Friday, June 3, 2016

52 Ancestors - Week 127: #156 Isaac Buck (about 1730-after 1757)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I am extending this theme in 2016 to 156 Ancestors in 156 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #127:

Isaac Buck (about 1730-after 1757) is #156 on my Ahnentafel list, my 5th great-grandfather, who partnered with #157 Mary Richards (1733-????) in 1757.


I am descended through:

*  their son, #78 Isaac Buck (1757-1846) who married #79 Martha Phillips (1757-after 1820) in 1780.

*  their daughter, 
#39 Sophia Buck (1797-1882), who married #38 Thomas J. Newton (about 1800-after 1836) in about 1834.
*  their #19 Sophia Newton (1834-1923), who married #18, Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) in 1852.
*  their daughter, #9 Hattie Louise Hildreth (1847-1920) , who married #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922) in 1874. 
*  their son, #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942), who married Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) in 1900.
* their son, #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):


*  Name:                      Isaac Buck[1–3]   
*  Sex:                         Male   

*  Father:                    Isaac Buck (1706-1780)   
*  Mother:                  Ruth Graves (1710-    )  
   
2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*   
Birth: about 1730, probably Wilmington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[1] * Deed: 19 October 1757 (about age 25), Southborough, Worcester, Massachusetts, United 
States[3]   
      
3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
   
 *  Partner 1:             Mary Richards (1733-    )    
*  Had relations:       about 1757 (about age 25), Southborough, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[2]   

*  Child 1:                Isaac Buck (1757-1846)  

4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    

 The evidence for the existence of this Isaac Buck rests on a county history book entry, a town record book entry, and a single land record, as described below.

The book Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts, edited by Ellery Bickell Crane, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, New York, 1907, Volume 2, pg. 363, says[1]:

"(V)  Isaac Buck, son of Ephraim Buck (IV) was born about 1705 in Woburn Mass or vicinity.  He was living at Woburn when he married at Reading Mass, Dec 3 1729, Ruth Graves.  Isaac Buck moved to Southboro and with his wife Ruth sold their rights in the estate of her father, Joseph Graves, late of Southboro, Mass, October 19 1757.  Among their children were:  Isaac, born about 1730; Esther, married at Southboro, May 4 1762, Elisha Bruce Jr.; probably others.

"(VI) Isaac Buck, son of Isaac Buck (V), was born about 1730.  He removed to Southboro with his father, and married Mary Richards about 1755.  His children: Isaac, born in Southboro, Sept 27 1757, see forward;  Susanna, married November 14 1793 Elisha Bemis.  The family removed to Bolton, Mass."

It goes on to tell about Isaac Buck's (son of Isaac Buck and Mary Richards) family (he settled finally in Sterling, which was created in 1791 from Lancaster).  He had a big family with Patty Phillips, and several more generations are listed in one line.

Isaac Buck and Mary Richards were not married.  Mary had a son, Isaac Buck, out of wedlock in 1757 in Southborough, Massachusetts, and named the "reputed father" to be Isaac Buck[2].  The handwritten Southborough town record book says:

"Born to Mary Richards, a son named Isaac Buck reputed by her to be a
son of Isaac Buck on Sepr 27, 1757."

The question arises:  Did Isaac Buck, born about 1730, really exist? There are no vital records for birth, marriage or death, and no land or probate records in Worcester or Middlesex Counties for him.  Just because a memoir book says he existed doesn't make it true.  The memoir book entry may have been from an earlier family history book or unpublished research efforts.

There are no other Buck records in Southborough other than the ones noted above.

Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck granted land in Southborough to Joseph Graves in 1757[3].  This record was dated 19 October 1757 and registered by the court on 29 October 1765.  Isaac and Ruth Buck "of Southborough" deeded the property received from their "honoured father Thomas Graves" to Joseph Graves, Ruth (Graves) Buck's brother.  Their parents Thomas and Ruth (Collins) Graves died in February 1756.   But for the purposes of this study, there is a very important statement:

"...In witness thereof we the said Isaac Buck and Ruth his wife have hereunto put our hands and seals this thirtieth day of December Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and fifty six and in ye thirtieth year of his majestie's reign, Isaac Buck [seal] and Ruth Buck [seal] signed, sealed and delivered in presence of Isaac Buck Jr [mark] & Ebenr Buck. " 

This is the first direct evidence of the existence of an Isaac Buck Jr.  The senior Isaac Buck is the only Isaac Buck found in the Southborough records in that time period.  Why was the deed signed in the presence of Isaac Buck Jr. and Ebenezer Buck?  My hypothesis is that they were sons of age 21 or more, and heirs of Isaac and Ruth Buck.  Their other known son, Joseph Buck, was baptized in 1748 and was probably not of age in 1757 when the deed was signed.

While browsing through The American Genealogist periodical for 1992, I found an article called "Southborough Mass. Notifications," which included the following:

"I have taken into my house ... a famaley Last from Framingham the
name of Isaac Buck and his wife Ruth and ther Children Susanna and
Joseph, March ye 25:1756.  Joseph Richards."

This Joseph Richards is the son of Joseph (died 1748) and Mary (died 1755) Richards who also were the parents of Mary Richards (born 24 September 1733 in Lynn, Mass.).  It may be that the young Mary Richards lived with her brother Joseph Richards (and his wife Lydia) when Isaac and Ruth Buck moved into the home of Joseph Richards in 1756 when Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck went to Southborough to close out her father's estate.

It would appear that Isaac Buck, husband of Ruth, or Isaac Buck Jr., had the opportunity to impregnate Mary Richards (with the child thereafter named "Isaac Buck" born in 1757).  It is most likely to have been Isaac Buck Jr. due to the similar ages, marital status, and opportunity.

In 1765, "spinster Mary Richards" and her siblings conveyed their share of the homestead land to their brother, William Richards.  This record indicates that she was known as Mary Richards and not Mary Buck at that time.  

Review of vital records and Framingham town history books reveal that Isaac Buck was rated in Framingham in 1754, that a Ruth Buck was there in 1763, and that an aged man named Isaac Buck died "on the dark day" in 1780.  An Ebenezer Buck was in Framingham in 1764, and Joseph Buck of Framingham married Hephzibah Bruce in 1768 in Hopkinton.  Joseph Buck is reported to have lived near Ebenezer Claffin's house, in the southern part of Framingham.  There are no children of Joseph and Hephzibah Buck in the published vital records.  An Ebenezer Buck married Mary Miller and settled in Upton and had many children starting in 1768.  This may or may not be the son of Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck.

The index and abstracts of all Buck probate records in Worcester and Middlesex Counties were reviewed, and do not reveal records for the elder, middle or younger Isaac Buck.  Land index records for Middlesex County were reviewed, and do not reveal any land bought or sold by any Isaac Buck (except the husband of Ruth) before 1800.  There are many listings in Worcester County for other Buck families, including Isaac Buck (1757-1846) descendants around Sterling, Mass.  

There is no available death record or burial record for Isaac Buck, the purported father of Isaac Buck (1757-1846).

5)  SOURCES
 
1..  Ellery Bickell Crane, editor, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts (New York : Lewis Publishing Company, 1907), Volume 2, page 363, Buck family sketch.

2. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Southborough, Births, Marriages and Deaths, page 66, image 114 of 1007, Isaac Buck birth entry.

3. "Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org :, Worcester County, "Worcester Deeds, 1765-1767, Vol 55-56," images 46/47 of 618, Volume 55, pages 61-62, Isaac and Ruth Buck to Joseph Graves deed.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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