Saline County Century Farm: Buck family Century Farm house built the old way

Wayne and Carolyn Buck still live atop a hill south of Marshall on a farm that has been in the Buck family for almost 130 years. The Buck Farm was one of ten farms recently recognized as a Saline County Century Farm. (Marcia Gorrell/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Although he doesn't know when it was originally built, Wayne Buck knows that at least parts of the house he and his wife, Carolyn, have lived in since 1971 are "very old."

"They said part of it was moved from across the road and added on. A lot of the outside joists are hand-hewed logs, they're not sawed lumber," he said. When remodeling one bedroom, they found one of the corner posts in the house was "just a post."

"It wasn't sawed lumber either. It was just a tree they set there," he said, laughing.

The Buck Farm was one of 10 new Century Farms honored at the Century Farm Recognition Ceremony held on Nov. 12 at the Saline County Courthouse. From left are Tim Clemens, Gwen Clemens, Missie Buck, Vince Buck, Dane Branson, Wayne Buck, Carolyn Buck, Saline County Commissioner Norvelle "Brownie" Brown, Gaines Branson and Saline County Presiding Commissioner Becky Plattner. (Geoff Rands/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The home, which they remodeled and enlarged in the late 1990s, sits on 128 acres south of Marshall. The farm was recently named a Saline County Century Farm for being in the Buck family for more than 100 years.

"I think its neat it's been in the family that long. You look around and there are a lot of people that can't say their families have been on the same place for 100 years," he said.

In the Bucks' case, it has been in the family at least 130 years.

It was 1879 when Wayne's great-great-grandparents John R. and Myra Burke Buck purchased the farm. They sold it their son James R. Buck in 1900. In 1910, he sold it to Francis Darwin Buck, Wayne's great-uncle.

"He lived here until he passed away in probably 1970," said Wayne. "We bought it then and we've lived here since."

When they first moved in, there were other signs that the house was very old.

"When we moved here, my great-uncle had an old wood stove that was his cook stove. There was linoleum in front of it that had a hole where they had walked in front of that cook stove for years," he said. "It was worn clear through the linoleum -- it was down to the wood."

Francis and his wife, who died in the early 1950s, never had any children.

"He lived here for a lot of years by himself," he said.

His uncle never had a television, but said he didn't need the entertainment, because Highway 65 is visible east of the farm.

"You'd come up here at night and there wouldn't be any lights on, but if you'd look, you could see a glow where he was sitting there smoking his cigar. He said he didn't need television, he could sit there and watch cars," said Wayne.

Although Wayne remembered helping Francis haul hay a few times, he said an uncle and others rented the crop ground on the farm.

"My great-uncle never had a tractor or anything that I know of, but he'd run a few cows and he'd just get somebody to farm the ground for him," he said. "Life to him was simple."

Although Wayne doesn't know a lot of stories about when his other ancestors owned the farm, he was always told one story about his great-grandfather James Buck.

"We used to own clear down to the creek," he said, adding that at one time there was apparently a "little neck" on the creek.

"Mr. Miles used to tell me about Jim Buck taking a spade and straightening the creek out," he said. "You couldn't get anybody to even think about doing that now."

Wayne started farming in 1963 with his father, Meredith Gaines Buck, on a nearby farm and now raises corn, soybeans and cattle with his son, Vince. Although he vaguely remembers seeing a thrashing crew on a neighbor's farm when he was very young, he said he doesn't remember farming without tractors.

"I didn't get in on the horse era. We always had tractors," said Wayne. However, he said farming has changed a lot just in the last 40 to 50 years.

"It's changed. When I started we used two-bottom plows and two-row corn planters, and now we use 12-row planters and we don't plow," he said.

At that time, it was common to plow everything in the spring of the year, before planting.

"After I started we started plowing in the fall some. We usually disked it two or three times (before planting)," he said. "We planted it with a two-row corn planter and harvested it with a two-row corn picker."

The Bucks have three children: daughter Gwen Clemens and husband, Tim; son Vince and wife, Jill; and daughter Missie Branson. They have seven grandchildren: Breinne Clemens; Tyler Clemens and wife, Shannon; Nathan Sullivan, Lindsey Sullivan, Azlann Buck, Dane Branson and Gaines Branson and one great-grandson, Tanner Clemens.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net

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