The Pye Plate: Edward Buck, Native of England

When I first learned of Edward Buck, I was just beginning my adventure of research in the Canadian Provinces. Three of my grandparents were Canadian born so I spent a great deal of time roaming from one resource to another, Sometimes I would find a reference that would send me in an unexplored direction and a brick wall would crumble before my eyes. Not so with Edward Buck. I know nothing more about him now than I did 25+ years ago. I would love to know where he was from. Family lore says he came from Yorkshire at the end of the Yorkshire immigration. There’s no proof, however, and that is what I have been looking for. I’ve spent hours roaming through whatever documents were available from Canada and England. It seems Edward Buck is right up there with John Smith in common usage.

However, Edward left a legacy of descendents worthy of discussion. This family is prodigious so I’ll be handling this in chapters, to aid in the understanding of the generations and to save my sanity from a massive data dump.

Edward Buck is my 4x gt. grandfather. At about age 30, he was in New Brunswick around 1790. In 1796, he married Phoebe Elizabeth Tower, b. 1777. She was the d/o Benjamin and Anne Finney Tower. Her birth year and marriage date are unverified. Their children were:

1. Edward (c. 1797-1875) m. (1817) Mary Ann Finney – 4 children

2. George E. (1798-1878) m. (1820) Phebe Palmer – 9 children

3. Ann (1800-1883) m. (1819) Benjamin Simonton – 16 children

4. William (1801-1819)

5. Thomas (1803-1819)

6. James Richard (1812-1874) m. (1836) Sarah Mitton – 8 children

7. Phebe Buck (1814-1881) m. (1834) Leighton Card – 12 children

It’s entirely possible that I missed some children as there are some breaks in ages where others could have been born. Very often records didn’t get recorded in a timely fashion, since miles of travel were involved in getting to a municipal hall were that could happen. Grave markers were sometimes made of wood which didn’t survive the coastal storms and Canadian seasons. Children dying young would be missing from records and/or graveyards. Even so, the known grandchildren I have reach the count of 49.

Phebe Tower’s father, Benjamin, was born in Cumberland Hill, Providence RI in 1744. Her mother, Anne Finney, was b. in Rehoboth MA. Both of these areas were involved in the repopulation of Canada after the Acadians were relocated. Many churches persuaded the entire congregation to resettle in Canada. After all, they were British citizens and the land was free. I don’t have the dates their families arrived in the Provinces but Benjamin and Anne did meet and married in 1766 in Sackville, NB. Most of the new arrivals were farmers and they had 10 years to develop the land. Some land had already been cleared, but there were very few roads, houses needed to be built, and stores needed to be developed. It was a very busy life with very little machinery.

Edward Buck was able obtain land where he could mine gypsum. He sold this up and down the coast establishing a ‘coaster’ business where gypsum was delivered and much needed supplies were brought back home. For those unfamiliar with gypsum, it is used in making plaster, chalk and even today, in making drywall. I believe Edward was also a farmer as he would need to feed his family from the land.