My Genealogy Hound

BIGELOW D. BUZZARD has been engaged in agricultural pursuits on section 24, township 45, range 29, Johnson County, for the past quarter of a century. He is a patriotic citizen, and one greatly interested in the prosperity of the country for which he fought during the War of the Rebellion. He was born in Holmes County, Ohio, September 29, 1830, and was reared to maturity on his father’s farm. After receiving ordinary educational privileges, and when twenty-two years of age, he went to a boarding-school for a few months, paying for his tuition with money he had earned himself.

The father of our subject, Daniel Buzzard, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., July 19, 1790, and served in the War of 1812, on the lake. Afterward he settled in Holmes County, Ohio, entering land from the Government, and resided there until 1850, when he sold out, locating near Odella Lake. In 1853 he went to Richland County, where he purchased one hundred and thirty-five acres, and thereon spent the remainder of his life. He never received a pension nor land-warrant, because there had not been proper records of his army service kept, but he bought a couple of land-warrants of a nephew, and located three hundred and twenty acres in Linn County, Iowa. He was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Nancy Drake, by whom he had fifteen children, all but five of whom lived to manhood and womanhood. A strong anti-slavery man, he rejoiced at the downfall of the system, and after the organization of the Republican party became one of its supporters. His death occurred August 16, 1865.

B. D. Buzzard was reared on his father’s farm, and continued to work on the place until 1860, with the exception of a few short intervals. November 15, 1860, he wedded Araminda Brown, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, September 16, 1841, being a daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Johnston) Brown, natives of Butler County, Pa., and Greene County, Ohio, respectively. The mother’s parents, however, were also from the Keystone State. The Browns and Johnstons were of Scotch and Irish descent, but for many generations had lived in America. The Buzzard family is of German origin, and our subject’s father could speak little English until after he was twelve years of age.

Before his marriage Bigelow Buzzard erected a large house on his father’s farm, and both families lived together after that event. In September, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry and took part in the battles of Arkansas Post, Milliken’s Bend and the siege of Vicksburg. May 1, 1863, he was wounded in the right lung and fell prostrate, but as soon as he was able to stand he was led to the rear, where his wounds were dressed, and for about two months he was in the field hospital. He came very near death’s door, and attributes his recovery partly to the fact that he was kept on a diet of boiled milk, which is nourishing and easily digested. June 29, 1863, he was taken to Benton Barracks, near St. Louis, and was there honorably discharged on the 17th of the following month. He went to the front under Captain Phelan, later served under Captain Taylor, and had as his Colonel a Mr. French, from his native county.

Returning home, Mr. Buzzard lived in Richland County, Ohio, until March, 1866, and there four of his children were born. Moving to Cooper County, Mo., he purchased one hundred and twenty acres, paying the amount required on the spot, and cultivated the farm for two years. In 1868, selling out, he moved to Johnson County and invested in a tract of one hundred and thirty-five acres. In 1870 he also sold this tract, buying instead his present home of a quarter-section. Since then he has added another eighty acres, and thus has a valuable farm, comprising two hundred and forty acres within its boundaries.

The eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Buzzard, Annie Violet, born July 14, 1861, married George Frary, and died January 7, 1895, leaving four children, one having previously died in infancy. Ulysses Grant, born June 19, 1864, and a resident of Kingsville Township, is married and has one child. Jeanette F., born January 7, 1866, is clerking in Salida, Colo. Martha E., born in Cooper County, Mo., November 29, 1867, died December 18, 1871. Alice E., a native of this county, born June 16, 1869, married Albert Frary, by whom she has one child, and is a resident of Linn County, Iowa. The younger children are Gilbert N., born January 31, 1870; Lizzie Pauline, February 11, 1873; Ethel Blanche, September 27, 1874; Minnie L., January 9, 1878; Maude E., March 25, 1880; Guy Ashton, December 5, 1881; Josie Olive, May 22, 1883; and Cora Augusta, August 30, 1886.

Politically Mr. Buzzard is a Republican, with strong prohibition proclivities. Both he and his wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, the former having become identified with the same in his early manhood, and the latter having been a member since 1862. They are worthy people and well entitled to a place among the honored old residents of Johnson County.