Tag: Bucklin family

It’s Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d write a family history post related to that topic.  The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Thanksgiving and history is the Puritans and the Mayflower.  I don’t know of any ancestors that were on the Mayflower, but I had lots of early American immigrants.  I am not an expert on that period of history (or any other period of history), so many times I rely on research done by others.  The website that brings that all together and tries to encourage accuracy is WIKItree.

I’ve been involved with the site for several years.  It’s one big tree that everyone works on and tries to connect people together.  It has its drawbacks, but I like it most of the time!  They have categories for different family lines and such.  There are projects for German, English, French, Acadian, Irish, and so one.  The one I’m concerned with right now is the one called the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).  It is for people who immigrated to what is the United States during that period, whether they were Puritans or any other religion.  There are lots of ancestors in my mom’s Bucklin family line that fit into that timeframe.

I’ve talked about the actual Bucklin line in a previous post (James Bucklin and His Forebears).  It traced back to William Bucklin (1609-1683) and Mary Bosworth (1611-1687).  There are no confirmed records for his parents.  William and Mary were married in England around 1630.  Their son Joseph (our ancestor) was born in England in 1634.  Mary’s parents were Edward Bosworth (1586-1634) and Mary (1589-1648).  They were the ones that brought this group to North America in 1634 when their grandson Joseph Bucklin was just an infant.  In the spring of 1634, they boarded the Elizabeth and Dorcas.  It was a difficult journey and especially sad for this family because the patriarch Edward died as they reached the Boston harbor.

Joseph Bucklin would grow up and marry Deborah Allen (1637-1690) in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter of John Allen (1610-1690) and Christian (1611-1690).  John and Christian were from England, and they were in Weymouth, Massachusetts, by 1643.  No record of the exact date of the family’s immigration has been found. John was the son of George Allen (1585-1648) and his first wife who is unknown.  George was one of 106 followers of the Rev. Joseph Hull Congregation of Crewkerne, England, who immigrated to the New World.  They were considered Puritan Anabaptists and they arrived in the harbor of Boston on May 6, 1635.  George was one of the earliest settlers of Sandwich, Massachusetts, which is the oldest town on Cape Cod.  His son John was one of the founders of Swansea and an early member of the Baptist church.

I descend from Joseph Bucklin and Deborah Allen’s son James Bucklin (1669-1738).  He was married to Mary Yeales (Yields) (1674-1738) on October 2, 1708, in Rehoboth.  She was the daughter of Timothy Yeales and Naomi Frye.  Naomi was the daughter of George Frye (1616-1678) and Mary (1605-1653).  They were from Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England.  George immigrated to Weymouth with his sister’s Torrey family in 1640 on the ship “Samson.”  He was a weaver by trade.  We know some of his history because he was deposed in Boston about his origins for some reason.  He made a will in 1676 and left one-third of his estate to his daughter Naomi Yeales.  He also named Timothy Yeales as executor. 

I wonder if he did that because he knew his son-in-law was familiar with the law from all of the lawsuits he filed?!  Timothy filed a number of civil lawsuits, one which accused someone of stealing some of his lumber from a wharf in Boston.  Timothy was a carpenter and dealt with lots of lumber.  But he filed so many lawsuits that he was convicted of barratry in 1683.  He was also cited for “not frequenting the publick worship of god upon the lords day.”  Without all of those legal records, we wouldn’t know much about him.

In another line of the Bucklin family that I descend from, there was an Isaac Bucklin (1699-1764), also of Rehoboth, who was married to Sarah Whipple (1701-1763).  Sarah was the granddaughter of David Whipple (1656-1710) and Hannah Tower (1652-1722).  David was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay, to English immigrants John Whipple and Sarah.  John and Sarah came to America separately.  John was 15 years old when he came to Dorchester in 1632.  He was in service to Israel Stoughton, a carpenter.  After five years of service, he obtained a land grant of 8 acres.  In 1640 he married Sarah, whose origins are unknown.  They had eleven children together.

Hanna Tower was the daughter of John Tower (1609-1702) and Margaret Ibrook (1620-1700).  John was from Hingham, England, and immigrated in 1637 to Hingham, Massachusetts Bay.  His parents Robert Tower and Dorothy Damon remained in England.  Margaret, on the other hand, was from Southwold, Suffolk, England.  Her parents were Richard Ibrook (1580-1651) and Margaret Gentleman (1587-1664).  Richard and Margaret were the parents of nine children, with four daughters living to adulthood.  The family immigrated to the New World and Richard was listed as an early settler of Hingham in 1635.  He had personal troubles and was brought to court for “tempting 2 or more maids to uncleanness.”  He had to pay fines to the country and to the maids.  One of their names was Mary Marsh, a name similar to one on my family tree, but from a later time.

I’d better stop here.  When you get that far back in your family tree, there are so many people!  I keep finding more and more immigrants who fit into this period of immigration.  Maybe I’ll do a follow-up.  I’m sure you all will be waiting expectantly.  Just let me know when you are ready for more!

Happy Thanksgiving!