Short Biography of Joseph Bucklin, 3rd
JOSEPH4 BUCKLIN, 3rd (JOSEPH3, JOSEPH2, WILLIAM1)1 was born 20 Sep 1694 in Rehoboth, Bristol, MA2,3,4, and died 04 May 1776 in Rehoboth, MA5,6. He married (1) SUSANNA ANNIE JENCKS about 1717 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA7, and later married (2) MARY WORDEN.
[Note: In referring to those of the uninterrupted line of five males with the name “Joseph” who descended directly from the Joseph Bucklin born 1633 to the Joseph Bucklin born 1754 — the Joseph Bucklin Society has adopted a convention intended not only to eliminate confusion both within the line, but also to distinguish the line from the numerous other male successions of Bucklin males named Joseph Bucklin. The convention is that we refer to individual “Josephs” in this specific line of five Josephs from 1633 to 1754 — not by the usual cardinal number series in Roman numerals — but instead by the ordinal number series expressed with the Arabic numbers 1 through 5.]
Susanna was the daughter of WILLIAM JENCKS and PATIENCE SPRAGUE. Joseph Jencks, Jr., was the first permanent settler on the west side of Pawtucket Falls, where he started a mill, a forge, and business to manufacture tools. This was the start of the Jenck’s economic empire of the 18th century. The Jencks family owned many of the industries in Rhode Island. Joseph’s father in law (William Jenks) was a member of the state Assembly., and both William Jenks and also members of his immediate family were important in the economic and social life of the Rehoboth area, which at this time surpassed Providence in population and area size. The Jencks family was the predominant family in the early manufacturing business of Rhode Island.
Joseph 3rd ‘s marriage to SUSANNA ANNIE JENCKS about 1717 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA7, is significant in the economic development of the Bucklin families out of land and into industry and merchant businesses. Joseph 3rd marriage into the Jenck’s family was compounded when, in 1726, Joseph’s brother Benjamin also married Esther Jencks, a the daughter of “the” Joseph Jencks, Jr., what had started the mill on the west side of the river.
William Bucklin was the first permanent settler on the east side of Pawtucket Falls. Unlike the Jencks family, the Bucklin family wealth of the 17th and 18th centuries was originally concentrated in land. William Bucklin, the first in the Bucklin line in America, had land in several towns. His son Joseph (1st) was managing over 1000 acres at the time of his death, including a 400 acre tract north of Providence and most of William’s original 600 acre tract near the Pawtucket falls.
Joseph 1st’s son – Joseph 2nd – continued in using land and its produce as the principal source of the family income. His will shows him as a Yeoman. [In the 1700’s the term “yeoman” designated a specific class of society, namely farmers who actually owned their lands. ( In England it signified a free man who had land of the value of forty shillings a year) who were free-men, and were considered next in rank to the gentry. The will of Joseph 2d mentions land in several towns, including Attleboro, and Pawtucket Falls.
After the 1717 marriage of Joseph 3rd and the 1726 marriage of Benjamin into the Jencks families, various Bucklin family branches left land as the principal source of wealth and operated mills on the east side of the Pawtucket River, and elsewhere, while at the same time the Jencks family branches had a mill and other economic enterprises on the west side of the Pawtucket River and elsewhere.
In 1732 Joseph 3rd the subject of our biography here (Joseph4, Joseph3, Joseph2, William1) purchased 248 acres of land in Washington, Coventry, RI. The land was on a river. Joseph immediately built a grist mill and machine shop, and later had a shop where he manufactured linen and wool goods.
James4 Bucklin (James3, Joseph2, William1) – James 2d in 1747 started operating a grist mill on the east side of the Pawtucket falls and subsequently enlarged his Bucklin mill and machining operations in Pawtucket.
By 1770, Joseph(3rd)’s son John had gone to Adams, Massachusetts, where John built mills, and operated them during the Revolution.
Thus, at the time of the American Revolution, the Bucklin family branches had industrial importance. To wit:
- Joseph Bucklin 3rd, married to Susanna Jencks, had a grist mill and machine shops in Washington, west of Providence.
- James Bucklin 2d had, at the time of the Revolution, not only had a mill on the east side of the falls, but also another grist mill southward on the “Cove” at the river (operated by his son James, Jr.).
- Joseph 3rd’s son John had mills in Adams.
It was with this family economic base that Capt. Joseph Bucklin (Joseph 4th) began his ship and merchant business in Providence.
Joseph’s second marriage, to (2) MARY WORDEN12,13 23 Oct 1737 in Coventry, RI14,15, daughter of PETER WORDEN and MARY HOLLY created interesting religious
connections. The Worden’s were of religious importance in the early development of Rhode Island. Mary Worden Bucklin is sometimes mentioned as an aunt of Elder Peter Worden of the Baptist church in Warwick, RI, who subsequently became the pastor of the Baptist church group started by John Bucklin in Adams, Massachusetts.
More facts about Joseph 3rd:
- Burial: 1776, Stone-Hammett Lot, Coventry, RI16,17
- Land Obtained: 1732, Grist mill, machine shop, Coventry, RI18
- Land Sold: Sometime aft.1776, Sold his grist mill and machine shop19
- Ordination: 1759, Deacon Baptist Church, Washington, Coventry, RI20,21Many of the early Bucklins were Baptists.
- Will: 07 Nov 1774, Coventry, RI22,23
Additional Notes for SUSANNA ANNIE JENCKS
- Born about 17008,
- Died 23 Aug 17369,10,11,
- Burial: Stone-Hammett Lot, Coventry, RI24
Facts about children of Joseph Bucklin 3rd
Endnote References
1. Susan M Boucher, History of Pawtucket 1635-1976, (Pawtucket Public Library, Pawtucket, RI 1976), pp. 34, 49, 70..
2. Rehoboth Vital Records Marriages, Book 1, p 85.
3. George Wells Bucklin Autobiography, (1948).
4. GEDCOM Submission RICT2000 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (Transcription of the Rhode Island Transcription Project as of Nov 2000), “Electronic.”
5. Coventry Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries, (Gateway Press, 1998), Hist. Cem # 34.
6. GEDCOM Submission RICT2000 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (Transcription of the Rhode Island Transcription Project as of Nov 2000), “Electronic.”
7. Patricia Fowler, GEDCOM Submission RIK10111 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (11 Jan 2001 rikkisky@swcp.com), “Electronic,” Date of Import: Jan 12, 2001.
8. Date of Import: Jan 12, 2001.
9. Patricia Fowler, GEDCOM Submission RIK10111 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (11 Jan 2001 rikkisky@swcp.com), “Electronic,” Date of Import: Jan 12, 2001.
10. Patricia Fowler, GEDCOM Submission RIK10111 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (11 Jan 2001 rikkisky@swcp.com), “Electronic,” Date of Import: 12 Jan 2001.
11. Coventry Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries, (Gateway Press, 1998), Hist. Cem # 34.
12. Patricia Fowler, GEDCOM Submission RIK10111 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (11 Jan 2001 rikkisky@swcp.com), “Electronic,” Date of Import: Jan 12, 2001.
13. Patricia Fowler, GEDCOM Submission RIK10111 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (11 Jan 2001 rikkisky@swcp.com), “Electronic,” Date of Import: 12 Jan 2001.
14. Coventry Register, Vol. 1, p 10.
15. James N. Arnold, Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, (Providence, Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1892-1910), 1:59.
16. Rhode Island Cemetery Transcript Project, “Electronic.”
17. GEDCOM Submission RICT2000 to Jos Bucklin Soc, (Transcription of the Rhode Island Transcription Project as of Nov 2000), “Electronic,” Date of Import: 14 Mar 2001.
18. Providence Journal, (1859) Number 65.
19. Providence Journal, 1859,number 65, “the grist mill and machine shop passed into the possession of William Stone…”
20. Providence Journal, 1859 (number 65).
21. Coventry Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries, (Gateway Press, 1998).
22. Abstracts of Coventry, Rhode Island Wills, v. 2, p. 140, Will dated 7 Nov 1774, probated 23 May 1776, mentions wife Mary, sons, John, Joseph and David. and others.
23. Coventry RI Probate Records, v 1 – 1764-1811 – at p. 73 – 75..
24. Coventry Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries, (Gateway Press, 1998), Hist Cem # 34.