Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/46

 BUCKMINSTER.

BUCKNER.

editor of the State Gazette, published at Austin, and in 1872 received the degree of Ph.D. from Waco university, Texas. He founded the Texas association of science, was a member of various scientific associations, and a contributor to scien tific journals. A full list of his journalistic con tributions may be found in the Alumni Record of Wesleyan university (1881-'83). At the time of his death he had in preparation a work on the geology and natural history of Texas, and another on the trees and shrubs of the United States. He died in Austin, Texas, Feb. 18, 1884.

BUCKMINSTER, Joseph, clergyman, was born at Rutland, Mass., Oct. 14, 1751; son of Rev. Joseph Buckminster, and a direct descendant of the Thomas Buckminster who, in 1640, emi- grated from England and settled at Muddy river (Brookline), Mass. He entered Yale college at the age of fifteen, and upon his graduation in 1770 received a Berkeley scholarship, which enabled him to pursue a theological course of three years free of charge. From 1774 to 1778 he was a tutor at Yale, and in 1779 he accejited a call to tlie North church of Portsmouth, N. H. His ordination, on January 27, was the commence- ment of a pastorate extending over thirty-three years. He was a most eloquent and original speaker, and in the controversy which resulted in the division of the Congregational church, he joined the conservative party, his son, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, joining the liberal party. The College of New Jersey conferred on him the degree of D.D. in 1803. His publications include some twenty-five sermons and a memoir of Dr. MacClintock. See 3Iemoirs of Rev. Joseph . Buckminster, D.D., and of his Son. by Eliza Buckminster Lee (1851). He died at Reads- boro, Vt., June 10, 1812.

BUCKMINSTER, Joseph Stevens, clergy- man, was born at Portsmouth, N. H., May 26, 1784 ; son of Joseph Buckminster, 2d. His ances- tors for several generations had been clergymen. He was graduated from Harvard with honors in 1801. He studied theology and general literature, and taught for a time at Phillips Exeter acad- emy. On Jan. 20, 1805, he was ordained pastor of the Brattle street church of Boston. In 1806-'07 his congregation granted him an ex- tended leave of absence, which he employed in European travel, hoping thereby to regain his health. He was the friend and patron of litera- ture, a member of the famous " Anthology Club," and a contributor to Monthly Anthology. He was one of the first preachers to introduce a measure of literary excellence into pulpit dis- courses. He belonged to the liberal branch of the Congregational church, which, shortly after his death, became distinctly Unitarian. In 1808 he published, in connection with Mr. William

Wells, and under the patronage of Harvard college, a new edition of Griesbach"s Greek Testament, and in the following year a memor- able address delivered by him before the Phi. Beta Kappa society of Harvard on the Dangers and Duties of Men of Letters, was published. In 1811 he was invited to deliver a course of lectures m biblical criticism at Harvard. After his death a number of his sermons were collected and published with memoirs by Rev. S. C. Thacher (1814, revised fourth ed. 1839) ; and his- sister, Eliza Buckminster Lee, wrote a memoir of his life (1849). He died at Boston, Mass., June 9, 1812.

BUCKNER, Simon Bolivar, soldier, was born in Hart county, Ky., in April, 1823; son of Aylett H. Buckner, an iron manufacturer and extensive farmer who was descended from an old Virginia family of English ancestors. The elder Buckner subsequently removed first to Munfordville, and in 1840 to Muhlenberg county. The son was graduated at the U.S. military academy in

1844, and in August,

1845, was appointed assistant professor of ethics at West Point, and remained at this post until the follow- ing May. At the out- break of the war with M e X i CO, Lieutenant ' Buckner applied for transfer to the scene of h o s tilities. He ^^^ was attached to the 6th regiment and was brevetted 1st lieuten- ant for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco. At Molino del Rey he won the captain's brevet. He was returned to West Point in 1848, and appointed assistant instructor of infantry tactics. He retained this position until March 25, 1855, when he superintended the building of the Chicago custom house. He then recruited a regi ment of Illinois volunteers for the proposed Utah expedition, but they were not called into service. In 1860 he resigned his commission and removed to Louisville, Ky., where he engaged in the prac- tice of law and also took an active interest in the state militia. Governor Magoffin appointed him adjutant and inspector-general of the state guard. When the civil war broke out his sympathies prompted him to go with the south, and a large part of the state guard followed their com- mander. General Buckner called upon the people of the state to support him in his movements, against the troops that had invaded the state from

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