The biological father of Buck Thorpe is an exceptionally illusive figure. Both "Miss Smith" and her brothers, the Thorpes, state that she was married when she arrived in Frenchman's Bend, eight months pregnant. If so, it's never made clear why she leaves her husband. All her "oldest brother" tells Isham Quick is that they "done already attended to" him (106). What he did as her husband, however, or if he was in fact her husband, or what they did to or for him - these questions remain unanswered.
Quick identifies this unnamed man as "the deputy or bailiff or whatever he was" (105). He accompanies the Thorpe brothers when they arrive in Frenchman's Bend with a court order for custody of their sister's child.
Mrs. Ben Quick makes a very brief appearance in the text when Isham Quick refers to "the dishes and skillet [that] mammy" let Fentry have while he lived in the boiler room at the sawmill (105).
