Major Claudius Buster legacy

Greenbrier County, West Virginia

This biography was submitted by Sandy Spradling,

E-mail address:  SSpradling@aol.com

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History of Greenbrier County

J. R. Cole

Original print: Lewisburg, WV 1917, p. 125-127

MAJ. CLAUDIUS BUSTER (1733-1807)
Owner of the Ivy Tavern in Albemarle, VA. More information about THIS Claudius:

http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/buster/190/

THE OTHER MAJ. CLAUDIUS BUSTER (1764-1842)
Maj. Claudius Buster, son of John, born 1764, descended from one of the earliest Scotch and Irish families of Virginia, according to the Government reports of Revolutionary War pensions, issued in 1841, drew a pension for service with the Colonies. He was one of the most prosperous and most prominent men of his county, and died in 1842.

His grandson, George Washington Buster (1801-1867) was sheriff of Kanawha county and afterwards became the owner of the once famous resort, the Blue Sulphur Springs, where he died in 1868. These springs are yet in the possession of his descendants. His son, Charles Blackwell Buster, born October 22, 1838, in Charleston, W.Va., moved with his parents to the Blue Sulphur when a child. The Blue Sulphur was his home, although many times, for short periods, in business elsewhere, until elected county clerk of Greenbrier in 1884 necessitated his moving to Lewisburg. He had this office for twenty-four years, having continuously been elected to it until he retired from business in 1909, and has lived a quiet retired life in Lewisburg ever since. During the Civil War he served as a second lieutenant, Company B, Wise Legion; was in service six months and was then retired on account of ill health.

The Blue Sulphur Springs Pavilion is a historic Greek Revival structure in Blue Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, United States. The Pavilion is the only surviving structure from the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort, a 19th-century mineral spa, and was built to shelter the sulphur spring at the resort. The Pavilion consists of twelve columns holding up a square roof, and is primarily built with brick. It was built in 1834 along with the resort and was added to the National Register of Historic Placeson October 29, 1992.

The Pavilion began construction in 1834, but the year the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort opened June 1, 1838. The Blue Sulphur Springs Pavilion lies about 9 miles north of Alderson, West Virginia in a bucolic cattle pasture surrounded by mountains. The pavilion was originally built around 1834 by Dr. Alexis Martin in the Greek Revival style. Made of marble slabs five-feet wide, the sides enclosing the mineral spring are covered with brilliant pink sandstone. The pavilion was the heart of a nineteenth century resort complex, Blue Sulphur Springs, where Dr. Martin was the resident physician and administered the first mud baths. George Washington Buster owned the resort; it was named Blue Sulphur Springs for the iridescent color of the springs. The original resort included, along with the Pavilion, a three-story hotel with 200 rooms and a bathhouse. The resort was visited by several noteworthy guests in the 1840s, including Robert E. Lee, Henry Clay, and Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. The resort was a prime spot for the promotion of relaxation and health, as the sulphur spring at the resort was considered to be a remedy for numerous diseases. 

Blue Sulphur Springs Resort began to decline in the 1850s due to competition from other resorts such as The Greenbrier and an economic downturn. The resort closed in 1859 and became Allegheny College, a school for Baptist ministers; the college closed in 1861. The resort buildings were used by both sides in the Civil War as a camp and hospital. In 1864, the Union Army burned the resort to prevent the Confederate Army from utilizing them; only the Pavilion survived the fire.

Charles's mother was Ann Chilton, born 1809, married in 1833, died in 1884, the daughter of Dr. Samuel and Lucinda Blackwell Chilton. Lucinda Blackwell was the daughter of Capt. Samuel Blackwell of the Revolution. The Chilton and Blackwell families repeatedly intermarried until they virtually became the same family.  Dr. Samuel Chilton was the son of Col. Charles Chilton, of Hereford, born 1741, and his mother was Elizabeth Blackwell. Col. Charles Chilton is likewise the ancestor of the famous Charleston Chilton family, to which belongs the present United States Senator, William E. Chilton. The Chilton family, back to the first settler from England, is given in full detail in McKenzies Colonial families of the United States, in which is also a cut and description of the Chilton coat of arms. The Blackwell family has been written up in the Times Despatch, October 1, 1910, and it gives a long line of ancestors.

Charles married Virginia W. Hamilton, daughter of Jacob and Delilah (Jarrett) Hamilton and the granddaughter of Maj. William Hamilton (his wife was a Miss Clemmons), who was one of the first settlers of Greenbrier, having been a soldier in the Revolution and having come from Augusta and settling near the Blue Sulphur Springs when there were no white men west of that Section. 

Five children were born of this marriage, two of whom are now living (as of 1917): 

• Annie Hamilton Buster, who was married in 1890 to Louis Pitzer Housman, the son of Housman and Fannie Pitzer Housman; they now live in Pueblo, Col., and their children are Virginia Chilton, Robert Louis and Charles McFerrin. 
• Emma Bernard Buster, who was married in 1895 to Henry Arthur Henderson, a civil engineer, of England, the son of Gen. John Henderson, of the English army, and Ellen Lushington Harris (see Burke's Peerage). Of this marriage three children were born; the eldest died in infancy. The two living are Cohn David Henderson and Eleanor Virginia Hamilton Henderson. 

• Charles Blackwell married a second time to Mattie W. Cooper, the daughter of the Rev. A. W. Cooper, of the Methodist church, and Martha Gabbert, and from this marriage his children were Blackwell Chilton, born October 28, 1890, married August 27, 1910, to Mary Lillian Livesay; and 
• Mary Evelyn Buster, born January 19, 1898

• Charles Blackwell Buster has brothers and sisters as follows: 
• Samuel, died young; 
• Alexis Martin, born July 12, 1836, married Sarah Emma Hamilton, daughter of Maj. William Hamilton; 
• Lucy Ann, born in 1840; Thomas Bernard, born 1845, and died in the service of the Confederacy as a member of Company B, Sixtieth Virginia Infantry, C. S. A.

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• Charles has always been an enthusiastic citizen of the best type, with a broad horizon of friends and acquaintances.  At present he lives quietly, enjoying the remembrance of a long life of local prominence and prestige. The two-volume work, Men of West Virginia, published in 1903, gives a great deal of space and detail of the life and family of Mr. Buster, with an excellent portrait of him.

More extensive family tree: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/buster/190/

William Buster/ Bustard (b.1694)

Major Claudius Buster (b.1733) Claudius Buster Jr.(b.1779) George Washington Buster (b.1801, VA) Charles Blackwell Buster (b.1838, VA)