Richard Buckner (abt. 1755 - abt. 1798)

Ancestors

Husband of Judith (Edmonds) Buckner — married 27 Dec 1774 (to about 1798) in Fauquier County, VA

Descendants

Died about 1798 at about age 43 in Caroline County, Virginia, USA

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Biography

• 1774 m. Judith Edmonds, d/o Maj. Elias Edmonds^[1]
• 1781 magistrate of Caroline Co.
• Qualified as major of Caroline Co. militia in 1778 during the American Revolution^[2] (though there is no indication that he held a command)
• Children: William E. (d.s.p. ca. 1823),^[3] Elizabeth (m. Jones),^[4] Lucy (m. Kay), Richard (moved to KY), Frances ("Fanny", m. Stern), Ann (m. Hoskins), Judith, Sarah ("Sally", unmarried), Thomas, and Elias Edmonds Buckner.

He may have been the Richard Buckner who signed a petition from Caroline Co. calling for punishment of Tories in 1781.^[5] (In this, he was joined by Richd. H. Buckner, Mord. Buckner, Robt. Buckner, Wm. Buckner, and Wm. Buckner Jun.)

He seems to have resided later in life at Hazel Grove in Spotsylvania Co. VA (not Caroline Co., as stated by Crozier), since his sons Richard Jr. and Elias Edmonds Buckner both seem to have been born there. This is probably why some of the lawsuits cited below appeared in Fredericksburg courts.

Richard died in 1798, as known from a suit involving his estate in 1823, which lists children Judith Buckner, Richard Buckner Jr., Sarah T. Buckner & Elias E. Buckner along with a recently deceased William E. Buckner. Several married daughters are also listed, Lucy Buckner (m. Robert Kay), Ann Buckner (m. Thomas Hoskins), Elizabeth Buckner (m. William Jones), and Fanny Buckner (m. Yelverton Stern).^[6] Another suit in 1818 shows that Richard had a brother Francis who died in 1806,^[7] which firmly identifies Richard as the brother of Francis Buckner, the son and executor of Capt. William Buckner of Caroline County. This corrects the widely disseminated idea put forward in Crozier's Buckners of Virginia that Richard was the son of Richard Buckner Jr. of Caroline County.^[8]

He is also referred to in a 1799 Caroline Co. chancery case, Richard Buckner et al. v. William Buckner et al. that involves a Maj. Richard Buckner who had died recently leaving infant children Richard, Frances, Judith, Ann, Sally, Thomas, and Elias, under guardianship of their "next friend" Francis Buckner (presumably the uncle), while his will only provided for William Buckner, Elizabeth Jones, Lucy Kay, and his widow Judith.^[9] This confirms the information from the Fredericksburg cases and roughly gives an idea of their birth order, as well as an object lesson in the importance of keeping one's will current.

Two other Caroline Co. chancery cases Mildred Buckner and Mary Buckner v. Francis Buckner's administrators et al. (1806) and Matilda Buckner, infant, by Joseph Waller v. Francis Buckner's administrators et al. (1810) reveal that Richard's brother Francis, executor of their father's estate, died intestate in early 1806 and left the estate unresolved, which was the crux of the suits. These identify Francis' heirs as well.^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Hoskins of Virginia: p. 328
2. ↑ Virginia Military Records: From the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly, Genealogical Publishing Com, 1983, p. 106
3. ↑ Jones vs Stern (1825), Fredericksburg Historic Court Records, CR-SC-H 152-12 http://fredericksburgva.com
4. ↑ Hoskins of Virginia: p. 330
5. ↑ Bevin Creel, Selected Virginia Revolutionary War Records, Vol. 1, Lulu.com, 2007, pp. 246-249, orig. Legislative Petitions, Caroline Co., Virginia, 2 June 1781, Reel 35, Box 49, Folder 14
6. ↑ Jones vs Stern (1825), Fredericksburg Historic Court Records, CR-SC-H 152-12 http://fredericksburgva.com
7. ↑ Miller, Exor. vs Beverley (aka Beverley vs Miller) (1818), Fredericksburg Historic Court Records, CR-SC-H 193-6 http://fredericksburgva.com
8. ↑ W.A. Crozier, W.D. Buckner, and H.R. Bayne, The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby, Genealogical Association, 1907, p. 38, Google Books
9. ↑ W.L. Hopkins, Caroline County court records and marriages, 1787-1810, self published, 1987, p. 15
10. ↑ W.L. Hopkins, Caroline County court records and marriages, 1787-1810, self published, 1987, p. 15

• Hoskins of Virginia: Ancestry.com. Hoskins of Virginia and related families : Hundley, Ware, Roy, Garnett, Waring, Bird, Buckner, Dunbar, Trible, Booker, Aylett, [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
  • Original data: Warner, Charles Willard Hoskins,. Hoskins of Virginia and related families : Hundley, Ware, Roy, Garnett, Waring, Bird, Buckner, Dunbar, Trible, Booker, Aylett, Carter, Upshaw. Tappahannock, Va.: unknown, 1971.
• We Relate: Write up & Explanation for parentage of Richard Buckner 1772-1798, accessed 6 Nov 2017; Text reads:
  • Fredericksburg court cases Jones vs Stern (1825) and Miller v. Beverly (1818) really illuminate this family. Note that the Francis Buckner who died in 1806 is the brother of this Richard, per Miller v. Beverly, which is significant. This conflicts with Crozier's Buckners of Virginia, which has this Richard and his brother Francis as being sons of as Richard Buckner Jr. (of the Neck). The crucial evidence is as follows:
  • William Buckner of Caroline (father of the present Richard) made Francis Buckner the executor of his will (prob. 1788). Caroline Co. chancery cases indicate that Francis, William's executor, died in 1806 intestate without finishing the settlement of his father's estate. Francis' estate was sued by most of his brothers and sisters for a settlement, which firmly establishes that this Francis is indeed the Francis from William's will because their names match William's heirs exactly. Miller v. Beverly shows that this Francis who died in 1806 was the brother of that same Richard, who is the one who married Judith Edmonds.
  • This is probably also the same Maj. Richard Buckner who was in the Caroline Co. militia during the Revolutionary War (a 1799 chancery record refers to him as Maj. Richard Buckner when ordering the division of the estate).