William Buck was born in 1790 in the State of Virginia. He had little opportunity for a formal education, but he had a sharp mind and used every opportunity to read broadly. The Lord saved him early in life, and over time it became apparent that the Lord was calling him into His ministry. At the age of twenty-five Brother Buck was ordained, and began preaching Christ in his native state. Then in 1820 he moved to Kentucky, settling in Union County where he pastored a small congregation, starting a second and then a third – amongst a population of mostly Roman Catholics. In 1836 he moved to Louisville to become pastor of the First Baptist Church. In two years time the congregation grew to over five hundred.
At that point, with the blessing of his church, Pastor Buck became a traveling evangelist, encouraging small congregations to both support their pastors and to take on the work of world-wide missions. His diary is rich with the stories of his extended travels. In 1841 he added the editorship of the Baptist Banner and Western Pioneer to his ministry. He edited this paper for nine years before moving to Alabama. Following the war, he moved even further on – to Waco, Texas, where he lived out the rest of his life.
William Buck died on this day in 1872. Living in Virginia, Kentucky and then in Waco, Brother Buck must have known some of the most important Baptists of day, including B.H. Carroll and his brother J.M., J. R. Graves and J.M. Pendleton. But today, those men are not sitting around a campfire in Heaven, sharing their war-stories and their struggles on earth. Today they are rejoicing in the glories of their mutual Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.