Rev. John W. Buck

No man in Greene county is more widely known than the reverand gentleman whose name appears above, and few in the course of a long and strenuous life have accomplished so much good for their fellow men or so indelibly impressed their individuality upon the public. Rev. John Buck, of Linton, for fifty-two years a distinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a citizen of the highest American type, is a native of Indiana, born at Terre Haute, in the county of Vigo, on July 11th of the year 1837. His antecedents came to the United States from England, in which country his father, William Buck, was born in February, 1808, being the son of John Buck, of Leicestershire. John and William Buck left their native land about 1816 to find a home in the new world, the latter being eight years of age when the family settled in New Jersey. William Buck, Sr., father of John, died in England at the almost unprecedented age of one hundred and seven years, the son dying in this country when sixty-four years old.

William Buck, the younger, was reared in New Jersey and married in that state in 1830 Pharzina Ruckman, who was born May 9, 1809, her parents belonging to an old Jersey family that came originally from Ireland.

About the year 1834 William Buck moved his family to Indiana and for eleven years thereafter lived at Terre Haute, between which place and Chicago he freighted goods in an early day, driving overland and experiencing many vicissitudes as a teamster. Later (1845) he changed his abode to Greene county, where in due time he became a successful farmer and influential man of affairs, his home place consisting of three hundred acres in the western part of Stockton township, being long considered one of the best improved and most valuable farms in the county. Like a number of his ancestors, he, too, lived to a green old age, dying in 1901 after rounding out his ninety-third year, his faithful wife and companion preceding him to the grave in the year 1890. This worthy couple had nine children, namely: Esther Ann, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary, John W., Stephen R., James, Isaac, Susan P. and Mary Ellen, of whom Sarah, John W., Susan and Mary are living.

After a preliminary discipline in the common schools John W. Buck entered Asbury (now DePauw) University, at Greencastle, where he received a liberal education with the object in view of devoting his life to the noble work of the Christian ministry. He was reared under excellent home influences and, with a decidedly religious environment, it was not long until his life received the impetus which in due time led him to the sphere of usefulness in which his talents have been exercised to such good advantage and in which he has achieved so many beneficent results for humanity. Mr. Buck began the active work of the ministry in 1857, receiving at the age of twenty a quarterly conference license and being assigned a circuit of which Linton was the largest and most important point. He continued the itinerary during the next fifteen years, and while thus engaged ministered to various circuits of central and southwestern Indiana, his labors being very acceptable and fruitful of good results. Under his able preaching and efficient management the cause of Methodism in his various jurisdictions was greatly strengthened, new congregations were organized, and through his influence many souls were won to the higher life. At the expiration of the period mentioned Mr. Buck retired from the itinerary field to take charge of local congregations, and for the last thirty-one years he has devoted his attention to this class of work, serving during the interim a number of strong churches in different parts of the country and building up the cause among various weak congregations, besides establishing churches and classes in communities destitute of religious influences. He collected the funds and built seventeen church edifices, and all were paid for before the day of dedication. Nearly six thousand members were added to the church under his preaching. In all he has rounded out fifty-two years in his sacred calling, the amount of good accomplished through his efforts being incalculable and only to be made known when the "books are finally opened" and every man rewarded according to his deserts. In addition to his ministerial duties, Mr. Buck at one period of his life taught several terms of school, devoting portions of five continuous years to educational work, and during the early part of his ministry he lived on and managed a farm. On retiring from regular ministerial labor he moved to his farm in Greene county and lived on the same until 1893, since which time he has been a resident of Linton, where he owns a comfortable home, in which he proposes to pass the closing years of a well spent life.

On the breaking out of the war between the states Mr. Buck was among the first men of Greene county to tender his services to the government, enlisting July 13, 1861, in Company D, Twenty-first Indiana Infantry, with which he served until October 13th of the following year, in the meantime taking part in a number of battles, including the action at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he received the injuries which necessitated his retirement from the army at the time indicated.

Like all public-spirited and enterprising men, Mr. Buck takes an abiding interest in politics, and for a number of years he was earnest in his support of the Republican party. While still a Republican as far as the basic principles of the party is concerned, of recent years he has inclined somewhat toward Prohibition, believing the liquor traffic to be the crying curse of the times, an ulcerous plague spot on the body politic, to be gotten rid of only by the most drastic measures, which means the absolute prohibition of the manufacture and sale of all kinds of intoxicants. In 1903 he was appointed to the office of justice of the peace and has discharged the duties of the position ever since, his court being one of the most popular of the kind in the county, but few of his decisions suffering reversal at the hands of higher tribunals. He is an active worker in the Masonic Brotherhood and the Independent Order of Good Templars, and for several years he has held the position of chaplain in Lieutenant Yakey Post, No. 19, Grand Army of the Republic, at Linton.

Mr. Buck's domestic life dates from 1860, on June 10th of which year was solemnized the ceremony of which united him and Mary Lay in the bonds of holy wedlock. Mrs. Buck is a native of Grant county, Indiana, where her parents, John W. and Clarissa (Bradfield) Lay, resided for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Buck are the parents of six children, whose names are as follows: Maggie J., Dollie A., Triphena T., Clarissa P., Mollie F. and Ada P., four of whom are living, to-wit: Mrs. Maggie Brown, of Indianapolis; Triphena; Clarissa, wife of E. L. Twing, an attorney of Toledo, Ohio, and Ada, now Mrs. Oliver E. Glenn, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, Edgar B. Allen and his sister Ada, have been members of Mr. Buck's family since the death of their mother, Mollie F. Allen, who departed this life February 17, 1903, their ages being fifteen and thirteen years, respectively.

In many respects Mr. Buck has been and is still a remarkable man. Notwithstanding his long and strenuous life, filled to repletion with good to his fellow men, he is remarkably well preserved and full of vigor, carrying the weight of his seventy-one years with the ease and equanimity of one of half his age. Indeed, he is one of the youngest old men to be met with in any part of the Hoosier state, retaining the full possession of his faculties, physical and mental, keeping in close touch with the times and familiar with the leading questions of the day, besides mingling with the young people of the city, taking part in their troubles, fancied or real. Although active all of his life and a diligent worker in his various spheres of endeavor, he has also been a lover of innocent amusements and a willing participant in the same, which fact accounts for much of his popularity among the people with whom he mingles. As an evidence of his faith in himself and belief that his labors are by no means ended, Mr. Buck, on the 3rd day of March, 1908, was admitted to the Greene county bar, being the oldest man ever admitted to the practice of law in the county, and it is doubtful if in the entire state there can be found a parallel instance. That he may be successful in the legal profession is the earnest desire of his numerous friends and acquaintances, and that he will be few doubt.

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"Biographical Memoirs of Greene County, Ind. with Reminiscences of Pioneer Days", B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1908, pages 1051-1056.

Last updated 8.11.2009