Anthony Abraham Buford (who was named for
his illustrious grandfather), was the eldest son of Senator Carter and
Carrie Buford.
After completing his grade and high school education locally he, following
in his father's foot-steps, went on to study law, was admitted to the bar
and practiced law for approximately 56 years.
While still a young man in Ellington he was very active in any civic
project that came up and on reading in last week's Reynolds County
Courier about the county fair committee now being formed, remarked
that he had served as secretary on a like committee in either 1926 or
1927.
Anthony was married on June 3, 1933 to Miss Ann Dickery of St.
Louis. They had two children, Nancy Ann Buford Maguire and Anthony
A. Jr., also four grandchildren; Kathleen Buford Maguire, Ann Christie
Maguire, Elisabeth McCluny Buford and Anthony A. Buford III.
Anthony served as attorney for the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis for
31 years, maintaining offices in the Pierce Building in downtown St. Louis
at that time. He later moved his office to a spot on Brentwood
Blvd., Clayton, and kept his office there for 25 years.
The following is an excerpt taken from the St. Louis Globe Democrat
on Aug. 21, 1971:
Monuments could be built to Tony Buford by the beer industry, the Polled
Hereford people and now the quarter horse racing association, in that
order.
But Tony Buford doesn't need them. He already has his own
monument. Right there beneath Buford Mountain, a tree-covered slope
that overlooks his Belleview Valley farm, there is a large piece of
granite with his name on it. And under the carefully mowed ground
around it that is where Tony Buford says he will be buried so he can
"have a pleasant view of Buford Mountain."
This mountain was named for his ancestor William Buford and, incidentally,
the iron fence surrounding this burial plot is the one taken form the old
Buford home in Ellington.
Bur before the sod is lifted to put him away, Buford has a few more prizes
to gather up in this third career of his lifetime --quarter horse racing.
Although it might seem to be a sudden shift in careers, it really
wasn't. He began to work his way into the quarter horse field more
than 10 years ago while he was in the prime business of raising some of
the finest Polled Hereford champions in the world.
And all of his careers have been successful. Acclaimed by cattlemen
as the man who did more to improve the nation's breeding lines of Polled
Herefords than anyone else, Buford also took a $50,000 purse in his first
horse racing venture.
As a lawyer and friend of legislators, he applied his skills for many
years for the brewing industry and managed, to the industry's delight to
keep the Missouri tax on its product the lowest in the nation.
As in lobbying, a career that started just after prohibition, it is his
personal touch that seems to turn both issues and animals into gold mines.
After retiring from his duties as general counsel for Anheuser-Busch in
1961, Buford turned out nine national and international champions in
Polled Hereford competitions.
His dispersal sale last year brought prices for his pure-bred stock that
gave him the No. 3 ranking, internationally, in prices paid for Polled
Hereford in 1970.
But now his main interest is quarter horse racing.
"You might be pushing too far," his wife Annie warns when Buford
talks of future racing plans.
"You gotta go, Mommie if you've got it." he replied. And
"go" Buford does.
His first real racer, Tony B. Deck, raised on the green pastures of
Buford's 1,100 acre spread ran third his first time out and brought in
$50,000."
This article was written in 1971 and Tony is still very active and his
horses have won many more races and prizes to date.
Anthony and Ann divide their time between their home in St. Louis and
their farm at Caledonia where, in addition to his racing stables Tony has
an outstanding antique collection and a library which could be better
termed a museum.
From a newsletter by Missouri Chapter of Nature Conservancy:
BUFORD
MOUNTAIN --Buford Mountain is a prominent landmark in Iron County, Mo.,
and runs for about four miles along Highway 21 south of Caledonia.
It has been described as the most significant piece of wild land in
Missouri that remains in private ownership by John Karel of the Missouri
Department of National Resources.
The mountain is one of the few remaining areas in the state that is
totally devoid of roads and power line structures. Many species of
rare wild flowers and native grasses are found there, as well as numerous
types of birds and wild-life."
Wilbur Buford, second son of Senator Carter Buford,
also followed the family tradition of law, and I can well remember, as
teen-ager, listening to him try some of his first cases at the Court House
in Centerville, while visiting with my grandmother there. When the
C.C.C. camps were formed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt he was
appointed commissioner for these camps in this area. He practiced
law until his death in middle age.
John V. Buford was married Han 17, 1937, to
Mrs. Goldie DeForest, a young widow with a small son, Byron DeForest, who
now lives in St. Charles. Goldie was a life-long resident of
Ellington. To this union was born one son, John Sam of St. Louis and
two daughters, Judith Buford Blake of Morse Hill, Mo., and Roberta Buford
Stegner of Jefferson City, Mo.
John V. Buford was educated in the public schools of Ellington and
attended Westminister College in Fulton. He served in the U.S.
Marine Corps during World War II. He was active in the civic
enterprises of Ellington and the Democratic party in which he served on
the Reynolds County Democratic Committee. He was also a former mayor
of Ellington, and a member of Barnesville Masonic Lodge and The Scottish
Rite.
In 1961 he joined the newly formed Missouri Boat Commission as a water
patrolman on Clearwater Lake. Working up through the ranks, he was
appointed executive secretary, a position he held until his retirement in
November of 1973 after 13 Years of devoted service to the citizens of this
state.
Both John and his wife Goldie were well known and widely respected in
Ellington. Goldie taught school many years here and was an active
member in the Federated Women's Club of Ellington. She preceded her
husband in death by only a year or so and John died at his home here in
1975.
