Buckley, Edward H.

Born: 1814-08-03 Connecticut

Died: 1890-01-14 Quincy, Illinois

Flourished: Quincy, Illinois

Edward H. Buckley, land surveyor, teacher, lawyer, and city and county clerk, was born in Windham County, Connecticut. He moved from his native state to Chicago in 1832. From there, he went to Mississippi, where he was a government land surveyor, before moving to Richmond, Indiana. While in Richmond, Buckley taught school and studied law, earning admission to the bar in 1839. In 1841, he moved to Columbus, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of law. In 1845, he married Adelia Ann Harrington in Adams County. The couple would eventually have four children. In August 1846, Buckley won election to the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the short-lived Marquette County, serving from December 1846 to March 1847. In 1848, Buckley and his family moved to Quincy, where, in 1850, they were living in Quincy’s North Ward and Buckley owned $1,200 in real property. In addition to practicing law in Quincy, Buckley served as county clerk and was appointed city clerk in 1852. He formed a law partnership with S. P. Delano in 1857, and at the latter's death, the firm became Buckley, Wentworth, & Marcy. By 1860, Buckley was living in Quincy’s Third Ward, and had amassed $10,000 in real property, with a personal estate of $1,000. Buckley continued to practice law until he retired in 1865.

William H. Collins and Cicero F. Perry, Past and Present of the City of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1905), 275; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Adams County, 14 November 1845, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 417; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 213-14; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), North Ward, Quincy, Adams County, IL, 200; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Quincy, Adams County, IL, 145; The Quincy Daily Whig (IL), 15 January 1890, 3:3.