Updated- Although the village of Port Byron was once called Bucksville, I had not done a lot of genealogy on the Buck family as many in the family they had moved to Illinois around 1831. So I have not paid them too much attention, just because I have other families to chase. Well, a couple weeks ago my wife and I were in Chemung, NY, for a canal society field trip, and the local historian was talking about Buck’s Point along the Chemung River. I recalled that our Bucksville Buck’s were from that area, and that made me think that I should add them to the PBFT. But how?

To help search them out and develop a nice timeline, there are some very good histories written about the Buck family, which you can find on Google Books. And the blog Historical Echoes of Chemung, NY , has a post about the Buck Family.

So this is the background. Phillip King moved to the area around 1795 and soon after others followed. These included the brothers Aholiab and Elijah Buck, who came here from Pennsylvania (near Chemung). The Buck brothers were very forward thinking and gave land away to anyone who wished to set up a mill or store, as they wanted to see the settlement grow. So by the time the canal was built through the small hamlet in 1819, the area had become known as Bucksville. However, as the hamlet grew toward becoming a village, some wished to see the name changed and in 1825 the name was changed to Port Byron. This post covers that name change.

My suspicion is that Aholiab was upset over this name change and moved west. A Buck researcher told me about The Portrait and Biographical Album of Otoe and Cass Counties, Nebraske (page 936) which states that Aholiab moved as he lost his land through, “the dishonestly of others.” A deed I have shows that Buck sold his land to John Beach for $5,000, which would have been a lot of money. But anyhow, Aholiab moved his family to Illinois by 1831, while brother Elijah stayed here.

Elijah married Theresa Drake and together they gave birth to Daniel D Buck (the D was for Drake). Daniel married Julia Ann Eaman or Emmons. The 1850 census shows an Elizabeth Emmons living with the family, but the Buck researcher says it should be Eaman. Daniel and Julia Ann had Elijah. Elijah married Lucy Tuell, and they had two daughters, who both moved to Oswego. The last of two, Cora, died in the 1940’s, and that was the end of the Buck line in Port Byron. I will note that all the family records show that Aholiab also married a Drake by the name of Annis. The mother of the Drake girls was Abigail Anna Knapp, so there deserves to be more investigation there as Knapp is also a local name. And interestingly, the Biographical Album notes that the Drake family was a descendant of the Prince of Orange and they were one of the first settlers of Manhattan Island.

But how to wrap the Buck family into the PBFT? Nelson Buck, who was one of Aholiab’s sons. His first wife was Fidelia Wethey, a young lady who died in 1833. Penny Heltzer and Find a Grave say that this couple had a son named Oliver. However, most Wethey trees show the family coming from this union as being the Wethey’s, not the Buck’s. So is this an error? Perhaps the Wethey family took in Oliver and raised him after Nelson left town?

But, thanks to Fidelia, the we can tie the Buck family into the PBFT!