Aylette Buckner (July 21, 1806 – July 3, 1869) was Kentucky planter, lawyer and politician who served as

United States representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. He was the father of

Simon Bolivar Buckner Simon Bolivar Buckner ( ; April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914) was an American soldier, Confederate military officer, and politician. He fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War. He later fought in the Confederate State ...

, a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

general in the

United States Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded ...

, who was pardoned for his role in that insurrection and later was elected Kentucky's governor.

Early and family life

He was born in Greensburg, the county seat of then-vast

Green County, Kentucky Green County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat and only municipality is Greensburg. Green was a prohibition or dry county until 2015. History Green County was formed in 1792 from portions of Lincoln and Nels ...

to the former Elizabeth Lewis Buckner and

Richard Aylett Buckner Richard Aylett Buckner (February 5, 1784 – December 8, 1847) was a lawyer and farmer who served United States representative from Kentucky as well as Surveyor-General of Kentucky and Kentucky judge of the 18th judicial district. He may be best ...

, who also was a planter, lawyer and politician who served in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

before his son. The Buckners were an old Virginia family, and several ancestors had held legislative or other offices within the Commonwealth, including as clerks of the House of Burgesses and burgesses representing

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and other

Tidewater Virginia Tidewater is a region in the Atlantic Plains of the United States located east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line (the natural border where the tidewater meets with the Piedmont region) and north of the Deep South. The term "tidewater" can be ...

and

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

counties before the American Revolutionary War. His grandfather whom he knew as a boy, also Aylett Buckner (spelling varied in that era), had served as major in the

Fauquier County Fauquier County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History ...

militia, then in the

Virginia Line The Virginia Line was a formation within the Continental Army. The term "Virginia Line" referred to the quota of numbered infantry regiments assigned to Virginia at various times by the Continental Congress. These, together with similar contingent ...

and received land grants in Kentucky in partial compensation that military service. Shortly after Kentucky was admitted as a state, the senior Aylett Buckner moved most of his family (including this man's father Richard Aylett Buckner Sr.) across the

Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a Mountain pass, pass in the Eastern United States, eastern United States through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. At&n ...

along what was then sometimes known as the Cumberland Trace into south central Kentucky. They settled in Green County, named for a Revolutionary War general and the sixteenth county created in what had become the new state, and which would in turn be subdivided and parts incorporated into other Kentucky counties, including Hart County, Kentucky, where this man would live, practice law and represent politically. Although not as prominent (nor prolific) as the Cabell family of Virginia or the Lee family of Virginia or the Burwell family of Virginia, many consider the Buckners to have been among the

First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...

. Both branches of the Buckner family would intermarry with leading Kentucky families. His brothers included Richard Aylett Buckner Jr. (1813–1900) and Luther A. Buckner. His sister Elizabeth Robards Buckner married John Rowan Allen (1815–1877). Meanwhile, Aylette Buckner received a private education appropriate to his class. He attended the New Athens Seminary and later studied law. Complicating matters, he had a cousin Aylette Hawes Buckner (1809–1867), who was also a lawyer and slaveowner in Green County, Kentucky. Aylette Buckner married the former Emily Morehead. One of their sons,

(1823–1914) pursued a military career, first with the U.S. Army, then as a Confederate general, before becoming Kentucky's governor.

Career

He was admitted to the bar and began to practice in Greensburg, the Green County seat. Buckner was a member of the

Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...

in 1842 and 1843. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849) but was an unsuccessful candidate in 1848 for reelection to the Thirty-first Congress, a defeat attributed to his support for the anti-slavery

Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...

, a rarity among Southerners. After Congress, he moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

and continued the practice of his profession. Later, he returned to Lexington, Kentucky in 1864, where he died in 1869. He was buried at

Lexington Cemetery Lexington Cemetery is a private, non-profit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 833 W. Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky. The Lexington Cemetery was established in 1848 as a place of beauty and a public cemetery, in part to deal w ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckner, Aylette 1806 births 1869 deaths People from Greensburg, Kentucky Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves Burials at Lexington Cemetery 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly