[2][1] He attended Somerset Seminary in Cleveland, Tennessee, and Georgetown College in Kentucky.
[2] Ordained at seventeen, he served as a pastor in Albany, Owensboro, and Salvisa, Kentucky, before relocating to Paris, Texas, in 1859.
[2][1] In Texas, Buckner led the Paris Baptist Church for fourteen years.
[2] His administrative roles extended to serving as president of the Baptist General Association of Texas for twenty years and contributing to the establishment of Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium (now Baylor University Medical Center), where he was board president from 1904 to 1907.
[2] Buckner, a Mason and member of Hella Temple of the Shrine, died in Dallas on April 9, 1919, and was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery.