James Bayliss Buck Farmstead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the James Bayliss Buck Farmstead in Falls County. Pull over if you can, because this one layers up like a good quilt. It starts in Tennessee and ends up meaning something.

Let me walk you through it. James Bayliss Buck came into this world in 1875, the fourth of seven children born to Catherine Patience Bayliss and James Mason Buck, on the family tobacco farm near Clarksville, Tennessee. Fourth of seven.

Right in the middle of a big, busy family. In 1879, the Buck family made their move to Upshur County, Texas, and then in 1885, James Mason Buck purchased a farm near Fate, out in Rockwall County. The family was putting down roots, but they weren't quite done moving yet.

Now, the year 1901 brought something worth marking. The brand new Travis Methodist Church held its very first wedding, and the man performing the ceremony was Reverend John W. Bergin, who would later go on to become President of Southwestern University.

And the two people he united that day were James Bayliss Buck and Lurah Dorinda Whiteside, born in 1878. Two daughters followed, Reba Cleo and Vita Lona, both born in Fate. Life was good out in Rockwall County, but James Bayliss Buck had a sharp eye for opportunity.

Falls County was offering economical land prices, and in 1904 he purchased acreage near Travis, Texas. The family made the move to Travis in 1908. Then, working alongside John Franklin Cooley, who was Lurah's brother-in-law, Buck got to building.

By 1909 they had completed the farmhouse, the barn, the smokehouse, the outhouse, a field dwelling, and two water wells. That is a full complement of a working farm, and they did it together. Now here is where the story gets interesting in the details.

James Bayliss Buck didn't just throw up four walls and call it done. He designed his Travis farmhouse after his father's home in Fate, following what's called the vernacular architectural tradition. The result is what you'd describe as the gable front and wing configuration of the folk Victorian style, balloon framed, with a mix of Queen Anne and Greek Revival influences woven right into it.

A man honoring where he came from in the very timbers of the home he built. In 1920, their daughter Reba Cleo Buck, born in 1902, married their immediate neighbor, Hubert Thedford Johnson, also born in 1902. And those two, Hubert and Reba, would go on to build something remarkable of their own.

In 1933, Hubert Johnson became administrator of the Waco Methodist Orphanage, and under his and Reba's care, that institution grew into a nationally recognized child care institution. In 1948, Hubert Johnson purchased the Buck Farm. So the farm stayed in family hands, one generation to the next, connected by land and by marriage and by the kind of steady, purposeful living that doesn't make headlines but makes communities.

James Bayliss Buck was born in 1875 and lived until 1959. Lurah Dorinda Whiteside Buck, born in 1878, also passed in 1959. The marker says the James Bayliss Buck Farmstead is the best preserved example of the initial farming settlement that once supported the Travis community.

That's what preservation means, not just keeping a building standing, but keeping a whole way of life readable. You drive past it today and the story is still there in the gables, in the barn, in those two hand-dug wells. A Tennessee boy built something that lasted.

What the marker says

James Bayliss Buck (1875-1959), the fourth of seven children to Catherine Patience Bayliss and James Mason Buck, was born on the family tobacco farm near Clarksville, Tennessee. The Buck family moved to Upshur County, Texas, in 1879 and in 1885, James Mason Buck purchased a farm near Fate, Rockwall County, Texas. In 1901, Rev. John W. Bergin, later Southwestern University President, performed the first wedding in the new Travis Methodist Church uniting James Bayliss Buck and Lurah Dorinda Whiteside (1878-1959). Their daughters Reba Cleo and Vita Lona were born in Fate. Economical land prices in Falls County prompted James Bayliss Buck to purchase acreage near Travis, Texas, in 1904 and move his family to Travis in 1908. James Bayliss Buck and John Franklin Cooley, Lurah's brother-in-law, completed the farmhouse, barn, smokehouse, outhouse, field dwelling and two water wells in 1909. Buck followed the vernacular architectural tradition and designed his Travis farm residence after his father's home in Fate. Described as the gable front and wing configuration of the folk Victorian style, the Buck Farmhouse is balloon framed and exhibits a mix of Queen Anne and Greek Revival influences. In 1920, Reba Cleo Buck (1902-1993) married immediate neighbor Hubert Thedford Johnson (1902-1988). In 1933, Hubert Johnson became administrator of the Waco Methodist Orphanage where he and Reba developed a nationally-recognized child care institution. Johnson purchased the Buck Farm in 1948. The James Bayliss Buck Farmstead is the best preserved example of the initial farming settlement that once supported the Travis community. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2015