Buster's ancestors include Captain John Meek, a Massachusetts man who chose a life on the sea. Meek married an Hawaiian girl in 1820, and lived in the Hawaiian Islands. Their daughter Elizabeth married an American sailor named Horace Gates Crabb. Horace added an "e" to his last name. Elizabeth and Horace had a son in 1861 they named Charles Linden Crabbe. He went to the United States at the age of 20 to work on the railroads. He lived in Nevada, and married Emma Rich in 1881. In 1882, Charles and Emma became the parents of Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe, Buster's father.