John Buckner

John Buckner (probably born early 1630s, died about 1695) was a Virginia planter and politician who arranged for importation of the first printing press in the Colony of Virginia. He twice represented Gloucester County in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Early and family life Probably born in England, his origins are controversial and have been the subject of numerous genealogies of varying degrees of reliability, including one by the notorious genealogical forger Gustave Anjou. Substantial amounts of forged material have been identified in some of these, as well as numerous errors. Both Berkshire and Oxfordshire of the day had substantial numbers of men with the Buckner surname.

John Buckner had immigrated to Virginia by the mid 1650s, perhaps occasionally traveling back to England for business or family reasons.

Career By February 1665, John Buckner owned property in Gloucester County, which he expanded in the next 24 years to more than 26,000 acres in the watersheds of the Rappahannock and York Rivers. and continued in that position until at least July 1693.

Gloucester County voters elected Buckner to represent them in both sessions of the House of Burgesses in 1682. At the end of the year he was one of the men to post a bond to guarantee the appearance of Robert Beverley before the General Court to face charges arising from the previous year's plant cutting riots. In 1683, he was called before Governor Thomas Culpeper and the colonial Council for "his presumption, in printing the acts of Assembly made in James Citty in November 1682, and several other papers, without lycence." Nuthead and Buckner were forbidden from printing anything further on a bond of £100 sterling, pending a decision about the permissibility of printing in the Colony. Not long after, the Council decided to absolutely forbid printing "upon any occasion whatsoever." Nuthead soon relocated to Maryland, and his wife Dinah Nuthead continued the printing business after his death. However, Virginia law continued to prevent printing until William Parks opened a branch of his Annapolis printing office in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1730.

Buckner (or his son of the same name) represented Gloucester County in the House of Burgesses again in 1693, and John Jr represented Gloucester County in 1715 and he or a relative represented York County in 1736. Buckner died before February 10, 1695/6, when an inventory of his estate in Essex County (including eight slaves) was filed, showing that he owned property in that county as well as Gloucester. However, many Gloucester County records were lost. Thomas Buckner also began serving as Petsworth parish churchwarden by October 14, 1696. John Buckner was survived by four known sons, William, Thomas, John, and Richard, all of whom would hold seats in the House of Burgesses.