No grander man than Brother Buck ever came to Texas. The great Baptists at an early day gravitated to Texas and Waco. This brother was raised by a well-to-do Virginia farmer. His father was Charles Buck, who gave the son good educational advantages for those days. He was born in Shenandoah county (now Warren), August 23, 1790. As he advanced toward manhood thirst for knowledge became insatiable. He read all the good books he could find, all the volumes of the British Encyclopedia, and many other volumes of a public library. He pursued his studies until acquainted with the Greek and Hebrew languages. He became a member of the Water Lick Baptist church, Virginia, in 1807, and after farming some years gave himself wholly to the ministry. In 1812 he was ordained and became pastor of the church of which he was a member. He was a lieutenant in the United States army in the war of 1812. From 1820 to 1836 he was pastor of several churches in Kentucky, and became pastor of the First church, Louisville, in 1836. He organized the East church, Louisville. While in Louisville he edited the Western Pioneer and Baptist Banner. He was secretary of the Bible Board of the Southern Baptist Convention at Nashville, Tenn., from May, 1851, till March, 1854, when he became pastor at Columbus, Miss., remaining three years. In 1857 he was pastor at Greenborough, Ala., in 1858 at Selma, and in 1859 he moved to Marion, Ala., and began the publication of the Baptist Correspondenti. The war put an end to this enterprise, and Elder Buck went to the Confederate army as a missionary. In 1866 he came to Texas. Those of us who remember his grand sermon at Bold Springs on the "church" in 1868 will always thank God. His brethren were wont to call him "Father Buck" because of his fatherly appearance. He died at Waco, 1872. He was the author of The Baptist Hymn Book, The Philosophy of Religion, and the Science of Life.======= [From J. L. Walker and C. P. Lumpkin, History of the Waco Baptist Association of Texas, 1897, pp. 246-247. Document from Google Books. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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