John A. Buffington, Planted by Space Aliens?
By Sharon Glaser Hillis
I first started working on the Buffington family genealogy seriously in the 1980’s
while living in a logging camp in Whale Pass, Alaska. There were no roads to drive to a
town, and all research was done the old fashioned way by writing a letter, and sending it
in the U.S. Mail. With the help of a researcher I had hired in Knox County, Illinois, I was
able to connect with another Buffington descendent named Celia Olson. She was also
interested in genealogy and we exchanged information and some photos of the
Buffington family. Celia had even written a manuscript about the Buffingtons, which she
graciously shared with me.
John A. Buffington has been a brick wall (hard to research) for some time.
John’s Mother?
I had believed that he was the son of Hannah Buffington until John E. Buffington
pointed out to me that Hannah who was born in 1785 would have been 52 years old if she
had given birth to John A. in 1833, possible, but not probable. Perhaps she was his
grandmother. On the other hand, she lived to an advanced age, so maybe she also passed
through menopause late in her life. Whatever relationship they had, it was close.
Hannah was born March 23, 1785 in Hanover, Green Brier Co., Virginia 1(now
part of West Virginia). Hannah was about a month shy of 105 years old when she died
February 21,1890 in Orange Township, Knox Co., Illinois. One of the arrangements at
her funeral was a bouquet of calla lilies and hyacinth.2 Her death notice refers to her as
“Mother Buffington” and states that she had been a faithful member of the M.E. church
for 60 years, and in all probability the oldest person in Knox Co. She is buried in Haynes
Cemetery in Knox County, Illinois. I tried to get records from the Orange Chapel
church, but all they could find were references from the Gilson Circuit Book3 stating she
(a widow) was accepted as a probationary member on April 2, 1865. Hannah Buffington
has not been found in the 1850 census, nor have I been able to locate any marriage record
or maiden name for her.
On December 9 of that same year, John’s wife, Cintha nee Lewis Buffington, died
and was buried next to Hannah. The gravestones are also very similar in style perhaps
indicating that the same person chose them. We have a photo of funerary arrangements
for Cintha’s burial made of unthrashed stalks of wheat in a fan shape, and a cross made of
flowers.
John’s Sister
John apparently had one sister, Mary Jane, who married first Samuel Myrick
December 3, 1846 in Dearborn County, Indiana (Other source records say Francis
Myrick, and I don’t know if this is the same person.). There is a boy named George
Myrick who may have been her son. Samuel died September 13, 1869, and is buried in
Haynes Cemetery. Mary Jane remarried two months later to Daniel Miller on November
Hannah Buffington’s Tombstone Inscription
Photo in the possession of Don & Sharon Hillis
3
Gilson Circuit Book 1861-1873. Page 37, “ April 2, 1865--Hannah Buffington--W--Orange-H. Rowlz--In
full Aug. 6, 1865”
1
2
11, 1869. Daniel had secured a legal separation from his first wife, Mary Humphrey.
Mary Jane was 41 years old and her new husband was 25 years of age. One has to
wonder at this arrangement. Did Mary Jane receive an inheritance or was she just
attracted to a younger man? They lived together for 19 years, then divorced about 1888.
Daniel graduated from Law school a year later in 1889, and then opened a law office in
Knoxville. Daniel remarried a third time in 1890 to Mrs. Nancy (Adkins) Tucker. In the
book, “Knox County History” the biography about Daniel Miller states he married “Mary
Jane Myrick, sister of John Buffington.”4
Mary Jane died December 13, 1901, and is buried in Haynes Cemetery alongside
Cintha and Hannah Buffington. She went back to her first married name, or perhaps
George didn’t want to be reminded of the Miller part of his life, and her tombstone reads
Mary Jane Myrick, although the 1900 census names her Jane Miller. Census records are
renown for inconsistencies and errors. The census information recorded about the
Buffingtons is no exception. In 1850 Jane is living with Samuel Myrick in Dearborn Co.,
Indiana, by 1860 she had moved to Knox Co., Illinois and is listed with Francis Merrick,
George, who is 2 years old, and Hannah, age 67. 1870 shows her in the household of
Daniel Miller, as well as Daniel’s son Andrew, Hannah Buffington, and George W.
Myrick. In 1880 the census listed the relationship of the people living in the household to
the head of the house. Daniel is recorded as head, Mary J. is listed as wife, Andrew as
son, Hannah Buffington as Mother-in-law, and George Myrick as “other”. The 1890
census was destroyed by fire. The 1900 census shows George Myrick, widowed, with
daughters Jennie and Ollie, and Jane Miller listed as stepmother. The census also says
she had given birth to 0 children. This is confusing. I wonder if Francis Myrick is
George’s father? Mary Jane may have been living with Francis, but she may not have
been the natural mother of George. Since Samuel died in 18695 Mary Jane would have
still been married to Samuel while living with Francis if they are different men. We have
not found a Francis in other census records to indicate he is a different man from Samuel.
John
Now, to get back to the subject of this story. Our John A. Buffington was born on
August 12, 1833, in Indiana, probably Dearborn County, where there were lots of other
Buffingtons.
We have a sepia-toned photograph of him, unsmiling, perhaps taken about the
1880’s, that shows him clean shaven except for a bushy beard about four inches long that
covers all the area below his mouth. His dark brown hair is 3-4 inches long on the top
and sides above the sideburns and is parted on the left side and combed upward and
backward which may have made him appear a little taller than he actually was. His hair
and beard are streaked with gray, and his hair is wavy. He has a thin straight nose, and
thin lips, down-turned at the edges. His eyes are light colored, perhaps blue, green, or
hazel. He is wearing a shirt that was white or light colored with a dark check pattern
similar to gingham under his jacket.
It looks like there is a vertical scar on
his left earlobe, and that his ear lobe attaches
directly to his head without the usual
4
5
“History of Knox County Illinois, Its Cities, Towns and People, Volume II, pub. 1912, pg. 69-71.
Samuel M. Myrick’s Tombstone Inscription, 1826-Sept. 13, 1869.
projection down then up. (His great-grandson, Don Hillis, also has this type of ear lobe,
including a scar on his left ear, a memento of a car accident.)
The first record of John is in the 1850 Indiana census where he is listed in
Laughery Township, Dearborn County living with the family of Elisha Huffman and his
wife, Rachel. John is listed as 18 years old and a farmer. Rachel was the daughter of
John Buffington from Pennsylvania and his wife Nancy Cheek Buffington. It would sure
be nice to know how John and Rachel were related. Although Rachel came from a large
family there is no information to suggest they are siblings. There were three Buffington
brothers (John, Jeheil, and Jonathan) who moved to Dearborn Co. from Pennsylvania in
the late 1790’s with their widowed mother, Mahala, who had married David Butler, and
their lineage has been fairly well documented with no known connection to our John.
John was married to his first wife, Cintha Lewis, daughter of Samuel and Nancy
(maiden name unknown) Lewis on October 23, 1853, in Knox County, Illinois, by Peter
Godfrey, Justice of the Peace. Cintha is listed as Catherine in the marriage index, but the
record clearly shows her name as Cynthia. They had eleven children of whom all
reached maturity:
1. George W. Buffington
b: September 15, 1854 in Knox Co., IL
d: June 28, 1926 Knoxville, Knox Co., IL, Burial: 1926 Haynes Cemetery, Delong,
Knox Co, IL ,+Jennie Jane Lanigar Linegar, b: March 01, 1870
m: March 11, 1888 in
Knoxville, Knox Co., IL
d: April 22, 1892 IL Burial: April 1892 Haynes Cemetery,
Knox Co, IL
*2nd Wife of George W. Buffington: +Lucinda J. Wills
b: June 1846 in OH m:
December 14, 1893 in Fulton Co., IL, d: July 21, 1918 Steuben Twp., Marshall Co., IL
2. Noah Uriah Buffington b: March 22, 1856 in Knoxville, Knox Co., IL,
d: December 28, 1943 Buelah, Pueblo Co., CO, Burial: January 05, 1944 Mt. View
Cemetery, Pueblo, CO,
+May Mary Manley b: July 17, 1866 in Knoxville, Knox Co., IL m: April 08, 1898 in
Knoxville, Knox Co., IL
Burial: September 1953 Pueblo, CO. d: September 25,
1953 Buelah, Pueblo Co., CO
3. Rachael Ann Buffington b: July 06, 1857 in Abingdon, Orange Twp., Knox Co., IL
d: March 01, 1950 Galesburg, Knox Co., IL, Burial: March 03, 1950 Knoxville City
Cemetery, Knox Co., IL
+Charles Brewer Swigert
b: February 19, 1849 in Tiffin, Seneca Co., OH
m:
February 08, 1883 in Knoxville, Knox Co., IL d: February 17, 1932, Abingdon, Knox
Co., IL, Burial: 1932 Knoxville City Cemetery, Knox Co., IL
4. Sarah S. Buffington
b: January 16, 1859 in IL
d: June 26, 1902 WA
Burial: June 28, 1902 Old Sunnyside Cemetery, Sunnyside, Yakima Co., WA
+Marion T. Wyman b: Abt. 1859 in IL
m: March 08, 1885 in Knox Co., IL
d: Bef. 1895
*2nd Husband of Sarah S. Buffington: +William Cooper Kennedy b: October 29, 1866
in New London, Henry Co., IA
m: Abt. 1895 d: March 14, 1943 Sunnyside,
Yakima Co., WA, Burial: March 17, 1943 Old Sunnyside Cemetery, Sunnyside, Yakima
Co., WA
5. David Buffington b: March 30, 1861 in IL
d: January 02, 1942 KS, Burial:
January 04, 1942 Park Cemetery, Sunnydale, Kansas.
+Jennie F. Virginia? Fernaugh
b: Abt. 1872 in IL,
m: February 21, 1893 in
McDonough Co., IL
6. Cornelia Jane Jennie Buffington
b: August 07, 1862 in Knox Co., IL,
d: May 30, 1929 Alta Johnson's home near Mullen, NE, Burial: 1929 Fairfield Cemetery,
Clay Co., NE
+John G. White
b: May 28, 1860 in OH
m: Aft. 1880 Burial: 1931 Fairfield
Cemetery, Clay Co., NE
d: March 28, 1931
7. Hannah Wilhimina Buffington b: February 06, 1866 in Abingdon, Knox Co., IL,
d: September 19, 1937 Pendleton, Umatilla, OR, Burial: September 22, 1937 Olney
Cemetery, Pendleton, Umatilla Co., OR,
+Robert Eldon Fletcher
b: January 1860 in Boston, Suffolk, MA
m: Abt. 1901
in Pueblo, Pueblo Co., CO d: November 06, 1937 Pendleton, Umat Co., OR, Burial:
1937 Olney Cemetery, Pendleton, Umatilla Co., OR,
8. Elizabeth F. Lizzie Buffington b: July 31, 1869 in Abingdon, Orange Twp., Knox
Co., IL , d: February 19, 1905 Knox Co., IL, Burial: February 1905 Haynes Cemetery,
Knox Co., IL
+John Andrew Schideman b: March 05, 1865 in Fulton Co., PA m: July 03, 1889 in
Knox Co., IL, d: May 21, 1926 Knox Co., IL, Burial: May 24, 1926 Haynes Cemetery,
Knox Co., IL
9. John A. Buffington, Jr. b: October 31, 1871 in DeLong, IL
d: August 30,
1916 near Smith Center, KS in a cave in,
Burial: 1916 Smith Center, KS
+Mary Lee
m: March 1895 in Knox Co., IL
*2nd Wife of John A. Buffington, Jr. +Mattie Ethel Kendall
b: August 28, 1889 in
McCook, NE m: March 20, 1906 in LaJunta, CO
d: July 11, 1962
10. May Synthia Buffington
b: May 26, 1874 in Galesburg, Knox Co. IL
d: April 17, 1935 Cedaredge, Delta Co. Colorado, Burial: 1935 Cedaredge Cemetery,
Cedaredge, CO
+Mat Royal Hillis
b: August 29, 1875 in Howard, Elk Co. KS m: March 02, 1902 in
Cory, Delta Co., CO d: June 02, 1950 in Delta, Delta Co. Colorado, Burial: 1950
Cedaredge Cemetery, Cedaredge, CO
11. Ernest Everet Buffington
b: July 22, 1877 in Galesburg, Knox Co., IL
d: August 31, 1935 Portland, Multnomah Co. OR, Burial: September 04, 1935 Rose City
Cemetery, Portland, OR.
+ Ethel M.
b: Abt. 1887 in IL
m: Abt. 1910
d: Aft. August 31, 1935
The 1860 census finds John living in Cedar Township in Knox Co., Illinois, along
with his wife Synthia, Go.(George), Noe, and Sarah. In 1865 he is listed on the Cedar
Township Tax list as having an assessed valuation of $115. A listing of the 1870 property
owners of Cedar Township shows John A. Buffington. A plat map of an unknown date
shows that John A. owned 180 acres in Section 25 along the border with Orange
Township. The majority of the land was open, with a little forest along the property line.
In 1875 his evaluation increased to $465. Either he owned more land, or the land was
reevaluated at a much higher rate. The 1885 tax list in Orange Twp. shows John having
an assessed valuation of $825, plus one dog. He must have sold some of the land before
1890, because his valuation at that time is only $573.
Another plat map (unknown date) shows John owns 240 adjacent acres in
Sections 21 and 22 of Orange Township.
The 1850 census states that John had attended school within the year, and other
census records are divided about whether he could read and write. As of this date, I have
not located a document with his signature, only a mark. There are still land records to
obtain, and perhaps they might shed light on the matter.
There are several John Buffington’s listed in an index who enlisted in the Civil
War, but without obtaining the actual record, one can not be sure which one might be our
John. A cursory glance at the list does not indicate that any of them are our John.
As stated earlier John’s wife died in 1890. Sometime before 1900 he must have
sold his farm and moved into town and bought a house and several other lots on Conger
Street. The 1900 census, enumerated on June 1st, shows him, at age 69, living in
Galesburg, Illinois, occupation retired farmer. Also living in his household is Dora
White, age 32, whose occupation is servant.
A month later on July 11th, John and Dora traveled west about 90 miles to Quincy,
which is in Adams County, and were married by a Justice of the Peace. The witnesses
were Jos. C. Veihl and his wife, Gertrude Veihl. Joseph is listed as a bartender in the
1910 census. It is interesting to speculate about this occurrence. Was Dora originally
from Adams County, or did John and Dora elope, stop at a bar, and ask the first person
they talked with to witness their marriage? In 1900 a 90-mile trip was quite an
undertaking for a 69 year old man. I was delighted to discover a second marriage record
for John, because the application had a lengthy questionnaire for the prospective bride
and groom. I guess the county hired a lazy clerk, because not one of the questions was
answered on John and Dora’s application. Maybe the clerk thought at his age it didn’t
matter. Both Dora and John gave their addresses as Quincy, Illinois, even though they
lived in Knox County before and after the marriage.
At any rate, John must have been quite infatuated with Dora and did his best to
please her. It appears that John’s children were less than satisfied with the match because
his son, Noah Buffington, filed a suit in the county court a year later in July 1901, stating
that John “is insane and incapable of managing and caring for his own estate and is a
spendthrift who is alleged as to spend, waste, or lesson his estate as to expose himself or
his family to want or suffering or want will become a charge on the county.” The trial
went on for two days with many people called to testify. I was able to get copies of the
court documents. Unfortunately, no transcript of the actual testimony exists. The end
result was that the jury found in favor of John Buffington. If they had found him insane,
he would have been committed to the state sanitarium for the duration of his life.
Della Evans gave me a copy of a newspaper article her mother had in a scrapbook
that summarized the trial:
"Victory for Buffington -- John Buffington will continue to have charge of his own
business and property and to dispose of it as he sees fit. This was the decision of the jury,
reached after being over six hours. At first the jury were not all agreed that Buffington
was a fit man to have charge of property. One man on the jury felt that a conservator
should be appointed but he finally gave in.
The verdict was expected even by the attorneys for the petitioners, on the witness stand
Buffington showed that his memory is not so poor and that he is not so intellectually
affected as represented. Until he went upon the stand himself this case against him
appeared strong. The jury evidently did not feel called to pass upon the indications of
Mr. Buffington, but simply upon the question of his capacity to manage his own affairs.
It is now believed that he will proceed to secure the interest of his present wife in the
property."6
It was this article that lead to the discovery that John A. had married a second
time. Dora disappears and no further record can be found for her. John died April 30,
1908, in Abingdon, and his death certificate lists him as a widower. No death record or
divorce record has been found for Dora. There is an interesting tidbit which Della found
while researching John’s daughter, Sarah. Sarah married 2nd William Cooper Kennedy,
then she died at the age of 41 years. William remarried a woman named Dora B.
(surname unknown). The 1910 census records state she is 52 years old, but the 1930
census says she is 54 years old. In 20 years she only aged 2 years—amazing. There is no
proof that confirms that this Dora is the same Dora that married John A. Buffington. The
ages on the census records are too unreliable to be of use in this instance. I don’t think
that John’s children ever mentioned Dora. Celia Olson, who had done a lot of research
didn’t know about her. (Celia who passed away in Nov. 2003, was a great-granddaughter
of John A., and grew up in the area.)
John suffered a stroke in March 1908, and lingered for over a month before
finally succumbing to death on April 30th in Abingdon. He was buried in Haynes
Cemetery, but there is no marker for his grave. He went from a total worth in 1870 of
about $44007, to a value of $1500 real estate, and $50 personal estate when he died in
1908.8 John owned 5 lots in L.E. Conger’s subdivision. Some must have had houses and
tenants because he received rent money as income.6
His horse and harness were sold to son, George Buffington, for a price of $35.00.
His stove, dresser, etc. sold for a total of $18.00. He had many creditors, and by the time
his lots were auctioned at a price of $1210, and outstanding debts paid, each of his eleven
children received the amount of $16.45 as inheritance. The People’s Trust and Savings
Bank were the administrators of John’s estate.
Some of the children had spread far and wide, and didn’t keep in touch very
much. John’s daughter, Hannah Fletcher, finally contacted the Knox County Court in
19299 to claim her share of the estate, 21 years after the death of her father.
Della Evans, a descendant of John, did extensive research on the descendents of
John A. Buffington in 2003 by studying census records, marriage records, other records,
and traveling to cemeteries. She is quite proficient with the Internet and her computer,
plus she had access to on-line subscriptions like Ancestry.com. But even this didn’t shed
any light on the ancestry of John A. Buffington. She did find a web page about the
6
Newspaper clipping is not identified or dated, but was probably printed in Knox Co., IL around the end of
July 1901.
7
1870 Census lists his real estate value at $3600, and personal estate value at $800.
8
Estate of John A. Buffington Court Papers
9
Letter written to Knox Co. Court by Hannah Fletcher Dec. 4, 1929 from Los Angeles, California.
children of John A. Buffington, but the woman had connected them to the wrong
Buffington line. Della has hopefully convinced her to change her web page before the
disinformation is further propagated by some unknowing soul.
One theory of the ancestry of John A. is that he is a descendent of David
Buffington who received the Buffington Island Land grant. Buffington Island is located
in the Ohio River between the states of Ohio and West Virginia, about halfway between
Parkersburg and Huntington. Celia Olson (a granddaughter of Rachel (Buffington)
Swigert through Maude (Swigert) Anderson) stated in one of her letters to me that she
had obtained a copy of this land grant from the state of West Virginia through a
department in Charleston. However, I don’t find a copy in my Buffington file. Rachel
Buffington Bonnel’s obituary stated she was a granddaughter of the David Buffington of
Buffington Island. Her death certificate states she was the daughter of David Buffington
and Hannah Morrow. But I have not been able to tie her in with our unknown Hannah.
A biography for William Buffington (born 1773 in Hampshire Co., Virginia, son
of Joel Buffington and Elizabeth Logan) states “In 1784 Joel Buffington inherited lands
in Virginia along the Ohio River from his father, William, and in 1787 he purchased and
settled on Buffington Island in Meigs County.”10 Meigs County is in Ohio along the river
where the Buffington Island State Monument is located.11 More research is needed about
Buffington Island to verify which Buffington actually owned it.
Another possibility is that Hannah never married and Buffington is her maiden
name. But I have yet to find a Buffington family with an unaccounted Hannah that fits
into her time frame.
We have some unidentified photos that were originally the possessions of May
Hillis that are probably of Buffington kin. Della Evans (a granddaughter of May
(Buffington) Hillis through Alma Marie (Hillis) Cuthbert) and I have been able to
identify several former “unknowns” through contact with various descendents.
John A. may not be smiling in his photograph, but I am sure that he is looking
down at me right now and laughing about how well he has covered his tracks. In this day
and age of DNA testing, maybe we should look into an exhumation. 
I am still searching for information that will lead to the discovery of who John A.
Buffington’s parents were. Surely there is a record somewhere. But for now it seems
that he just appeared out of thin air--hence the title.
© December 2003 by Sharon Hillis, Box WWP Whale Pass, Ketchikan, AK 99950-0280
northendcabins@starband.net, 2nd Revision
10
11
Article is neither dated nor referenced as to what book from whence it came.
AAA Road Atlas, State of Ohio