James Buckbee was born in Hardy County, (W)Va. on July 13, 1844 according to his Civil War pension file. (His parents married in 1845 so his birth year could be 1846.) He was the oldest child of John Buckbee and Elsie Conley*/ George*. James' sister stated in an affidavit that the mother's family surname "Conley" had been replaced with "George" when the family came to the United States. The veracity of this statement is not known.

The eight siblings of James Buckbee were Mary Margaret, Reuben, Benjamin F., John E.D.**, George S., William Perry, Flora Jane and Elizabeth Ann. Additional information about them is found in declarations in the pension file.

After the Civil War, John Buckbee moved with his wife and younger children to the state of Kansas. John Buckbee had served during the war with his son, James, in Company "K" of the 9th W.Va. Infantry.

On May 9, 1864, James Buckbee sustained a gunshot wound to the knee at the Battle Of Cloyd's Mountain. He was captured by the Rebels and was imprisoned at Andersonville. After his release, he survived the explosion of the Sultana and was mustered out at Camp Chase, Ohio on June 28, 1865.

The first wife of James Buckbee was Isabelle "Jennie" Neff, widow of Joseph Neff. They had two daughters, one of whom died at a young age and the other, Sarah. Isabelle died on October 20, 1874 in Wirt County, W.Va......The older of Isabelle's daughters from her first marriage was Phoebe Susanna Neff.

In 1879 or 1880, widower James Buckbee left his daughter, Sarah, in West Virginia and moved to Rice County, Kansas where his parents were residing. From there he went to Colorado and then Arkansas. On April 13, 1883, in Doddsville, Arkansas, he married Phoebe Catherine (Taylor)*** Baldridge, widow of Isaac Baldridge. They settled in Oregon and in 1898, they had three living sons: John Edward, born July 7, 1879; Charles Lorenzo, born Oct 22, 1891; William David, born August 23, 1894. John Edward was dead by 1928. Two other children died before they were grown.

In the 1880 Census, Reedy District, Roane County, W. Va., Sarah Buckbee, James' daughter from his marriage to Isabelle (Alderman) Neff, was living with her half sister, Phoebe Susanna Neff, the wife of Joseph Anderson Butcher, Jr.

Sarah Buckbee married Isaac Chancey in Roane County, W.Va. on April 24, 1886. Their two children were Anna Florence Chancey, b April 30, 1887 and Calvin Fisher Chancey, b January 10, 1889. Sarah died on May 12, 1897 and is buried at Stony Point (Roach) Cemetery in Roane County.

In August 1911, James Buckbee was residing in Los Angeles California but when he died on January 31, 1922, he was in Salem, Oregon. His wife, Phoebe, died on December 27, 1925.
____________________

Census records for his year of birth vary mostly between 1846-1847.
____________________

Pension file: 5'4"; light complexion; blue eyes; light colored hair; farmer

Source 1: "On The Way Home: West Virginia Soldiers on the Sultana"; By Linda Cunningham Fluharty, Library of Congress Number 2004095340
Source 2: Civil War Records
Additional Misc. Sources
____________________
The Sultana was a Mississippi River steamboat whose destruction in an explosion on April 27, 1865 remains the greatest maritime disaster in the United States history. It killed an estimated 1700-1800 out of 2300 people. It is reported that 1,978 Confederate released Union prisoners were on board returning home from the end of the Civil War.

* See F.A.G.#26755559-Jacob George Conley (s/o James George and Elizabeth Iman)
**John E. D. (middle initial was D)
***James' second wife, Phoebe Catherine- maiden name was Young, not Taylor.