Marshall County Biographies
WILLIAM T. BUCK.
William T. Buck, president of the State Bank of Vliets, and owner of
the grain elevators in that village, is a native of the Old Dominion, born in
Augusta county, Virginia, May 21, 1854, son of Napoleon I. and Mary M.
(Fahnestock) Buck, the former also a Virginian and the latter a native
of Pennsylvania, both of whom spent their last days in Virginia.
Napoleon I. Buck was born in Morgan county, in that section of the
Old Dominion now comprised within West Virginia, April 9, 1822, son
of Isaac and Sarah (Waugh) Buck, the former a native of Scotland and
the latter of England. Isaac Buck was born in 1797 and was but a lad when
his parents came to this county, settling in Virginia, and when the second
war of American Independence broke out in 1812 he ran away from home
in order to take part in that war, and served for fourteen days before his
father could get hold of him and take him back home. When he grew to
manhood he took a very active part in Virginia politics and served for some
years as a member of the Legislature in that state. Isaac Buck was twice
married and was the father of thirteen children by his first wife and four
children by his second wife. He died in Virginia in 1891, at the great
age of ninety-four years.
Reared on a farm, Napoleon I. Buck for some time followed farming.
He was appointed sheriff of his home county to fill an unexpired term and
was later elected to that office. Upon the completion of his official term
he engaged in the mercantile business at Sangerville, Virginia, and five years
later sold his store and bought an interest in a paper-mill at Mossy Creek,
same state, and was thus engaged for nine years, or until the Civil War
broke out, destroying his business. Broken in health, Napoleon I. Buck
was unable to enlist in the service of the Confederate States to aid in supporting the contention of his native state, but he paid a substitute, a valiant
Irishman, one thousand dollars in gold to represent him at the front. At
the close of the war he engaged in farming at Mt. Solon, Virginia, and
there he spent his last days, his death occurring on June 15, 1881. His
widow, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, 1828, and to
whom he was married in 1850, survived him twenty-five years, her death
occurring in 1904. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the
subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth and all of whom are
living save one.
William T. Buck spent his early years on a farm and received his
elementary schooling in the rural schools, supplementing the same by a
course in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He early became interested
with his father in the paper-mill and when his father later became an invalid
took charge of the mill for him. In 1885 he left Virginia and came to
Kansas, locating at Shannon, in Atchison county, where he became a farmer
and grain dealer, remaining there until 1897, when he came to Marshall
county, locating at Vliets, where he bought one of the elevators and also
helped to organize the State Bank of Vliets, of which he is now the president. Later Mr. Buck bought the other elevator at Vliets and is now the
owner of both elevator A and elevator B at that place, long having been
recognized as one of the leading bankers and grain men in Marshall county.
Mr. Buck also is the owner of a quarter of a section of excellent land in
Shannon township, Atchison county, and has other interests, all of which
rank him as one of the substantial men of this county. He is a member of
the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis and gives his earnest attention to
the general business affairs of this section. Politically, Mr. Buck is a Democrat and is the committeeman for his party in Noble township.
On April 18, 1906, William T. Buck was united in marriage to Carrie
T. DuBois, who was born in the state of New Jersey, July 18, 1864, daughter of Louis P. and Sarah J. (Jones) DuBois, natives of that same state,
who are now living at Vliets. members of the household of Mr. and Mrs.
Buck, both now being past eighty years of age. Louis P. DuBois came to
Kansas in 1858, having been sent out here as a means of seeking restoration
of his failing health, and entered upon the open, free life of the range,
presently becoming engaged as a freighter between Atchison and Denver
and was not long afterward appointed captain of the "bull-whackers." He
later became engaged in mining in New Mexico, but after awhile returned
to New Jersey, where he married and where he remained until after his
first child. Mrs. Buck, was born, after which he returned to Kansas with
his family and rented a small farm in Atchison county. Leaving his family
there he returned to his mining property in New Mexico, but after some
years disposed of his interests there and settled down in his home in Atchison County. Leaving his family there, he returned to his mining interests in New Mexico, but after some years disposed of his interest there and settled down in his home in Atchison County, where he remained until 1914, when he retired and moved to Vliets, where, as noted above, he and his wife as now living, he at the age of eighty-two and she at the age of eighty-one.
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This website created July 4, 2011 by Sheryl McClure. � 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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