Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/139

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134
BUCK.
BUCKNOR.

teacher of French in Toronto. Her literary talent is shown in the comedies and plays which she writes for her classes to perform. She writes fluently in both English and French and is an accomplished musician.


BUCK, Mrs. Mary K., author, born in Ondreor, Bohemia, 1st April, 1849. Her parents came MARY K. BUCK. to America, when she was live years old. and for several years lived in New York City, where she went to school and acquired her know ledge of the English language. From New York they removed to Traverse City, Mich., which has since been her home. From a child she was fond of books, reading eagerly whatever came to hand. English books were rare in her Bohemian home, but the little town library, of which she was an unfailing patron, was well stocked with some of the best. Early in life she developed a talent for composition, especially of an imaginative kind, which was encouraged by her teachers and friends. She is happily married, and has three children. Always interested in the advancement of women, she has in her own career demonstrated the fact that a woman can at once be a good mother, an excellent housekeeper and a successful business woman. In an exceptionally busy life she has found time to write much for publication. During the summer of 1891 she published, together with Mrs. M. E. C. Bates, a book of short sketches entitled "Along Traverse Shores." She has contributed to the "Congregationalist," the "Advance." the Chicago "Inter-Ocean." the Portland "Transcript." "Good Housekeeping" "St. Nicholas " and many other periodicals.


HELEN LEWIS BUCKNOR. BUCKNOR, Mrs. Helen Lewis, author, born in New York City, 10th October, 1838. She is of Revolutionary ancestry and New England parentage. Her maiden name was Lew is. Upon the father's side she is descended from the Lewises and Tomlinsons of Stratford. Conn. On the mother's side she is descended from the Spragues and Ketchums. of Connecticut originally, but afterward of Long Island. Her grandfather Sprague settled in early times in New York City as a merchant. Her father died when she was a child, and, as she was very delicate, it was decided that she should be brought up in the South by an uncle, the brother of her mother, who had married and settled near Natchez. Miss. Her school life was passed there. In her early girlhood she went to the Northwest as a teacher, maintaining herself until the war broke out, when she returned to her southern home and to new and sad experiences. Soon after the close of the war she was married to W. F. Bucknor, of New York City. It was her husband's misfortune to have inherited a large tract of pine lands in Florida. In 1870 he with his wife removed to that State. They were unfitted to endure the privations and discouragements of a pioneer life in that devastated country at that period, and, holding, as they did. strong Republican principles, their experiences were sometimes thrilling in the extreme. Mamable articles were published in the press from their ready pens. Mrs. Bucknor's articles of advice to Florida women, who, like herself, were making strenuous efforts to help their husbands to secure homes in that State, were market! by strength and good sense. The Toledo "Blade," the "Home Journal " and other periodicals published her articles. She is possessed of poetic talent, but excels in sharp, pithy, truthful sketches of human nature as she finds it. She is an earnest worker among the King's Daughters and is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She now lives in St. Augustine, Fla., and is a member of the Flagler Memorial Church in that city.


BUELL, Mrs. Caroline Brown, temperance worker and philanthropist, was born in Massachusetts. Her ancestry was New England and Puritan. She is a daughter of Rev. Thomas G. Brown, of