Robert B. Buckles was born on 29. Apr. 1796 at Sullivan County, Tennessee. He was the son of
John Buckles and
Anna VanDeventer. Robert B. Buckles was born on 29. Apr. 1798 at Sullivan County, Tennessee. He married
Mary "Polly" Birks, daughter of
Jeremiah Birks and
Elizabeth Brown, in 1818 at White County, Illinois. Robert B. Buckles died on 18. Feb. 1866 at Mount Pulaski, Logan County, Illinois, at age 69. May have been born April 29, 1798
Information on all of the children, except Henry Harrison Buckles came from World Family Tree disc # 16 Tree # 167.
Robert Buckles Jr.,, came to Illinois with his father when the state was a wilderness. In 1823 he moved to farm where he lived until his death. In 1826, he enlisted in Winnebago War (with Indians). He drove cattle to Galena, St. Louis and Chicago. He is buried in Steenbergen Cemetery.
The following information was printed in the "History of Logan County," in 1886.
Robert Buckles, deceased, was a descendant of an old German family founded in the colonial days of America. Born April 29, 1796, in Tennessee, he was brought by his parents, John and Anna Buckles, to White County, Illinois where he grew to manhood and married, in 1818, Mary Birks, who survives him. She was born in Georgia, May 26, 1803, and is a remarkable woman. In 1822 Robert and Mary Buckles made a wonderful horseback journey to the home of her father, Jeremiah Birks, in Missouri or Arkansas, a ride of 800 miles over the swamps, hills and prairies. Each carried a child before them--the children who grew to be stalwart men and well remembered substantial Logan County farmers--Jeremiah and William R. Buckles. The hardships and privations of such a journey can be but faintly comprehended by the people of this day. Disliking the country South, the two families resolved to return North and make a final settlement in the "Sangamon county," through which Mr. Buckles had previously traveled. He and his wife made the return trip in their saddles, Mr. Birks and family coming in a two horse wagon. Arrived at the mouth of Lake Fork in May of June, 1822, Mr. Birks bought a "claim" of a Mr. Chapman, a log cabin constituting the "improvement." Mr. and Mrs. Buckles returned to White County, where a son, John Buckles, was born, and a few weeks later, or in the fall of 1822, they returned and built a very small, rude cabin of logs near Mr. Birks house. Mr. Jeremiah Birks moved farther up Lake Fork that fall, however, the long, dreary winter was passed by Mary Buckles in a room ten-feet square. It was floored with puncheons, roofed with "shakes," was windowless and a door swung on wooden hinges, and a mud chimney or fireplace. Robert Buckles built this primitive home with only an ax and his strong hands. It was a wet, cheerless winter, and Mrs. Buckles did not see a white woman until spring. A more lonesome, wretched experience falls to the lot of but a few of the wives and mother of our land. The family lived on game and the fine fish taken from Salt Creek. In the spring of 1823 Robert Buckles removed to the farm on which he died. Here was a log house which was a slight improvement on the one already described, and in this the family lived several years. For more than a quarter of a century Mrs. Buckles did without a cook stove. A good brick chimney was built by Mr. Buckles, he and Thomas Skinner having started a brick-yard early in the " '20's." Both flax and cotton were raised by the early Lake Fork settlers, the cotton being "ginned" by hand, the staple being placed before a fire, and so heated as to loosen the seeds. It was carded, spun, woven, colored and made into garments wholly by hand labor, and about the same tedious method was taken with the flax. Many a day did Mrs. Buckles walk over a mile to her father's house, spin or weave all day, walk home and repeat next day, meanwhile caring for a larfe family absolutely without help of any kind. What would the housewives of today say or do were they confronted by the difficulties, hard work, and awkward implements and furniture of the olden time A bench and a beadle instead of a washing machine, and a hollow tree split in halves for a cradle, and in just such a cradle were rocked all the older children of Robert and Mary Buckles. Corn was beaten in the end of a log hollowed out for the purpose by a spring pole and iron wedge rigged for this business. This was sifted, sometimes through the perforated hide of an animal, the coarse part made into hominy, the finder into corn bread, rather unpalatable bread though, as remembered by the few now living who ate of it. It was baked on a smooth board placed before the fire, though later a tin "reflector" took its place. Wolves were very troublesome, and sheep-raising practically a failure. Bounties of corn were offered the men who could produce the greased number of wolf scalps, and on one occasion Robert Buckles carried of the first prize, 250 bushels of corn. George Girtman to the second, 125 bushels. "Bee trees" were common and the settlers used to vie with each other in finding them. Mrs. Buckles herself found three well-stocked trees in one day. Honey took the place of sugar, though the rock maples of Lake Fork were regularly tapped with fair results in the early day. Robert Buckles was a successful and enthusiastic hunter, and hundreds of deer, wolves and wild turkey fell before his steady rifle. In 1827 he enlisted in the Winnebago war and did good service. It was said that he was the strongest man and best shot in his battalion. Abraham Lincoln was a fellow soldier. They roughed side by side, and between the two sprang up a close and lasting friendship which endured throughout the lives of both--lives so eventful and closing so nearly together. In his home, surrounded by his wife and children, Mr. Buckles showed the happiest phases of his character. As a husband he was kind; as a father he was just and generous. He became the father of fifteen children, all of whom are living but five. No man of his time and generation passed through more hardships and endured more privations than did Mr. Buckles. His life was early devoted to raising and driving stock to the then distant markets--Galena, St. Louis and Chicago. He drove cattle to Chicago in 1835. Chicago was then but a small trading post, situated, as if were, in a dreary swamp. "On "Change" was then an item of the future. "Corners" had not incased the marts of trade in the Northwest. "High freights" did not at that time disturb the populace. In those days monopolies did not sway imperious scepters over the heads of the people. The highway of that time was one of great antiquity. No bonds had been voted as a bonus. The rates upon the road were uniform and regular. Robert Buckles was not taxed as much for moving his cattle 100 miles as he was for moving them 200. That was indeed a golden day of equity and cheap freights. There were no stopping-places along the way-no "middle-men" with habitations and stock yards had been provided for the weary drover. In driving hogs to Galena, Mr. Buckles was compelled to remain night after night out upon these various trips he endured many hardships in the open and wild county. The territory was full of Indians, who caused him much trouble and involved him in many difficulties. These troubles and difficulties which he was called upon to encounter in this, at that time, unsettled country, the dangers he was called to meet, his toils, his adventures and his conflicts incident to pioneer life, were of a most trying character. The history of the "deep snow," in the winter of 1830 and 1831, has been many times detailed and portrayed by writers of pioneer history. Mr. Buckles died February 18, 1866, and it is the least that can be said that his decease left a vacancy in the ranks of the old settlers that must be a source of lasting sorrow to all who survive him. His children were-William R., Jeremiah, John, Elizabeth, Levina, Andrew, Peter, Chalton C., Mary, Robert, Wiley, Henry H., Sarah, Jemima and Lucinda. His widow, a hale, strong woman, is today, at the advanced age of eighty three years, a wonderfully interesting person to meet. In full possession of all her facilities, her memories of the eventful past are keen and her vivid descriptions of singularly graphic power. She was the mother to fifteen children, ten of whom are now Living, and is grandmother to seventy-three people, great-grandmother to 101, and great great grandmother to one--there thus being five living generation of this historic family. Conversation with one whose life spans so great a portion of this century is like an interview with one of a past and almost forgotten age; but not forgotten, for there should come joy and honor to a woman who, like Mrs. Buckles, faced the storms and privations of an untried wilderness, without seeing the face of a white woman for six months at a time, in the midst of savages, being compelled to fasten with props the doors of their log cabin when alone with her children for successive nights, to shield her an her charge from the inhumanity of the Indians of that day, which marked the era of Black Hawk and other Indian wars. Such a woman should be lived and cherished until life's latest hours' and when she has passed from earthly toil to rest beyond the tomb, she should be remembered as a light and power, who left the impress of her life and character so grandly upon the earth. Although her life was one of toil and hardships--one full of burdens--she never faltered. Her aim was victory. She gained it, and, having lived more than four score years, she looks over the times and places of her life's struggles with a happy contentment, standing upon the shore, waiting to behold the stars show their faces through the glimmering twilight of the evening of life. By and by the harvester will come to garner the golden sheaves for immortality; and in going from home to home, the tireless and unselfish energy of this aged pilgrim for the comfort of her children, and that motherly love and devotion when the north winds sighed around the lonely pioneer cabin, will not be forgotten.
The following information came from Jerry Masters, in June 1999. It was printed in the, "History of Logan County, Illinois, 1982."
Robert, son of John and Anna, married Mary Birks ("Polly") and came to Logan County and settled at the mouth of Lake Fork Creek, now known as the Lake Rork Ditch, in the fall of 1822. Robert's father and mother (John and Anna)
came to Logan county with him for several years, but in 1827, moved to Buckles Grove near LeRoy in McLean County. Being a great hunter and Trapper, the 7000 acres of timber was an ideal place for John Buckles, Sr. to finally settle. A historical marker to honor him now marks the site of Buckles Grove.
More About **ROBERT B. BUCKLES:
9Q@: 1823, Moved to farm where he lived until his death.
Burial: Steenbergen Cemetery
Unknown2088: Drove cattle to Galena, St Louis and Chicago.
Unknown2089: 1826, Enlisted in Winnebago War (with Indians). He was buried at Steenbergen Cemetery, Logan County, Illinois.