Frederick Page Buck (b. 1831 - d. 1890-1895) & Sarah Rue Buck (b. 1832 - d. 1890 -1895)

Frederick P. Buck was born in 1831. The middle initial "P" stood for "Page," which was perhaps his mother's maiden name. His wife Sarah R. Buck was born in the year 1832 and her middle initial "R" stood for "Rue," which was her maiden name. Mr. Buck and Ms. Rue were married at First Presbyterian Church of Kensington on July 3rd, 1854. It is unclear when the Bucks joined the church, but there were early Buck families associated with the church and some of them may have been his relatives.

The earliest entry for the Buck surname in the "roll of members" of the church was 1847, when one Dorcas Buck was enrolled. There were earlier Buck families associated with the church, as there were several marriages and baptisms in the 1840's too! Perhaps Frederick Buck became associated with the church through one of these individuals, or through his wife's family who appear to have lived in the area even longer then the Bucks, or at least they are more easily recognizable in the records that exist since their name as not as common as Buck. Both Frederick and Sarah were born in Pennsylvania and together they had at least one daughter, Clara Rue Buck, who was born in Philadelphia on March 10th, 1856 and was baptized on April 22nd, 1868 when she was 12 years old. She was listed on the Roll of Members on March 29th, 1874.

Frederick P. Buck in the 1880 Census and City Directory was living at 1014 Marlborough Street. He must have attained an esteemed level of living, as he appears in the Boyd's Blue Book for Philadelphia in the early 1880's. The Boyd's Blue book was the precursor to the Social Register and listed the wealthy and prominent members of the Philadelphia community. Boyd's Blue book also had Buck living at 1014 Marlborough Street, along with his wife Sarah R. Buck. Also listed in Boyd's Blue book, as living with the Bucks is Mr. & Mrs. George Petry. Mrs. Petry was the daughter of the Bucks, Clara Rue Buck Petry. Their daughter Clara had married Mr. George Petry on September 15th, 1881 at First Presbyterian Church of Kensington. There is a Frederick Buck Petry who became a member of the church in 1903, which would seem to be the son of Clara Rue Buck and George Petry.

There was also a Mrs. Josephine Galloway living at the Buck's home in 1880. Josephine Galloway appears to have been the divorced sister of Mrs. Buck. Josephine Rue Galloway was listed as being divorced with one child, a girl named Almeda Galloway. Josephine was born in 1830, in Pennsylvania, and her daughter was born in 1853, also in Pennsylvania. Almeda was working as a music teacher. Almeda's father (Josephine's husband) was born in Delaware. Josephine Galloway didn't work, she was keeping house.

Mr. Frederick P. Buck in the Federal Census of 1880 was working as a clerk in an insurance business. His office was in Center City, at 921 Chestnut Street, but he maintained his home in Fishtown, on Marlborough Street. The company that he worked for was Penn Mutual Life Insurance. He worked for them for about twenty years or more, between the years 1870 and 1890. Earlier in life Buck worked at various jobs. As early as 1857 he is identified as a pattern maker and living on Marlborough above Queen Street (Richmond). Later, in 1860, he was listed as a machinist with the address of 1014 Marlborough, which would be his final home. His wife Sarah was keeping house at the time of the 1880 Census and does not appear to have ever worked outside her home.

Mr. William Rue, Sarah Buck's father, was living with the Bucks on Marlborough Street in the 1880 Census and is listed first in the household. Both William Rue and Frederick P. Buck were living at this Marlborough Street address since 1860 at least, if not longer. It is quite possible that the Bucks were paying Mr. Rue respect and listed him first, or it could be that Mr. Buck was living at his father-in-laws house.

Mr. Rue was listed as a Lawyer in the 1880 census, but the city directory states "sawyer." Lawyer must be wrong as in a number of earlier city directories Rue was listed being a steam sawyer. As early as the 1830 City Directory Rue was listed in the profession of steam sawing, with occasionally being listed as an engineer. His address in 1840 was Marlborough above Queen, which was the same as Bucks in 1857. After consolidation of the County into the City of Philadelphia in 1854, the street addressing system became more unified. Their Marlborough Street address became 54 Marlborough, and then still later when further changes in the addressing system took place sometime in the late 1850's, their address became the one where they would live out their lives, 1014 Marlborough. By the 1861 City Directory, Bucks father-in-law William Rue, is listed as a gentleman, which usually meant that a person was either retired, or gained enough wealth to live one without working. Rue was born in Pennsylvania around 1804. Both of his parents were born in America. By 1885, William Rue stopped being listed in the city directories, which meant he probably died, as he would have been over 80 years old.

One odd entry for the year 1859 is for one Frederick D. Buck, shoe store, 162 Richmond, home at 1014 Marlborough. Since the very next year there is not a Frederick D. Buck listed, but Frederick P. Buck, at the same Marlborough address, it would appear that the middle initial "D" is wrong, and that it should have been a "P", and that also, Frederick may have worked at a local shoe store the year before he went into becoming a machinist. It appears that he kicked around from several different skilled worker jobs, before finally going into the insurance business for good by 1870 and becoming prominent enough in the insurance business to be listed in the Boyd's Blue Book of prominent Philadelphians.

Frederick P. Buck was active in the group of members of First Presbyterian Church of Kensington that started the mission that would become Beacon Presbyterian Church. John Urwiler, the lithographer, and probable relative of stainglass honoree George Urwiler, was with this group, as was William Seddinger, another honoree of the stainglass windows. They purchased a lot from the old Norris family's Sepviva Estate for the purpose of the building of their mission on Cumberland Street.

By 1895, Frederick P. Buck had stopped being listed in the city directories, which usually meant one of two things. He either died sometime between 1890 and 1895, or that he moved away. Buck would have only been in his early 60's in the 1890's, so if he died he was not that old. In the 1895 City Directories there are no Buck families listed at the Marlborough Street address. It would appear that Mr. & Mrs. Buck perhaps both died between 1890 and 1895.