Having carefully prepared for the practice ofmedicine and surgery,

Dr. S. Hilton Buker located in Spring Mountain in 1887 and since

tat time has continually demonstrated his ability and skill as is

manifest by the large and lucrative practice which he dotay enjoys.

He was born near Otsego, Muskingum county, Ohio, February 11,

1865, a son of Decatur and Lucy (Barnard) Buker. The family history

dates back to 1492, in which year representatives of the name removed

from Turkey to England, whence they emigrated to America about 1700.

The paternal grandfather, Israel Hilton Buker, was born in Maine,

in 1756, and enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war at

the age of eighteen years and was associated with Lafayette, by

whom he was presented with a sword. He was discharged in 1783 as

sergeant of the Third Massachusetts Regiment, his discharge papers

being signed by George Washington and now on file in the national

capital. The grandfather came to Coshocton county about 1810 and in

the early part of the nineteenth century engaged in teaching,

which profession he followed for about forty years. He died about

1856 and is buried in the cemetery at Otsego.

The father, Decatur Buker, was born near Franklin Station, Coshocton

county, September 11, 1825, and spent his early boyhood and youth

in Franklin township. He was self-educated man and for seventeen

years was engaged in teaching, most of this time being sspent in

Muskingum county. About 1845 he took up farming and stock-raising.

The last thirty years of his life, however, were devoted to the

settling of estates and other notarial business. He wa a gifted

orator and was in great demand to render campaign speeches. In

politics he was a stanch republican and held various township and

county offices. His religious faith was that of the Methodist

Protestant church. He was aman among men and was justly accorded

a place among the prominent and representative citizens of Coshocton

and Muskingum Counties, for he belonged to that class of men whose

enterprising spirit is used not alone for their own individual

good but for the promotion of public prosperity. He was revered

and honored wherever known and his death, which was occasioned by

a runaway on August 3, 1899, was deeply regretted by many friends

and acquaintences as well as by the members of his own household.

The wife and mother was born near Otsego and her people were

among the pioneer settlers of this section of the state. Her death

occurred in 1904 and her remains were buried by the side of her

husband in the cemetery at Otsego. Their family numbered six

children, namely: Mary, who became the wife of J. D. Phillips

and died at the age of twenty-four years; Charles W., who wedded

Mrs. J. Sprague, of Warsaw, and is on the homestead; Sarah, the

wife of J. D. Phillips, of Beaver City, Nebraska; Albert I., who

is a traveling salesman of Ogden, Utah; S. Hilton, of this review;

and Rose, who makes her home in Coshocton.

Dr. Buker of this review acquired his education in the district

and graded schools of Otsego and pursued a collegiate course

in Adrian, Michigan, graduating from that institution in 1884.

He was then engaged in teaching for one year in Muskingum county.

At the same time he took up the study of medicine under Dr. Walker,

of Plainfild, after which he entered the Ohio Medical College,

at Cincinnati, graduating in 1887. In April of that year, just

after he had celebrated the twenty-second anniversary of his birth,

he located for practice in Spring Mountain, succeeding to the

practice of Dr. Winslow. His practice is already large and is

constantly increasing for he keeps in touch with the most modern

and advanced ideas of the medical profession and is now the beloved

family physician in many a houshold. He was formerly identified

with realty interests but on account of the demands of his proffession

had to abandon that field of labor. He still, however, owns

considerable real estate in Jefferson twonship, Coshocton, and

Spring Mountain.

It was in 1888 that Dr. Buker was united in marriage to Miss Linnie

E. Dawson, who was born in Mount Vernon. During the time that the

Doctor was pursuing his studies in Cincinnati, Mrs. Buker was

attending an art school in tht city and it was there that they

became acquainted. Their marriage has been blessed with four

children, two sons and two daughters, Emerson Dawson, Wallace

Hilton, Helen Lucy, and Mary Evelyn., The last named died

October 16, 1908. The eldest son has been given excellent

educational advantages. He has pursued a high-school course in

both Coshocton and Warsaw and h as spent one year in the college

at Hiram, Ohio, and after completing his course in the latter

institution he expects to take up the study of medicine.

The Doctor gives his political support to the republican party.

He has taken a deep and active interest in many public enterprises.

He was one of the organizers and is the heaviest stockholder

in the Coshocton Telephone Company, wa sone of the organizers

of the Warsaw Bank and was a member of its first directorate

and is also financially interested in the Otsego Oil & Gas

Company. At the age of twenty-one years he became identified

with the Masonic fraternity, joining the blue lodge at Plainfield.

After locating in Spring Mountain he was elected master of the

lodge here. He belonged to the chapter in Coshocton and has

attained the Scottish Rite degree in the lodge at Columbus. He

was one of the organizers and a charter member of the Knights

Templars in Coshocton. He likewise belongs to the Independent

Order of Odd Fellows at Killbuck and to the Maccabees tent at

Walhonding, while in the line of his profession he organized and

became a member of the American Society of Physicians & Surgeons.

He was formerly an active participant in political circles, acting

as township treasurer for fourteen years and he ha also served for

several years as committeeman of the township and a member of

the school board. He was reared in the faith of the Methodist

Protestant church but on accout of his wife's relations with

the Disciples church, he has since become identified with that

denomination and is now serving as deacon and treasurer of the

church and he also rendered valuable assistance in the erection of

the new house of worship at a cost of four thousand dollars. The

address and declaration of the principles of the Disciples

church were written in the home of Mrs. Buker's grandmother,

Mary Dawson, and her father was one of the first ministers of

that denomination. The Doctor is a man of charming personality,

well liked in both professional and social circles, and he and

his estimable wife are held in high regard by their numbersous

friends and acquaintences.

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