Buckles in Van Wert, Ohio, United States

The Buckles family with which I am familiar was certainly in Van Wert county in 1880. Rachel Gobel Buckles, the widow of Evan B. Buckles (1818-1865), appeared in the 1880 Census as Rachel Welker. Her household included her two sons, Edward and Marion; her grand daughter, Devisa Peters; and her daughter-in-law Dora Royce Buckles (Marion's wife). In the 1870 Census, she was the head of a household in Allen county, Ohio. Here, her name was Buckles. Rachel married Frederick Welker sometime between 1870 and his death in 1876.

Just a later comment. The Buckles family in general seems to have been restless. The oldest generation that I have found settled in Berkeley county in what is now West Virginia. Each generation seemed to push a little farther west, with the late 19th century strand line appearing in Champaign, Allen, Clark and Van Wert counties. My great-grandfather, Francis Marion Buckles, was in Blackford county, Indiana. But other branches of the West Virginia family scattered even further; I keep tripping over Buckles in Kansas, Missouri, and Oregon. This pattern gives birth to many speculations. I wish they had been as good at writing and saving letters as they were at moving.