Henry Ireland Buckner, oldest son of Daniel and Mary H. Buckner, was born about fifty miles from Knoxville, East Tennessee, 18th of December, 1818, and received his early edncation
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from his father, so that by the time he was ten years old, he had read all the common school books, and all the scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament. He was then sent to an academy in the town of Madisonville, Monroe county, Tenn., where he made rapid advancement in the several branches of a good English education. He professed religion in the church of which his father was pastor, in Madisonville, in August, 1832, and in the same month, with twenty-five others, was baptized by his father. Five of that number made respectable ministers of the gospel. At the age of seventeen, Henry entered a Presbyterian Seminary, in Meronville, Blount county, Tenn. At that time there was not a Baptist high school in the State.At the age of twenty, he taught a school in Cleveland, Tenn. He then went to Alabama, where he commenced preaching. Was ordained in 1840; read the Greek Testament under Dr. Manly in the State University in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; preached with good success. In 1842, he came to visit his parents in Pulaski county, Ky., and in the same State married Susy Ann Dogan, daughter of Elder Samuel and Nancy Dogan. A few years after his marriage, he was employed by the General Association to labor as a domestic missionary in the Big Sandy country, of this State. He acted in this capacity for three years, when he settled himself on a little farm near his parents, where he lived comfortably and happy, until his mind became impressed with a sense of duty to go as missionary among the Indians; and in January, 1849, he was set apart to the work of a missionary, by T. J. Fisher, John James, Samuel Dogan, and Daniel Buckner. Soon after this, he and his family went on board a steamer, in the Cumberland river. As the boat moved gradually off, he sung at the top of his voice the hymn,
"Yes, my native land, I love thee." Since that time he has been laboring among the Creek Indians, save one year, when he was called home by the Board at Louisville, to act as agent for them. During that year, I believe, he collected nearly Ten Thousand Dollars; the amount, however, is published. I think he has baptized among the Indians some five hundred, constituted a great many churches, and ordained a
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number of ministers (I know not the precise number). While on his agency, he was offered by a church a salary of Fifteen Hundred Dollars to become their pastor. He said to me, in speaking of it, there was not money enough to hire him from the Indians. I will subjoin a piece of history in relation to his early attachment to the Indians.Some years before their removal from Tennessee and Alabama, I lived twenty miles from them, and at the request of Jesse Bushahead, a native Cherokee preacher, I preached among them every fall until their removal; and as a number of them became acquainted with me, when they came into the settlement trading, they would come to my house, and many or few, I would feed them as long as they would stay. He was then a member of the church, and they became fond of him, and he equally so of them. He says, ever since then he has had a fondness for them.
_____________ We know Henry Buckner well. We know him as a kind, companionable man — artless, loving, sociable ; one to whom the society of brethren, and relatives, and the associations of civilized life, are dear, and would be enjoyed in the highest degree.
The above memoranda is from the aged and beloved father of Henry Buckner. We cannot close without recording our heartfelt tribute of respect and affection for this earnest missionary of the cross.
From the midst of friends and relatives; from the comforts of a peaceful home; from the opening paths of eminence and influence among his brethren he voluntarily parted, to endure the privations, the solitude, the actual sufferings of the wilderness and of savage life. "Yes," he said to the writer once, "it is hard. The lack of society, the destitution of everything like home comforts, the chilling isolation, and especially the circumstances of my family. But the conversion of the Indian to Christ — that thought nerves me to endure all things."
And God has blessed his toils. For all the sufferings of cold, and hunger, and solitude, God has rewarded him in giving him hundreds upon hundreds of souls for his hire.
Bro. Buckner ia a man of strong intellect, of ardent feelings and attachments. As a minister, he would have been useful and
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distinguished in almost any locality. As a writer, he would, and will yet (we predict), distinguish himself. As a speaker, he is impressive, pathetic, and often really eloquent. In the social circle, he is one whom you at once take into your confidence, and to your heart, and love as a brother.For him and his devoted and amiable companion, let our prayers ascend, and let us not forget, in the midst of our comforts, our brother and sister far away in the wilds with the poor Indian.
Samuel H. Ford
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