Biography of Thomas Buford

Contributed by Judith Stout on March 8, 2014.

Info from “Historical Sketches of Lancaster and Garrard County” by Dr. J.B. Kinnaird

Captain William Early Buford came to Kentucky with his son Thomas about 1796 and settled in Lincoln County near the present town of Lancaster. He was married in 1797 and lived at the Old Dryden Tavern close by the present Christian Church. In 1797 Captain William Buford who owned 1,000 acres there, urged the new commissioners of Garrard County, founded in 1796, to use his land at the Wallace Cross Roads under the conditions that he would donate 57 1/4 acres of land for the “Publick Square” to be used for a court house and provide water for the court and those attending it during his lifetime. Wm Buford’s proposal was accepted and a contract was filed. “Notice is hereby given that I shall make application to the county court of Garrard for an order to establish a town at the Cross roads where the road from Lexington to the Crab Orchard crosses the road leading from Danville to Madison Courthouse.” June 2, 1797, and made application to the county court for the establishment of a town.

Buford was a descendant of the Duke of Lancaster (see news article), and the town’s name is traced to this. Some historians maintain that Captain Wm E. Buford, a direct descendant of the Duke of Lancaster, chose the name honoring his own family as he had given the land.

Land for First Presbyterian Church was donated by Captain William Buford who originally owned 1,000 acres including the site of Lancaster. The church was erected in 1815. The Christian Church built in 1852 was built on land secured from Abner Baker who was Captain Buford’s daughter’s husband.