Thomas Buckner (abt. 1660 - aft. 1726)

Born about 1660 in Gloucester, Virginia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1726 after about age 66 in Gloucester, Virginia

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Biography

Thomas Buckner is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

Thomas Buckner was a Virginia colonist.

Thomas Buckner ^[1]

Thomas Buckner was one of the four known sons of John Buckner of Virginia. He seems to have succeeded to his father's position in Gloucester Co. in the House of Burgesses, Petsworth Parish vestry, and at the family plantation, which would later be called Marlfield.

Marlfield had a center hall with a room on either side on one end and 2 rooms above then on a second story. The brick house had a total of 4 rooms and two long halls. In 1779/80 the house was owned by Catseby Jones who added a wing, making the building T shaped.

Here is a picture of the Marlfield house in 1930. The portion of the house on the left is the addition added by the Jones family. The right side of the house was built in 1732, presumably by his son Samuel. There was a date stone placed in the chimney showing that date. The original side of the house is in a state of total collapse. It is only a pile of bricks today.

There is an old burying ground there in ruins and very hard to find, in it are tombstones of the Buckners, Joneses, and Fields and many without markers.

Of note, the plantation was not called "Marlfield" until long after the Buckners had sold it off, and it seems to have descended to Thomas. After the purchase by Jones, who was among the first Virginia planters to use marl in his agricultural practices, Its name was changed to Marlfield.

Thomas Buckner represented Gloucester in the Virginia House of Burgesses for many years, from 1698 to 1718.^[2] In addition, he was a justice of the peace and sheriff for Gloucester County, as well as a vestryman of Petsworth Parish, mentioned numerous times in the vestry book (often as Captain Thomas Buckner).^[3]

He was Sheriff of Gloucester in 1711 and 1712^[4] and Coroner of Gloucester in 1714.^[5] He also held 2000 acres of land in Essex Co. in 1704 (more than his brother Richard)^[6] and 850 in Gloucester.^[7]

With his unnamed wife, he was also a legatee in the will of Edward Porteous written 23 February 1693/4. "Sarah Buckner" also signed it as a witness, possibly his wife, though perhaps someone else due to the inability of a legatee to witness a will (note that this would usually void only the legacy, not the entire will).^[8] Tradition identifies his wife as Sarah Morgan, and virtually all commentators have agreed since Crozier's time,^[9] due to voluminous circumstantial evidence in support of it.

Thomas' brother in law, David Alexander, and his wife received exactly the same legacy from Porteous (10 pounds) as Thomas and his wife, so presumably they were legatees as daughters of Francis Morgan. This may imply that Porteous was related to them, perhaps their grandfather or an uncle.

Thomas Buckner was also one of the coexecutors of his father John's will listed in Essex Co. VA court records in 1695 and of his brother William Buckner's 1716 will in its extant text.^[10]

A record in Virginia statutes in 1722, in which the "the leased land of Thomas Buckner, and John Royston" is mentioned shows he was still alive at that time.^[11] He retired from the Petsworth Parish vestry in Oct 1725 and is last mentioned in the vestry book in Oct 1726. His son Francis was elected to the vestry in 1729 but soon died and was succeeded the year after by another son, Samuel Buckner.^[12]

Research Notes

There is some possibility that this is the same Thomas Bucknor who, with a wife named Sarah, had several children christened in St Margaret, Westminster, London, namely Sarah Buckner on 3 Nov 1682,^[13] Elizabeth Bucknor on 04 Oct 1685^[14] (buried there on 13 Jun 1689), and Samuel Bucknor on 6 Mar 1686.^[15] The dates are fairly credible, as we really have no solid evidence for Thomas Buckner's birthdate other than that he must have been an adult in the 1690s and certainly married by 1693. Obviously, supporting the idea is that both Thomas Buckner and Thomas Bucknor are married to a Sarah and had a son named Samuel. It's probably worth noting as well that Thomas seems to suddenly spring up in Virginia in the 1690s (and is in the House of Burgesses by 1698), so it's quite credible that he married in England and spent his first years of adulthood there. The last apparent record of this family in Westminster is a 1689 burial, which fits the idea. No proof of this idea has emerged yet, but the circumstantial evidence for it seems to be decent.

Sources

1. ↑ Buckner, Thomas - A1209; living in 1727, Gloucester Co.: 1698 (Burgess).
2. ↑ P.C. Mason, Records of Colonial Gloucester County, Virginia, Volume 1, p. Genealogical Publishing, 2009, p. 120
3. ↑ C. G. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book of Petsworth Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1677-1793, Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009
4. ↑ Des Cognets, Louis, English duplicates of lost virginia records, [Princeton]: N. J., 1958, p. 5
5. ↑ Des Cognets, Louis, English duplicates of lost virginia records, [Princeton]: N. J., 1958, p. 23
6. ↑ Des Cognets, Louis, English duplicates of lost virginia records, [Princeton]: N. J., 1958, p. 134, Hathi Trust
7. ↑ Des Cognets, Louis, English duplicates of lost virginia records, [Princeton]: N. J., 1958, p. 141
8. ↑ "Virginia Gleanings in England (Continued)." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 13, no. 3 (1906): 303-12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4242748.
9. ↑ 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. 153, Google Books
10. ↑ "York County Records," Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume 2, 1921, p. 272 Google Books
11. ↑ "Virginia, Guide to the Old Dominion", sponsored by James H. Price, Governor of Virginia. Oxford University Press, New York. Published 1940, republished 1974. (Montgomery College Library)
12. ↑ C. G. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book of Petsworth Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1677-1793, Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009
13. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5LD-JS4 : 11 February 2018, Thomas Buckner in entry for Sarah Buckner, 03 Nov 1682); citing SAINT MARGARET,WESTMINSTER,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 924 B4HA V. 89.
14. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5LD-N1H : 11 February 2018, Thomas Bucknor in entry for Elizabeth Bucknor, 04 Oct 1685); citing SAINT MARGARET,WESTMINSTER,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 924 B4HA V. 89.
15. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5LD-FN7 : 11 February 2018, Tho Bucknor in entry for Samuel Bucknor, 06 Mar 1686); citing SAINT MARGARET,WESTMINSTER,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 924 B4HA V. 89.