Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/458

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

Rock Run. where, it w.is said, he “ ground flour for the Continental an n y" without jiay. A t .iny rate, he had a contract w ilh the Con­ tinental Congress to grind grain for the army, and an old unpsitd account o f nc.ir)y seven hundred dollars is still in existence. Return­ ing to Pennsylvania in 1783, he made his home on O iillisquaque creek in Northumtierland county, and after a few years' residence there went in i7, Columbia county, where nc died Ju ly 3, >833. In 177 3 he m ar­ ried M aria M cK inney, who w as lK>m Oct. 5. 1734. o f 5 >cotch-Irish parentage, daughter of Mordec.ni M cKinney, o f Hunterdon county. N . J ., and sister of Capt. John M cKinney, a Revolutionary soldier, who served with dis­ tinction and after the w ar removed to K en­ tucky. M rs. Buckalew died N ov. 25, 182*). H er father followed them into the wilderness, .and went to H arrisburg when the Indians be­ came troublesome. Five sons and seven daughters were born to Mr. and M rs. John Buckalew, o f whom Sarah married William Collins, o f Chester county. P a., and moved to the Mississippi valley, in Illinois, where she died in 18 4 3; Nancy is deceased: Rachel m ar­ ried Samuel E arl, o f Huntington, laizcrnc cou n ty; Rcliccca married Daniel W oodward and (second) R ev. Epaphros W adsw orth: Elizabeth married Jaco b Ogden and re.sidcd in I .uzcrnc cou n ty: .Amos, who w as a lumber­ man, died in Miildlctown. P a., at a compara­ tively early a g e : John M. is mentioned ticlow; Jam es w as the ancestor o f Louis W . Bucka­ lew. mentioned elsewhere in this work. John McKinnney Buckalew, one of the five sons, w as born Dec. 17. 1786. on (.Tdllisquaque creek. H e learned his father's trade at Catawissa. and worked at it for a few years, acquiring a competency as a miller, farm er and lumberman. In 1808 he bought a large tract o f laud in Fishingereek township (later owned by his sons P erry and John M .) and removed thereon, spending the rest o f his life on that ilace. where he died N ov. 15. 1859. In 18 13 >c nuirrieom in 1789. near Bethlehem. Pa., daughter of Jam es and Lucinda ( P e r ry ) Funston. ami die<l in I.uzcrnc county Ja n. i. nine children liorn to this m arriage four died in childhood, the survivors being: W illiam, bom Nov. 1 1, 18 16. died on the homestead Sept. <». Perr)', who owncil (a rt of the fam i. w as bom Ja n. 30. 1820. and die<l Jan. 4, t888; Charles R. is mentioned below; Nla-

hala B.. w ife o f Benjamin C. Hess, o f Fishingcrcek township, w as bom Sept. 17. 18 2 3 : John M. is mentioned below. Charles Koltin Buckalew, sixth child in the fam ily o f John M. and M artha (Fun ston ) Buckalew. w as bom Dec. 28. 18 2 1. in Fishingcreek township. H e received an academic education, and in his young manhood taught school and clerked in a store. H e took up the study o f law and w as admitted to the Colum ­ bia county liar in .August, 1843—only eight months after attaining his m ajority. In I>ecember. 1844. he settled at Bloomsburg and began practice, in which he engaged with such success that he was not only one of the nKist eminent men of the profession in his own county, but one of the leading law yers throughout his section of the State. Public recognition o f his ability came soon a fte r his entrance lo practice. In 184? he w as aj>pointcd deputy attorney general for Columbia county (a (losition corresponding to that of district attorney n o w ), and though only a youth served accqitably until 1847. when h e re­ signed. In 1850 he w as elected to the S late .S«iate. fo r a term o f three years, and re­ elected in 18 5 3; and in the summer and fall o f 1854, lictween sessions of the Legislature, he acted as commissioner to exchange the rati­ fications o f a treaty w ilh Paraguay. A few months later he w as a candidate for United States senator a s the choice o f Ihe leaders of his party, hut the Know-Nothings had made such inroads in the Democratic m ajority which had controlled the Pennsylvania le g isla tu re from the lieginning of the century that he was able to gel but twenty-eight voles out o f a total mcmlicrship o f 1 3 1; and the other can­ didates, o f whom Simon Cameron w as one. were etpially unsuccessful. Cameron leading, though not w ilh sufficient support to secure his election, the convention aajou m in g without making a choice. In Novemlicr. 1856. Mr. Buckalew w as elected a presidential elector, and sup])ortcd Jam es Buchanan, who w as his jicrsonal friend. In 1857 he w as honorcaign the party w as to have for *• qitartcr o f a century, he him­ self. at the election. Oct. 13. 1857. being chosen fo r a thini term to the Stale Senate, from the district composed o f Columbia. Montour. Northumlicrland and Snyder counties. On Ju n e 14. 1858. Mr. Buckalew w as commi.ssioncil, by President Buchanan, minister resident to Ecuador, and he resigne<i his posi­ tions in the Senate and as mcmlicr of the com­