Thomas Jefferson Buckles was born on 18. Jan. 1812 at White County, Illinois. He was the son of
John Buckles and
Anna VanDeventer. Thomas Jefferson Buckles married
Elizabeth Jane Kimler, daughter of
Moses Kimler and
Mary Akers, on 2. Feb. 1837 at McLean County, Illinois. Thomas Jefferson Buckles was a farmer. He died on 27. Sep. 1877 at LeRoy, McLean County, Illinois, at age 65. May have died October 16, 1885 in McLean County, IL or could have died Sep. 27, 1876
Notes for THOMAS JEFFERSON BUCKLES:
All information on the Thomas Jefferson Families and Decendents was sent by Cindy Buckles Walker. January 1999.
The following information was given by Jerry Masters, June 1999. It was printed in the, "History of Logan County, Illinois, 1982."
Thomas Buckles, brother of Robert, and son of John, Sr., and Anna Buckles moved to Logan County with his mother and father in the fall of 1822. They traveled with an ox team. While camped one night near Horse Creek, it rained so hard, that water came rushing down the nearby hillside and ran over the bed where they were sleeping. Thomas was a skilled woodsman who carried on the tradition of hunting wolves. In 1827, He moved back to LeRoy, Illinois with his mother and father and, on February 3, 1837, married Elizabeth Jane Kimler. Thomas and Elizabeth had six children: William Mason, Robert Franklin, Sisals, Amanda, Mary Ann, and Peter Leander.
Marriage Notes for THOMAS BUCKLES and ELIZABETH KIMBLER:
Information on this marriage taken from WFT Marriage Index: IL-IN 1790-1850.
"Good Times in McLean County, Illinois" by Dr. Duis 1874 pg 533-537
contributed by Volunteer McLean County Coordinator on Monday, May 24, 1999
EMPIRE TOWNSHIP THOMAS BUCKLES Thomas Buckles was born January 18, 1812, in White County, Illinois. His father's house was burnt while the old gentleman was serving with the rangers and protecting the frontier. His father moved to Edwards County at an early day, from there to Sangamon County, and in 1824 he went to Lake Fork, Logan County. He traveled with an ox-team, and was exposed to the weather. He camped one night near Horse Creek, and was sleeping under the wagon when it rained so hard that they were overflowed, and the water came down the hillside and ran over their bed on which they were sleeping. They crossed Lick Creek by making a raft and bringing over their stock with it. Mr. Buckles, Sr., was received by his son, Robert, in Logan County and built a house there. In this work he was helped by the Indians, who were good neighbors. They gave a dance when the house-raising was ended. One of the Indians became drunk, but was carried away and tied down until he could sober off. Thomas Buckles' experience with the Indians began at an early date. When he was a very little boy he was chased by some Indians, who seemed anxious to take him prisoner, but his heels and his cunning saved him. He hid in the grass and willows of a creek so that even the Indians did not find him. After the Indians left him, he heard a mournful noise and found a coon with its hair burnt off by a prairie fire which had passed over the country a short time previous. The Buckles boys were accustomed to run races with the Indians and wrestle with them and engage with them in all kinds of athletic sports. At one time a party of Indians came to run races. They bet their buckskins against whatever was put up. They called on Andrew Buckles, a brother of Thomas, and put up their buckskins against some watermelons. Andrew ran with an Indian named Little Turkey, and allowed the latter to come out ahead in the first race. Then both parties put up larger bets for a second race, and this time Andrew came out ahead. Andrew was indeed a swift runner. He returned to Tennessee, and while there once saw some dogs after a deer; he immediately ran after it himself, intending to catch it before it reached the Cumberland River. But the deer reached the river a little ahead and plunged in and Andrew followed it. He out-swam the deer and killed it by drowning. In 1827 the Buckles family left Logan County and came to Buckles' Grove. Here they devoted themselves to farming and hunting. Thomas Buckles' experience with the deep snow was interesting. A few days before the heavy fall of snow came, Thomas and Peter Buckles and Alvin Barnett started out to hunt for wild hogs. They killed several pigs and three or four deer. They stopped, during the night before the heavy snowfall, with a man named Mulkie. It was clear and beautiful and the stars were bright and thick in the sky. The morning opened clear and Mulkie started to accompany Thomas Buckles home. Soon a bank of snow arose and it began to fall. When they had gone four miles they abandoned their wagon and followed the oxen. The snow fell so fast that they could not see ten feet ahead of them, and the snow and icicles collected and froze two or three inches thick on their cheeks. Mr. Buckles says it came as fast as if it were thrown with a scoop-shovel. When within two miles of home they were almost broken down, but they took hold of the tails of their steers and were pulled safely through. The snow was then more than three feet deep. Mulkie was completely exhausted, and could do nothing but sleep. Mr. Buckles says that when he arrived home he stayed there during the remainder of the snow storm, and had no ambition for travel. Mr. Buckles speaks of the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, and says that the water froze in ridges as it was blown by the wind. His brother Robert was then taking a drove of hogs to Alton, and when the wind-storm struck him he was obliged to go a quarter of a mile for shelter. When his men arrived there they could scarcely stand. The hogs demanded the most constant attention, for if left to themselves they would pile on top of each other as high as a hog could climb, and those at the bottom of the pile would be smothered and crushed to death. The Buckles family were great hunters, and made a specialty of killing wolves. Thomas Buckles has, perhaps, killed more wolves than any other man in McLean County. He ran them down, shot them and caught them in traps and pens. A pen for catching wolves is made of logs and is so heavy that a wolf cannot raise it. The bottom is made of logs or poles so that a wolf cannot escape by digging under. He usually took a wolf hunt every spring, and generally killed five or six. He chased one wolf fifteen miles before catching it, and, when caught, it could not have been made to live fifteen minutes. It was ran to death. It was chased from Buckles' Grove to near the west end of Old Town timber, then down to Long Point, then back to Buckles' Grove, then down into DeWitt County where it was caught. One wolf, after being chased many miles, jumped into a well and there was killed. Mr. Buckles has had an interesting experience in hunting deer. He once wounded a deer in the fore leg and it turned for fight with its hair all standing up. When one of the dogs took hold of it, it turned so fiercely and quickly and made so sudden a dart that it ran its horns in the ground and turned over on its back. Another shot ended its life. William and Thomas Buckles once chased a fawn until it was tired out and, when William approached, it made a spring from him into Thomas Buckles' arms. But it died shortly after, because of the length and severity of the chase. During the winter of the deep snow two of the Buckles brothers caught a deer and hoppled it, and tried to drive it home. It was very docile until Thomas Buckles tapped it on the nose with a weed, when it sprang up and knocked him down and jumped away. The next morning it was found frozen to death. As it was hoppled it could not exercise and the circulation of blood was checked. Mr. Buckles is a skillful woodman and seldom deceived as to his position. He could always find his camp, even at night when it was so dark that he could hardly see his hand before him. He often hunted bees in the timber and had a sharp eye to detect their holes in the trees. He once went with a party of bee hunters down on the Kankakee River, and was gone five weeks. They found from fifty to sixty bee trees. Mr. Buckles has never had any very dangerous experiences with fire on the prairie. He once was overtaken by a prairie fire and jumped into a creek to save himself and the flames leaped over him. When a prairie fire moves, the heat goes a hundred feet or more in front of the blaze, and this sometimes makes the fire jump enormous gaps when it is under full headway. The game on the prairie will seldom turn and charge directly through the flame. He once made a ring of fire around a piece of bottom land, leaving a gap, where the frightened deer were shot, as they came out, by two hunters stationed there. Mr. Buckles has seen the vexations to which the old settlers were subjected. He was obliged to pound his corn before the deep snow, for one entire summer. He made a mortar out of an ash stump. The stump was burnt out and could hold three pecks of corn, which was beaten with an enormous pestle. He afterwards made a little horse mill out of nigger-heads, and with this ground five bushels of corn per day. He has often gone to Peoria to mill and far above there. Mr. Buckles went down to Logan County about seven years ago, but moved back to near Buckles' Grove during the middle of March, 1873, and there he now resides. He is a little more than six feet in height, is muscular and active, and is an accurate marksman. But that which is most remarkable is his quickness of sight. He usually sees the game before the game sees him. He is a good-natured man, and, like all of the old settlers, is hospitable and kind. He has done his fair proportion of hard work, and has split more rails than Abraham Lincoln ever did. He married, February 2, 1837, Elizabeth Jane Kimler. He has five children living. They are: William Marion, who lives in Leroy, Illinois Robert Franklin lives now with his father, as he is a widower. Amanda B., wife of George Lucas, lives in Davis County, Missouri Mary Ann and Peter Leander live at home.