The first one in our lineage that came to America: Robert Buckles, Sr., - The First Immigrant Robert Buckles, Sr., was born on May 15, 1702, in Yorkshire, England. Robert was the younger brother of Christopher Buckle, born in 1699, and the grandson (not proven) of Sir Christopher Buckle who died in July, 1594, while Lord Mayor of London. (No information is available on when the surname changed from Buckle to Buckles.) Robert Buckles left England for America in 1719 at age 17. As the second son of a wealth England landlord, Robert may have run away from home due the English tradition of giving the fathers estate to the oldest son. Other Buckles family stories indicate that young Robert left England to avoid the military draft. The truth may have been a combination of both situations. Robert made friends with a ships crew in order to obtain passage. The crew stowed him away in one of the ballast barrels and he evaded officers who came on board to search the ship. His name has not been found in immigration passenger lists; which would tend to confirm that he made the passage as a stowaway. Robert Buckles probably landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and first settled in Bucks County. Not much is known about the 13 plus years he spent in Pennsylvania other than the fact that he met and married Ann Brown. Ann was from a very prominent Pennsylvania family. Anns grandfather, Daniel Brown, was a member of the First Pennsylvania Assembly in 1683 and the Brown family farm was adjacent to that of William Penn. Ann Brown was a member of the Quaker community, but relinquished her Quaker faith to marry Robert in 1727. Robert and Ann Buckles migrated with 15 other families, all or most of whom were Quakers, to Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1727. They had purchased the land from the VanMetre grant of Jost Hite. The land was acquired directly or indirectly from Thomas Lord Fairfax of England who had inherited about five million acres in the new colonies from his grandfather, Lord Fairfax. The elder Fairfax, in turn, had gained the land rights from Charles II of England. (As of October, 1991, Frank Woodruff Buckles had, in his possession, the original Fairfax land grant document in the amount of four hundred acres to Robert Buckles. At the time of Robert Buckless death in 1790, his land holdings had grown to 2,090 acres.) The Buckles land was located a few miles from the Potomac River approximately halfway between Sheperdstown and Uvilla in Jefferson County. According to Frank Woodruff Buckles, the original cabin was located on the east side of present day Highway 230, near the point where the road intersects with Rattlesnake Run Creek. Robert and Ann are thought to have built their first home in Jefferson County over a small creek which feeds into Rattlesnake Run. The practice of building a log home over a creek was common since it provided access to water in case of prolonged Indian attacks. This was told me by a descendant of Robert Buckles. From HISTORIC SHEPHERDSTOWN by Danske Dandridge, The Michie Co. Printers, Charlottesville, WV., 1910, Page 26, Reprinted by Specialty Binding and Printing Co.. Shepherdstown, WV, 1985 While Robert Buckles and other men of the community were away with Morgans Company on one occasion, a party of Indians entered the neighborhood and killed and scalped any residents they could find. The children and wife of Robert Buckles were surprised during the night, but managed to escape, leaving behind in the excitement, one little girl who was unable to walk. The Indians scalped the little girl and left her lying in the cabin. When the family returned to the cabin, they discovered that the child was still alive. She recovered fully, grew to womanhood and married. Robert Buckles primary home was located southwest of Martinsburg, West Virginia, in Berkeley County. The area was initially know as Bucklestown which as named after General Buckles who resided there. In 1797, Bucklestown was made a town by the Virginia Legislature and the name changed to Darkesville in honor of General William Darke, an Indian fighter and Revolutionary War hero. In a book about the Buckles family by Florence H. Moore, she said The Buckles family was among the earliest and thriftiest settlers in our area … Robert Buckles is listed as a Patriot during the American Revolution. Although he was one of the first settlers on the Potomac … he was too old for military service in the Revolution. He furnished supplies for the use of the State of Virginia … He had seen service in the French and Indian War. His name appears on the muster roll of Captain Richard Morgans Company. It said he gave four sons to the Revolution. The records in the Library of Congress show that one of his sons, Robert Buckles, Jr., served in a Company of Rangers under Captain Rutherford from the time the Company was organized until it was reduced in Berkeley in 1780.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 16:07:46 +0000
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