BUFFINGTON, Herber A.

BUFFINGTON, KING, WOODWARD

Posted By: Nettie Mae
Date: 1/19/2003 at 01:21:52

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

HERBERT A. BUFFINGTON

Herbert A. Buffington, one of the leading railroad men of Clinton, is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Morrison, that state, on the 8th of November, 1859. His parents are Oliver and Mary M. (King) Buffington, both of whom are now sixty-five years of age. For some years the father was engaged in farming in Whiteside county, Illinois, and later made his home in Blairstown, Iowa, where he followed mercantile pursuits, and in 1893 went to Wayne, Nebraska, where he has since conducted a general store. He has had a very successful business career. By his ballot he always supports the men and measure of the Republican party, but has never take any very active part in political affairs, though his sons have considerable attention to politics at one time. His wife and daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the family is well known in the community where they reside. The father is what the world terms a self-made man, his success in life being due entirely to his own well-directed and energetic efforts. In his family are four children: Herbert A., the subject of this sketch; Chester W., who was in the county treasurer’s office at Chicago for five years, and is now bookkeeper for the People’s Gas Light and Coke Company, of that city; Effie, who was graduated at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and is now teaching music in Wayne, Nebraska; and Lucy, who was graduated in elocution at Chicago, receiving the first prize, a gold medal, from the American Conservatory of Chicago.

During his boyhood Herbert A. Buffington attended the public schools of Blairstown, Iowa, and later taught four terms of school near that city in order to pay his way while attending an academy there. He also read law with an uncle at that place for a time. Leaving school at the age of eighteen, he was employed as bookkeeper by the Excelsior Stone Company, of Chicago, for three years, and then entered the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Van Horn, Iowa, remaining in their employ until 1884.

Mr. Buffington was married at Belle Plaine, Iowa, in 1884, to Miss Jennie M. Woodward, who was educated at Belle Plaine. They have two children, Lucy M. and Fred O., aged respectively thirteen and eleven years. Both are now students in the Clinton public schools.

Immediately after his marriage Mr. Buffington entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, and for a year and a half and charge of the baggage and express on the first train south on the “pumpkin vine” route. For five months he went as brakeman on the road, but in 1886 was promoted to conductor, and was given a regular run on a time freight. Since 1900 he has been on the fast mail trains and extra passenger trains. He has been exceedingly fortunate in his railroad work and has met with no personal injury. His home has been in Clinton since 1896, and he is now a popular member of Clinton Division, No. 33, O. R. C., and is serving on its finance committee. He passed all the chairs in the Bell Plaine Division, No., 228, prior to coming to Clinton, and has filled all the offices in the Knights of Pythias lodge. He and his wife are also members of the Knights and Ladies of the Golden Precept, and have a large circle of friends and acquaintances in Clinton. Mr. Buffington is a self-educated man, having paid his own way through school, and his advancement in the business worked has been secured by close application to the duties which have devolved upon him.