Name Origin
Buck was a nickname used to describe someone resembling a he-goat (Old English Bucc(a)) or a male deer (Old English Bucc). Sometimes, it was a topographic name for someone living near a beech tree (Middle English boc).[i] There are also several different sources for Buck from German roots, but it appears that my Buck ancestors were probably English.
Geographical
The 1840 Census indicated there were 1158 Buck families in the United States. The majority of them lived in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Illinois.[ii] (Note: This includes many of the German forms of Buck.)
My Earliest Ancestors
My most recent known Buck ancestor is my 7th great grand-grandmother, Jerusha Buck. Jerusha Buck was born 25 August 1739 in New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut. Her parents were Enoch Buck and Mary Beebe. She married Grover Buel on 15 February 1758. They had at least five children, including my ancestor Deborah Buel. my ancestor. She died in New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on 23 September 1778, and was buried about 25 miles away in the Old Amenia Burying Ground, in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York.[iii]
I have not had a chance to research Jerusha Buck, nor her father,Enoch, in depth yet, so my understand of their lives is quite limited still.
My Direct Buck Ancestors
- #1662 – Enoch Buck (1683-1745) – Married Mary Beebe – 8th Great Grandparents
- #831 – Jerusha Buck (1739-1778) – Married Grover Buel. – 7th Great Grandparents
- Deborah Buel – Married Wicks Weeks Rowley – 6th Great Grandparents
- Electa Rowley – Married Robert Maben – 5th Great Grandparents
- Deborah Buel Maben – Married Chester Parsons – 4th Great Grandparents
- Mary E. Parsons – Married William Sanford – 3rd Great Grandparents
- Marion Sanford – Married William Henry Brown – 2nd Great Grandparents
- Arthur Durwood Brown – Married Mary Elizabeth Manning – Great Grandparents
- Richard Earl Brown – Grandparents (Biological father of child with Madonna Montran)
- My mother – Generation 2
- Me – Generation 1
My known relatives.
I only have six individuals with the surname Buck, in my records. However, my records do have 292 direct-line descendants of Enoch and Mary (Beebe) Buck identified over fourteen generations, which is about 5% of my known Roberts/Brown Ancestors.
ENDNOTES
- [i] Web: Ancestry.Com – Buck Family History – https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=buck
- [ii] Ibid. Name Distribution of Buck Families.
- [iii] Find a Grave; Jerusha Buck Buel, Memorial # 21889363; https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21889363
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