"Cousin Frederick Kimbell Buckminster, Black Sheep of the Family"
by Jerry Hale, February 18, 2009
Frederick Kimbell Buckminster is my 1st cousin thrice removed. Our common ancestor, Aaron Hale was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1805. Aaron's son Henry Hale came to this country aborad the Devonshire in 1849 and settled in Volney, Oswego Co., NY. Aaron brought the rest of the family, aboard the Andrew Foster, landing in New York City on May Day, 1851. All of the Hale men were coal miners in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, barely making a living. I'm sure May Day I85] was a very happy day for all of them. They went immediately to Volney and settled near Henry and his wife of only 4 years, Miriam (Chivers) Hale. Shortly after Aaron and family arrived in Oswego County the family's luck began to run out. Aaron's wife Elizabeth, age 45, died. Then Anthony's wife, also Elizabeth, died there. In 1864 Henry signed up to fight in the Civil War and joined Co A., 184th NY Volunteers. At the Battle of Cedar Creek, the first engagement for the unit, Henry was gut shot and mortally wounded. He was sent first to Washington, DC. then on home to Volney where he suffered for a month before finally dying on Nov. 14th 1864. Miriam married a second time and remained with her six children in Volney while Aaron, also re-married, and the rest of the family, including daughter Rachel, now 22, set out for Cook County, Illinois. Aaron and his sons established a dairy farm just outside Chicago in Wheeling Township and the family began to prosper. Rachel soon met and married James Garrett Buckminster who was born in Jefferson County, New York in 1839. Rachel and �J. G.�, as he was known, soon had a daughter, Rose, born in Wheeling Twp, Cook County, IL in 1867 followed by a son Fred born there in 1869.
In 1870 the family, for whatever reason, pulled up stakes, leaving Aaron in Illinois. Most of them went to central Iowa, Isaac went to Missouri but Rachel & J. G. moved to Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas. Why the brothers and sisters didn't migrate together is not known but my cousin Fred soon returned to Cook County Illinois. Fred became a Chicago policeman and was doing very well. In the January 8, 1899 Detective F. K. Buckminster is pictured at a Chicago railroad station. He is handcuffed to John Nonne, a notorious forger. Detective Buckminster had been dispatched to New York to track Nonne down and return him to Chicago to face multiple charges.
The first indicator that cousin Buckminster had strayed from the straight and narrow was an article, again in the Chicago Tribune of Jan. 12, 1900. F. K, Buckminister, no longer referred to as Detective, had been called from Chicago to Omaha to testify in a case wherin the local school board was being charged with fraud in the purchase of blackboards. The surprising paragraph is: . . He refused to testify on the ground that he was being put in the attitude of a law-breaker without being able to defenc himself on any tangible basis.� Fred had started down a slippery path. The I900 Census shows Fred living on Forest Avenue, South Town, �Chicago City� with his Dutch born wife of four years, Wilda or Hilda. They had no children which is well for Fred has decided to walk on the dark side. His escapades, as told by the Tribune, became more and more frequent and more bizzare as the early years of the 20'h century unfolded. In 1905 the headlines screamed �POLICE HELPLESS, TROOPS MAY COME,� �MOBS SPREAD DISORDER AND STRIKE BREAKERS MARCH THROUGH HAIL OF BULLETS AND MISSILES�? �ONE MAN KILLED, 100 INJURED.� The Teamsters Union was forming and was battling the Chicago employers who were assisted by the police. Strike breakers were employed to keep the factories open but they were battled by the Chicago Police and a private detective agency run by Fred Buckminster. The Tribune of May 17, 1905 telling the story of the conflict between strikers and strike breakers mentions, under the heading �Detective Tells of Violence,� the testimony given by Detective Fred K. Buckminster, superintendent of the Metropolitan Detective Agency. �He said he had armed his operators with canes and �billies,� but no guns. He described a score or more of attacks which he took part in resisting.� and May 24, 1905 �F. K. Buckminster, a private detective in charge of wagons for the express companies: Was this the very same Cousin Fred? I wasn't sure until 1 found an article in the Lawrence (Kansas) Daily Journal of June 6, 1905 (pg 4). Fred's parents were living in Lawrence and this article firmly links Cousin Fred to Detective Fred of Chicago: �Fred Buckminster, a Lawrence boy who is now at the head of the biggest detective agency in Chicago, is spending a few days here with his mother and other relatives. Mr. Buckminster has been actively engaged in furnishing teamsters and protection during the present strike, and now has 1200 men at work. He says the strike is practically over and the strikers have lost. Mr. Buckminster had been personally attacked several times during the strike, but has come out best each time.� March 22, 1918 �FRED BUCKMINSTER QUESTIONED - Detective Fred K. Buckminster was called to the stand again in the afternoon. He was questioned by Attorney Daniel Cruice, who sought to show that Buckminster was seeking trouble with the strike sympathizers when he was escorting caravans through Chicago during the first days of the strike. Buckminster said that at the Gibbons barns on April 30 he and his men were targets for a shower of stones. He estimated that the stones came at the rate ofone a minute. Appeals to the police, he said, had no effect. �Did you tell your men to go ahead and start something; to beat somebody up; that you needed the money, and that they were to push union men off the sidewalks?� said Attorney Cruice. �No, sir,� answered ex-central station detective. �Do you remember knocking down a slender, consumptive looking man near Division street? Was he not at that time leading a little girl home from church?� �No, sir.� �Do you remember how you heroically rushed up and knocked down an innocent bystander at Chicago avenue? Did you use brass knuckles at that time?� �No, sir,� answered the detective. �When you started your men out did you not tell them to make a fight, that they had to clean up pickets, and that you would get $5 for every man you beat up?� �No, sir� �Did you tell your men that they had to stand and fight, and that if you caught any man running you would shoot him in the back?� �No, sir, I never said that.� Attorney Cruice held an affidavit in his hand as he asked the questions.
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