Person:John Buckner (6)

John Buckner is first known in Virginia for certain from 10 Feb 1654/5 when he witnessed a mortgage by Abraham Moone of Lancaster Co. to Thos. Hanks.

On 19 Mar 1659 he witnessed a Westmoreland Co. deed from John Smith to Henry Meese, along with his long-time neighbor Hugh Dowding (or Downing in some records).

There is an importation of a "John Buckerin" on 27 Feb 1649 as a headright of Richard Croshaw listed in Bk. 2 p. 202 of the Virginia Patents and Land Grants; this could be a miscopying of his name. He was claimed as a headright two other times, once by Robert Lee on 23 Dec 1662 under the name "John Bucknell" and then again by himself and Thomas Royston on 12 Oct 1669. These two headright claims used superficially altered versions of the same headright list.

He is named in numerous deeds and land grants through the late 1600s.

In 1676 he signed a petition for redress of grievances from Gloucester Co. in the wake of Bacon's Rebellion.

In 1682, he imported the first printing press to Virginia along with printer William Nuthead. After they produced a copy of the laws, the outraged Colonial administration banned all printing and Nuthead relocated to Maryland.

He served as a vestryman and churchwarden of Petsworth ("Petsoe") Parish in Gloucester Co. and county clerk. He also was a long-time member of the House of Burgesses representing Gloucester from 1683 to 1692. All four of his known sons were elected to the House at various points.

Identity disproved

Most published accounts about the biography of John Buckner ultimately rely on W.A. Crozier et al. The Buckners of Virginia (1907). Numerous attempts to confirm Crozier's sources have shown that the "parish of St. Mary" Oxford christening records reported by Crozier do not exist and were probably forged, which includes the 2 Feb 1631 christening for John Buckner. Some researchers claim that the christening was in Reading, Berkshire, England, with the same date, but this christening record does not exist in those parish registers either. Crozier also identifies John Buckner of Virginia with John Buckner, a salter of St. Sepulchre parish in London, who married Deborah Ferrers in 1661, and this marriage is widely repeated in genealogical and biographical sources. However, more thorough research has shown that neither of the two John Buckners of St. Sepulchre parish (father and son) could be John Buckner of Virginia (d. 1695),since the father left a will probated in London in 1670 and the estate of the son was administrated in Reydon, Suffolk in 1678. (The two can be connected because John Sr. left his property in Reydon to John Jr. in his 1670 will.) Various English Chancery court records (C78/1927, no. 16; C 6/373/78; C78/958) confirm that this latter John Buckner who died around 1678 was the one who married Debora Ferrers (who survived him by some years).

A group of related Buckners, John (bef 1655), Phillip (bef 1667; brother of John), Anthony (bef 1672), and Andrew (bef 1673; dsp), settled around the Rappahannock River in Virginia. According to Ben Buckner (quote): Given their death dates (1687-1700) and dates of earliest appearance, it's virtually certain that they were all brothers or cousins rather than some fathers and some sons. Andrew appears to have died without issue, but the other three seem to have had adult offspring. In my opinion, there are surviving descendants of all three of their lines. Their origin in England is unclear, and much previous research to that end seems to be very wrong. [http://buckbd.com/genea/buckner.html ]

1. ↑ Probate was started in Essex Co. VA in Aug 1695, so he probably died in mid-late summer.