Langford is a name of English or Norman origin,[citation needed] while Buckley is an anglicized version of Ó Buachalla, a surname quite common in Ireland.

[1] In 1882, the family relocated from Washington-on-the-Brazos to San Diego, Duval County, Texas, where John Buckley was a businessman who worked in merchandising, politics and sheep raising.

[citation needed] As a devout Catholic,[5] Buckley was part of an effort to purchase property near the university for the Newman Club.

[7][additional citation(s) needed] They had ten children: Aloïse, short story writer; John, oil business; Priscilla, a journalist; James, senator and judge; Jane, the non-writer; Bill, National Review founder; Patricia, Triumph magazine collaborator; Reid, public speaking teacher; Maureen, oversaw National Review subscriptions; and Carol, another author.

During the 1920s, the Buckleys purchased properties called Great Elm in Sharon, Connecticut, and Kamchatka in Camden, South Carolina, for when they lived in the United States.

In 1914, during tensions with the United States, President Huerta appointed Buckley counsel for a convention organized by Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.

Buckley refused an offer by President Woodrow Wilson to be appointed as acting civil governor of the state of Veracruz.

In 1924, Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles invited Buckley to return to Mexico, but instead he transferred his Pantepec Oil Company to Venezuela.

[citation needed] After he transferred his company to Venezuela, Buckley fully committed himself to oil exploration, where he was one of the first to use the "farm-out" system.

[citation needed] While traveling between Paris and New York City in September 1958, Buckley suffered a stroke while aboard the S.S. United States, where he was given the Viaticum or Last Rites.