John Matthew Buckles was born to Samuel Henry Buckles and Elizabeth NAVE on December 22, 1837. He was the ninth of ten children. He had five brothers and four sisters.

He married Martha Ellen VANCE in Sullivan County, Tennessee on March 23, 1864. A. B. McGarry, Minister of the Gospel, married them. Martha was the daughter of Samuel S. VANCE and Mary Elizabeth AKARD. Samuel was a blacksmith in Sullivan County. John and Martha Ellen had nine children. There were two daughters, Martha Alice and Nancy "Nannie" M. and seven sons, William Henry, James Samuel, Charles E. "Dutch", John Thomas, Benjamin Campbell, McGarry Vance, and Eldridge Gray.

John Matthew was a schoolteacher and farmer in the Eastern portion of Sullivan County near what is now the South Holston Lake and Dam. He farmed and taught elementary school during the mid to late 1800s. A Buckles cousin learned that he taught in some one-room schoolhouses both in Sullivan County Tennessee and in Virginia.

During the Civil War, he volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army. He served in the 63^rd Tennessee Infantry, Company E. Benjamin Campbell´s grandson states that he was injured while serving somewhere in Tennessee. During the war, the Confederates would ship many of their wounded to the military hospitals in the Richmond, Virginia area. After he recuperated from his injury, he went back to Bristol where he served as the Captain of the Guard for a supply train running between Bristol and Knoxville. Later, he served on a train running between Bristol and Lynchburg. After the war, he resumed teaching and farming in Sullivan County.

John M. Buckles was said to be a good man. He was very proud of his Confederate service. He wore The Southern Cross of Honor proudly. He was also a member of the International Order of Odd Fellows. He always wore his Odd Fellows badge and his gravestone, at Holston Valley Cemetery in Bristol, Tennessee has the Odd Fellows symbol on it.

Martha Ellen preceded John in death. She died of bronchial pneumonia on New Years Day 1921. John Matthew died of a brain hemorrhage (apoplexy) on November 22, 1927. He was living at 1240 Carolina Avenue, Bristol, Tennessee with Eldridge Gray Buckles at the time of his death. E. G. Buckles signed his death certificate.

Written by Carol Brogan, great-great granddaughter of John M. Buckles.