From "Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana," 1903, pp. 334-335.

JOHN M. BUCK.

This prominent manufacturer and head of one of Bluffton's leading industrial enterprises is a native of Indiana, born at Alexandria, Madison county, on the 2d day of June, 1853. His father, Henry Buck, formerly a land owner and farmer of the above county, was of German descent, and the mother, whose maiden name was Jemima Chamness, comes from a long line of Quaker ancestors. For many years Henry Buck was not only one of the leading agriculturists of Madison county, but also achieved prominence as a local politician of the Republican party, having been one of the first men in his part of the state openly to avow and defend what was then the political heresy of abolitionism. He acquired some property, was twice married, and departed this life in the year 1867. His second wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, is still living.

John M. Buck was the oldest of the children born to his father's second marriage. He was reared to maturity in close touch with nature and as a farm hand early learned by experience the true meaning of honest toil. His means for acquiring an education were such as a few months' attendance each year at the public schools afforded, consequently he is not a learned man in the sense of the term as generally understood, although possessing a fund of valuable practical knowledge such as schools and colleges do not impart. Young Buck assisted in cultivating the home farm until his twenty-fourth year, when he started into the world for himself, first directing his attention to buying and selling lumber and later taking up the trade of wood turning. He started in 1890, a small establishment of his own in the town of Geneva. He spent about five years at the above place, when he found it necessary to secure a more favorable location, consequently he moved his establishment to the city of Bluffton.

Since moving to the latter place in 1895 Mr. Buck has built up an extensive business and, as stated in the initial paragraph, the enterprise has become one of the largest and most important of the city's industries. In addition to the plant at Bluffton, which gives employment to about twenty-five men and from three to five teams every working day of the year, he operates a branch factory at Auburn, this state, which, under his direction, has steadily increased its output and grown in public favor. Mr. Buck manufactures wooden tool handles. His weekly pay roll at Bluffton alone will average about two hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to which he pays each week to the farmers in the vicinity who urnish [sic] him, very satisfactorily, with raw material the sum of four hundred dollars.

Mr. Buck began manufacturing in a very small way and the large measure of success which has attended him is due entirely to his own energy, superior management and unwise business foresight. At the outset he encountered many difficulties and numerous obstacles calculated to impede and discourage, but with an inborn determination which hesitated at none of these impediments to his progress, he persevered, gradually removing everything in his pathway and gaining favor until he found himself upon a well established basis which made ultimate success a certainty. That he has achieved his aim is abundantly attested by the place his plant occupies among the industries of Bluffton, in the business circles of the city and throughout the state. The constantly increasing demands for his products necessitates the running of his several establishments at their full capacity, and, judging by present prospects, their enlargement or the building of additional plants is only a matter of time.

Few men in Wells County stand higher m the esteem of their fellow citizens than Mr. Buck and none have better records for energy, honesty and sterling integrity. He is a man of actions rather than words, attends strictly to his own affairs, at the same time being not unmindful of the duty which every citizen owes to the public. He is essentially a business man and as such ranks with the most enterprising and progressive of his contemporaries, deserving of great credit for what he has done for this city in the way of giving employment to labor and providing a good market for the farmers with timber to dispose of. Mr. Buck supports the Republican party, but aside from voting for the regular nominees takes little interest in political matters, having no ambition to gratify in the way of public distinction or official honors. He owns a beautiful and attractive home on the corner of Wabash and Market streets, where he welcomes and entertains his friends with a genuine hospitality.

Mr. Buck was married in 1880 to Miss Caroline Pugh, of Alexandria, Madison county, this state, a union blessed with three children: Roland C., the eldest, was born on the 20th day of June, 1881, served with Company M, Twenty-eighth Regiment United States Infantry, in the Philippines, and was shot and killed from ambush by native robbers on July 13, 1902; Clyde, the second of the family, was born December 7, 1883; Alline, the youngest, is a student in the Bluffton high school. Mrs. Buck is a member of the Methodist church and well known in the best social circles of the city. While not identified with any religious organization himself, Mr. Buck believes in the church as a great moral force among men and is liberal in his contributions to its support.