Reading Nash Buckingham's Bloodline, questions...

[Bill Holcombe]

I am currently reading Bloodlines after reading Mark Right and Shootingest Gentlman, and it is my favorite book so far.

Halfway through it though and 3 questions I have:

1) Why did Nash leave the Beaver Dam Club? He talks about it so fondly and than seems to leave it for another club? Not sure if this is known or not but curious.

2) How did Nash's parents die? In some minutes he records from Beaver Dam, Horace writes him about sadness at the death of his parents. Turns out they died on the same day in 1919, but I have not been able to discover cause of death....

3) A very interesting character Nash introduces is Major Winthorne M Woolard who served in the Confederate Army, but dies while on a visit to England. As Nash Talks about him he makes a big deal of what the M stands for but not revealing it until later. Turns out the M is for Marlborough. From the way it is written into the story I am assuming this is some tie to the Royal Family in England, but I am not certain of that. There is definitly a significance to the middle name being Marlborough though. Nash reveals it like the end of a Paul Harvey Rest of the Story. Any insite?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

He left the Beaver Dam Club because he wasn't a member. His father had the actual membership and once he turned 18 his visitors privileges were over. When his father passed away, his membership came down to Nash and he started hunting there again. I believe he later sold the membership, he was always hard up for money.

Then as the club waned in later years, the family who owned (and still owns) the land itself let him bring friends down to hunt to sort of keep the club alive. There is still a Beaver Dam Club, and the original family still owns the land. I believe the club is leased yearly by a group of businessmen from Memphis.

His father and mother both died of influenza and are buried side by side. Nash and his brother are both buried not far away.

I never knew if Woolard was a fictional character or a real person. I don't know as anybody has ever looked into it that hard, at least nobody I know has anyway.

[Bill Holcombe]

That would make sense on his parents. As that would be the right time for the Spanish flu.

From bloodlines it looked like he left to join a club in Arkansas right after his parents death and then founded another club down the river from that club.

[charlie cleveland]

nash is sure a interesting fellow...i loved the way he shot that old 6 gashotgun muzzle loader and its record of shooting all the shot in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards is still unsurpassed...i ve got a gun that will shoot 92 percent but never 100 percent....charlie

[Bill Murphy]

Fred Kimble. In my collection of worthless sporting items, I have a magazine with an ad offering Fred's six gauge Tonks for sale, and referring to the 100% patterns it shot.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Bill I'm assuming you've shared that advertisement with John Davis?

[John Dallas]

I have recently received a copy of "The Best of Nash Buckingham" edited by George Bird Evans. I'm only through the intro, but it is obvious the GBE thought a lot of Buckingham. This particular book is interesting in that it is inscribed by John Olin to a friend's father.

[Bill Murphy]

Destry, I think our friend John included that ad in his great book/books on the great Fred Kimble.

[Bill Holcombe]

In Bloodlines, Nash talks about both Kimble and our own Du Bray.

[Bill Murphy]

It is interesting that George Bird Evans only met Nash once as I recall.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

A lot of insight into Buckingham, particularly his later life, can be gained in reading "Letters to John Bailey".

I've often wondered why the Buckingham family never sold or handed off his "papers" to some institution. Maybe they were thrown out upon his death, who knows.

DLH

[charlie cleveland]

thanks bill for setting me straight...i wish i had that old 6 ga...charlie

[Kevin McCormack]

In a Jan. 21, 1971 letter to Kay and George Bird Evans, Nash alluded to "trying to put together a last book of 'rather unusual' mixed contents." Sometime in the very late 1970s or early 1980s, Irma Witt Buckingham, Nash's daughter, approached the publisher Alfred Knopf with what she referred to beforehand as a "large assortment of material" with the idea of publishing a book. (Knopf had been a gunning companion of Nash's on more than a few occasions).

Knopf referred the project to a professor of English literature who taught creative writing at Rutgers University whom he knew as an ardent waterfowler, and whose graduate student at the time shared an even greater interest in the project. They met at least once with Irma, after which the graduate student (majoring in ornithology) was selected as lead research investigator for a Smithsonian Institution expedition to remote areas of Central America to collect and catalog rare birds.

The supposed 9-month assignment was extended to nearly 2 1/2 years. During that time, Irma and the Rutgers University professor came to an impasse as to certain aspects of the material to be published, and the project was terminated. On her last visit to Alfred Knopf in New York City, Irma visited the professor and expressed her regrets, handing him as she left a small cardboard box containing approximately 50 handloaded Western "Leader" 3-inch 12 ga. shells, saying that they were among the contents of Nash's desk at home collected after his death. Later, when the graduate student returned from the Panamanian expeditions, the professor gave them to him as a sort of a "consolation prize" for, as the professor put it, "having missed the whole shootin' match."

The "large assortment of materials" presented by Irma may or may not have formed the basis for the later publication of Nash's Autobiography or may have played a part in the assemblage of the "Letters to John Bailey."

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I believe the "assortment of materials" and Nash's mention of a final book were the box of "stuff" that later went into the autobiography. If memory serves, it was given by or purchased from the family by an actor then put together into a book finally.

The "Letters to John Bailey" book is literally that, letters that he's written to Bailey that Bailey held on to.

What I'm talking about is all the correspondence and other various paper that Buckingham most assuredly had saved over the years. Manuscripts of his published works, letters from friends, that sort of thing. Maybe he didn't save it like I assume he did, or maybe it was all tossed upon his death. They had moved when Irma got sick to be closer to their daughter, so maybe most of that stuff got trashed rather than moved with them.

Chub Andrews ended up with a lot of personal possessions of Nash's but I don't believe he got any paper. He had Bo-Whoop #2, a duck boat, some decoys, one of the Beaver Dam record books, some duck calls and other various gear that I'm aware of. Bo-Whoop #2 was sold by him in later life then given to Ducks Unlimited by the buyer, some of the other items also ended up with DU but knowing Chub they were sold rather than given. He had a bunch of plastic Tigrette Industries mallard decoys he claimed were Nash's that he'd painted his initials on the bottom of. He sold those one by one over the years to interested parties. He's passed away now, though I knew him slightly and had chatted with him about Buckingham on a couple of occasions.

He rode that "last hunting companion of Nash Buckingham" thing pretty hard and wasn't real popular around the Tunica area. Mike Boyd tells a hilarious story about being in his fathers duck blind hunting with a buddy and Chub coming up in a boat trying to run him out of it saying they were trespassing in "his duck blind". When young Mike explained that he was the owner of the blinds son, Chub got back in his boat without a word and took off through the swamp like lightening had struck. The owner of the Blue and White tells a good one about Chub coming in saying he wanted to have an event to celebrate Nash's life and present them with a print he'd done to honor his memory. The event came off, Chub waxed nostalgic about his days hunting with his ol' buddy Nash and presented this framed print to the owner saying how much he appreciated all the good times he and Nash had having breakfast in there over the years. A few days later a bill for the the print and it's framing arrived from Chub even though during the presentation he said it was a gift. The owner never replied or paid for it though, and I believe it still hangs in there today.

[charlie cleveland]

a goodone destrey...charlie

[Bill Holcombe]

Finished bloodlines. Enjoyed it emmensely. Going to read Rutledge home by the river. Probably try to track down a copy of Ol Miss next.

[Dave Noreen]

I have recently received a copy of "The Best of Nash Buckingham" edited by George Bird Evans. I'm only through the intro, but it is obvious the GBE thought a lot of Buckingham. This particular book is interesting in that it is inscribed by John Olin to a friend's father.

At least half of what GBE wrote about Harold Money and his family on pages 65 and 66 goes from misleading to dead wrong.

Destry is right on that Dear John-:, Nash Buckingham's Letters to John Bailey is a great read.

handloaded Western "Leader" 3-inch 12 ga. shells, saying that they were among the contents of Nash's desk at home collected after his death

LEADER were Winchester shells --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Winchester/LEADER12-gauge312DramsDeadShot114ounceNo4C_zps24e27140.jpg

If the shells were Winchester factory loaded the head stamp was Winchester LEADER --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Winchester/LeaderNo163-inchHead_zpse202d0d6.jpg

If the cases were sold by Winchester as NPEs the head stamp was 1901 LEADER --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Winchester/1901%20LEADER%2012-Gauge_zpsxrm2kmvb.jpg

Western Cartridge Co.'s premium high-brass shell was the RECORD --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Western%20Cartridge%20Co/RECORD12-ga28-grainsBallistite_zpsff500a90.jpg

[Bill Holcombe]

From what I am reading so far, I am of the assumption that Rutledge was in an entirely different economic situation than Buckingham? He seems to be spending a ton of money on his family home.

Its a good variation in writing style by the way, going from Buckingham to Rutledge. Enjoy both immensley, but there is a drastic difference in their prose and story telling.

[John Allen]

I was lucky enough to be a member of Beaver Dam for 9 years.I assisted Dr.Dirk Halstead and the actor Robert Urich to purchase all of Nash's papers from his granddaughter.The result of that were the two last books,Nash's Letters to John Bailey and Once Upon a Time.Once Upon a Time was the last book Nash wrote.Dr.Halstead and Urich sold many of Nash's personal letters and they are scattered to the wind now.I had Nash's Dan Kidney duckboat.It is now in the Howard Harlan collection.The biggest part of the lake is still owned by the Owen family.Mike Boyd owns a part of the south end.I think there are 13 landowners who have a share of the lake and bayou.