Rash's Surname Index
Notes for William Jr. BUCKNELL
William Bucknell was born on April 1, 1811, at Marcus Hook, in Delaware County in Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he went to Philadelphia where he learned the wood carving trade. He later became a prosperous real estate dealer and agent. In his middle age he was a promoter of gas and water utilities in various cities. He was a Baptist who tithed to various charities. Mr. Bucknell was one of the original trustees named in the charter establishing the University at Lewisburg, which was signed by the Governor of Pennsylvania on February 5, 1846. He subscribed $5,000.00 to the fund to establish the University, and he was a member of the Trustee Committee which appointed the first President of the University, Howard Malcolm.
In 1856, John P. Crozer, who was a trustee of the university as well as the father of William Bucknell's second wife, proposed that he would donate $50,000.00 to the university if it were moved to Chester in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bucknell was one of the four trustees who voted, unsuccessfully, to "remove" the University from Lewisburg. After the vote, both Bucknell and Crozer withdrew from the building committee, which was in the process of raising funds to pay for the university building. In March, 1863, Bucknell resigned from the Board of Trustees; Crozer resigned three months later. Both men withdrew all support from the institution.
In 1881, at a time of financial crisis for the University, President David Jayne Hill approached William Bucknell for a renewal of financial support. At Hill's urging, Bucknell signed a pledge to give $50,000.00 to the University if certain conditions were met, including the reorganization of the governance of the University and the raising of additional capital. This action saved the institution from extinction. Between 1882, when he rejoined the Board of Trustees and his death in 1890 on March 5, Mr. Bucknell provided most of the money for the support of the university and for improving facilities: purchasing books for both the College and Institute libraries; endowing twenty scholarships for men in the College; endowing prizes for women in the Institute; gifting to the endowment fund; and gifting for the improvement of existing buildings and the erection of new ones. In 1889, Bucknell attended his last commencement; at the time of his death in 1890, he had given Bucknell University more than $268, 000.00.
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