Background
Buckley was born January 22, 1815 in Surry County, North Carolina, but had moved to Georgia by 1828 where he began working as a store clerk.
Buckley was born January 22, 1815 in Surry County, North Carolina, but had moved to Georgia by 1828 where he began working as a store clerk.
In 1834 in Columbus, Buckley opened a store of his own, which closed after the Panic of 1837. After losing everything, he moved to Houston in the Republic of Texas, where he was a clerk in the State Department. While Buckley worked there, he was tutored in law by Attorney General John Birdsall, which allowed Buckley to be admitted to the bar in November 1839.
Government.
James Pinckney Henderson appointed him a District Judge in 1847, but Buckley resigned in 1854 in order to resume private practice. Buckley was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives from Richmond in 1857. He represented Austin and Fort Bend counties in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Legislatures.
On November 4, 1861, at the beginning of the Regular Session of the Ninth Legislature, Buckley was elected Speaker and served until he apparently resigned on December 7, 1861.
After Buckley’s successor, Nicholas Henry Darnell resigned sometime in 1862, Buckley was elected to the vacant office of Speaker for the First Called Session that convened on February 2, 1863, defeating Representatives Robert Turner Flewellen and John Smith, 54 votes to 5 and 1, respectively.
Buckley was married twice, the first time in 1840. Buckley drowned in the Brazos River near Columbia, Texas on December 19, 1865.