buckles babies first looked out. Small growths of trees skirted the streams of water, and the wide prairies, reaching out in every direction to the horizon, were seas of grass and wild flowers. Wolves howled, foxes stole and wildcats screamed. Great herds of agile deer moved gracefully hither and thither, and countless thousands of wild chickens made the prairies vocal with their thrummings in the early mornings of spring.
And there were ‘coons in those days. Later in his life, John Buckles said: "Well do I remember the winter I captured thirty of these midnight travelers, and the day I received my first money--fifteen dollars in silver--for their hides. It was one of the happiest events of my life." He attended school altogether about one year. The house was made of logs, with the ground for a floor, split logs for seats and the children's knees for desks.
In his early manhood he assisted his father in driving hogs to Racine, Wisconsin, and sheep to St. Louis, Missouri. In his twenty-second year he helped a neighbor drive a herd of cattle to the New York City market, and again in the following year, 1845. It was he who led the largest ox before the drove. The time required for the round trip was 130 days--one hundred in going and thirty in returning. His pay was twelve dollars per calendar month. Such experiences cultivated his inbred industry and thrift, taught him independence of judgment and self-reliance, and developed his sagacity, courage and force.
By commendable methods as farmer and stockman, he accumulated good property and lived a long and useful life. He was an open foe of the organized liquor traffic, a helpful friend of our college and a sincere disciple of our Lord. His life is a heritage to his children and his children's children.