Z 2283.000 Buckner (Enos Rush) Letter

Enos Rush Buckner was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on May 4, 1824, to Horace and Nancy Buckner. Enos Rush Buckner moved to Mississippi and became a lawyer and farmer in Hillsboro, Scott County, Mississippi. Buckner’s relatives had previously settled in the state; one probable relative, Eliphalet Frazier Buckner, eventually became the chancellor of the state of Mississippi. Enos Rush Buckner married his first wife, Georgiana Hann, in Jasper County, Mississippi, on January 15, 1845. In 1846, Enos Rush Buckner served as an assistant quartermaster at the rank of major.

Georgiana Hann Buckner died of tuberculosis on July 27, 1846, at the age of twenty-one, three months after her unnamed son died at birth. Enos Rush Buckner married Laura Ann Barfield on February 20, 1849. The couple had five children: Edmund Rush (b. January 20, 1846), Ella Florence (b. April 12, 1852), Laura Ida (b. March 28, 1854), Reubenia Emma (b. September 23, 1855), and Ula Buckner (b. May 5, 1859). Reubenia Emma Buckner died of croup in October of 1857.

Asked to run for the Mississippi State Legislature in 1847, Buckner eventually represented Scott County in the 1857 session. It is not known what took place in the life of Enos Rush Buckner from 1857 to 1862. Buckner died on February 25, 1862, in Hillsboro, Mississippi. His wife, Laura Ann Buckner, died on March 31, 1864, in Hillsboro.

Scope and Content:

This letter was written by Enos Rush Buckner of Hillsboro, Scott County, Mississippi, to his brother-in-law, James D. Culley. In the May 12, 1847, letter, Buckner discusses his continuing grief over the deaths of his first wife and child; his refusal to accept his county’s nomination for the state legislature; his attempts at remarriage; and his participation in a fight for the hand of his fiancée.

Series Identification:

1. Letter. 1847. 1 folder. (reference photocopy)
2. Letter. 1847. 1 box. (restricted original)