Buckheart Township

Buckheart Township

This excerpt was taken from the History of Fulton County, published by Chas. C. Chapman & Co. in 1879, pages 477-478.

Buckheart is counted among the best townships of this county, although at one time much of its surface was covered with a heavy growth of timber. This township was early settled by the whites and ere long much of the timbered sections were interspersed with cabins and settlers. A large portion of the lands bearing timber, and the smaller groves, were claimed, if not occupied, while the prairie for the most part was left untouched and unsought. The prairie land was regarded as worthless for purposes of agriculture, and considered a useless waste. There were hundreds of men at that time who believed it would never be occupied. If any of the first settlers had located upon the prairie he would have been regarded as extremely visionary, if not absolutely crazy. Of those whose names appear among the early pilgrims, many removed from the township ere many years have flown; others followed from year to year, settling in other localities; others have passed to the shining shore of the Beautiful River, while many still remain in the enjoyment of the homes of their industry, endurance and enterprise, fashion and founded in the beautiful lands of Buckheart.

The surroundings of pioneer life are well calculated to test the true inwardness of the human heart, and the trials, sufferings and endurance incident to the founding and building of homes, unite them in the strongest and deepest feelings of friendship, that grows and strengthens with their years. Raven locks may bleach and whiten; full round cheeks wither and waste away; the fires of intelligence vanish from the organs of vision; the brow become rankled with care and age, and the erect form bowed with accumulating years, but the true friend of long ago will be remembered as long as life and reason endure. It is thus in our visits among the veteran pioneers of Buckheart. The memories of their early life here are recalled with pleasure.

The origin of the name of this township is very amusing and is traced back to the early history of the county. In 1851 when the township was organized it adopted the name of the election precinct that embrace this district prior to that time. Buckheart precinct was named from Buckheart Creek that runs through it, and it was christened in honor of a grove call Buckheart Grove, which it passed through. The grove received the name of Buckheart in the following manner: about 1824 John Pixley, a tall, gaunt redheaded fellow, a grave blow and something of a hunter and of whom we speak in the first chapter, shot a buck near where the Woolen Factory of Canton now stands. The deer was wounded; Pixley swore it had been shot through the heart. He followed it across the prairie to the head of what is now Buckheart Grove, where he lost track of it. Pixley used to tell the story as an instance of the wonderful tenacity of life possessed by deer, always insisting that he had unquestionably shot that buck through the heart, and that afterward he had followed it five miles and it finally escaped him. The grove where it disappeared was called Buckheart Grove in derision of the story, and a stream running through received the same name, which was also afterward extended to the township.

The first pioneers to locate in this township, then so highly prized for its beautiful timber, were Seth Hilton and Hazael Putman. The first mill was a water-mill, built on Big Creek by John Eveland and Asa Johnson in 1828. This Eveland is the same man referred to in the first chapter as being the first settler of the county. He left Waterford township and came to Buckheart a short time before this, where he died a few years afterwards. The first church organized in the township was in 1825 by the regular Baptists. There was a school-house built in the township as early as 1825 or ‘26, thus showing that the earliest pilgrims had a love for religion and a desire to educate their children. Who the first teacher was is not now known.