Bill Buckley had Duval County legacy

On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 William F. Buckley Jr. died in his home in New York City. Why is this of note to readers of this blog? Well, stay tuned and find out.

Buckley was a nationally renowned figure and the premiere intellectual conservative in the United States. He is also responsible, many would argue, with the shape and form of the Republican Party that dominated American politics the last quarter century. However, the Buckleys were not always Republican; in fact, Buckley’s grandfather, John Buckley reportedly was among the founders of the Democratic Party in Duval County, although this may be questionable.

John Buckley

In the fall of 1882, John Buckley moved to San Diego from Washington-on-the-Brazos in search for more suitable climate for his asthmatic condition. He was born in Ontario, Canada and made his way down to Texas to raise sheep. Archie Parr moved the same year to Duval County. John Buckley was 10 years older than Parr and, although they would cross paths from time to time, Buckley would become a political force in Duval County years before Parr decided to take a plunge into politics.

Soon after his arrival in town, Buckley joined the San Diego Gun Club, which was the social club to join for men in the county. He was not a very good shooter, coming in dead last in his first event. Within months, he had improved so much that he came in first in a match shoot against the Corpus Christi Gun Club who had traveled to San Diego for a match. Buckley boasted the San Diego Gun Club was not afraid of any club in the state.

Two years after arriving in Duval County, Buckley won election as Assessor. In 1886, Buckley was among 38 delegates that bolted the local Democratic Party Convention. The Democrats that stayed at the Courthouse Convention accused the bolters of, among other things, being Republicans. Buckley represented Precinct 1 at the split convention and the convention named him a delegate to the Congressional Convention. In 1888, Democrats named a delegate to the Representative District Convention after Capt. E. N. Gray declined to serve.

That same year, Buckley and Parr served on the same jury that heard a case transferred from Starr County against A. Dillard and Victor Sebree for murder of Abram Resendez. Dillard was a Texas Ranger. The trial ended in a hung jury, with 11 for conviction and one for acquittal.

Buckley also joined a group of “Mexican Texans” called to select a ticket to challenge the incumbent county officials. The group nominated Buckley for sheriff. The county commissioners threw out Benavides and Rosita returns because they claimed the clerk failed to place the whole number of votes cast in the precinct, yet the votes for each candidate was plainly put down. J. Williamson Moses, the group’s candidate county judge, filed an election suit that ended up in the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in Moses’ favor and most offices were overturned. The suit alleged that Republican forces loyal to the incumbents had imported voters from Nueces and Starr counties as well as from Mexico. Buckley took his seat as Sheriff in 1890. Voters reelected him in 1894 and he served as sheriff until 1898.

John Buckley died at the age of 54 in Rockport and a special train took his body to San Diego but his family laid him to rest in Austin.

John Buckley left five children, among them William Buckley who was a year-old when he arrived in San Diego. William Buckley became proficient in Spanish and became a close friend of Spanish-speaking residents. One of his early mentors was Father Pedro Bard, pastor at St. Francis de Paula in San Diego. After finishing school in San Diego, Buckley taught at a country school near Benavides. He went on to become an attorney and became a multi-millionaire oilman in Mexico before going to New York in 1921, where four years later William F. Buckley Jr. was born.

Alfredo E. Cardenas | April 18, 2015 at 1:58 am | Reply (Edit) Your welcome. By the way I think you are right about him being the photographer. I ran across a reference to him taking photos at a gun meet. Alfredo E. Cardenas | April 18, 2015 at 1:24 am | Reply (Edit) Your welcome. By the way I think you are right about him being the photographer. I ran across a reference to him taking photos at a gun meet. Anonymous | April 18, 2015 at 1:20 am | Reply (Edit) She was my grandmother. She trained as a teacher. Thank you. Alfredo E. Cardenas | April 11, 2015 at 3:41 pm | Reply (Edit) Thank you. The only other mention I have in my notes is of Teresa Bromwitz [Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, 6/12/1908] who was an "assistant" at the school. I'm assuming she was a teacher. Hope this of some use to you. Anonymous | April 11, 2015 at 3:37 pm | Reply (Edit) Actually, my grandmother's maiden name was Bromowicz. I have a feeling her father was the town photographer you wrote about in an earlier blog post mentioning he was looking for a wife. If you find anything about him, I'd love to read about it. We don't know what happened to him. Alfredo E. Cardenas | April 9, 2015 at 8:21 pm | Reply (Edit) Thanks. Glad you enjoyed. The history of Duval County is much richer than what we know. Anonymous | April 9, 2015 at 8:19 pm | Reply (Edit) Great research and blog post on John Buckley. Small world that the great great granddaughter of of Mary Henry (me) and great grandson of John Buckley (known as "Buck") would become friends in living in Kansas, near Kansas City. Buck and I consider each other as "cousins" of sort due to our San Diego connection, which includes Father Bard, who was important to both the Henry family and the Buckley clan. William Buckley married a woman from New Orleans. My grandmother, Theresa (Henry) Montague married a man from New Orleans. Buck and I also share that New Orleans connection, not uncommon for people from San Diego and South Texas, from what I've read. Lisa Montague