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Joseph Bucklin 4th - Biography
JOSEPH BUCKLIN (JOSEPH, JOSEPH,
JOSEPH, WILLIAM,)
was born 20 February 1719/20
in Coventry, Kent, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, an English colony.
He married Zereriah Sabin 29 September 1751.
"Be it remembered that Capt. Joseph Bucklin departed this life December
27, 1790, on Monday at four minutes after 2 o'clock P.M. after a lingering
disease, appearance quietly and easy in mind, and was buried the day following
in the common burying ground North End of Providence. Aged 70 years, 10 months
and one day."
In 1772, when Joseph Bucklin 4th was 52 years old, somebody named
Joseph Bucklin fired the first shot in the Revolution against England.
That Joseph Bucklin wounded the English ship captain in Rhode Island's
capture and burning of the English ship "Gaspee". That person was probably
Joseph (4th)'s son, Joseph (5th) Thus,
Joseph Bucklin 4th' s son was the "Joseph Bucklin" who fired the shot which hit
the British ship captain in what sometimes is said by historians to have been
the first deliberate military engagement of the Revolution.
The King's Attorney General and also the Solicitor General declared it
treason and an act of war. The King proclaimed a reward of 1000£, and
ordered if the person who shot the English captain was found, the traitor would
be brought to England for trial. The family of Joseph Bucklin obviously had reasons for hoping
that the American Revolution did not end in failure, with the instigators of the
Revolution being hanged as traitors.
Joseph 4th was a merchant in the area of Providence, Rhode Island. From 1759,
until his death in 1790 he shows up on lists of occupants of Providence
buildings, as a landowner having houses, wharfs, barns, and shops. .He operated
ships both as an owner and also as his own ship captain (from which his title of
"Captain" comes). It is significant that he gave his title in his will as
"Merchant". A merchant was someone who made their money by a wholesale
importation or exportation of goods to or from the colony. Gentleman and
Yeoman were titles that indicated a person of importance who preferred that
others think of him as a person of wealth and status, not as someone who worked
because of need to earn a living. [Wood 1991]. Joseph 4th had a blockmaker's shop on his property, but Joseph was not the block maker or the
shopkeeper; Joseph was the financial and managerial backing for the shop.
And although Joseph had piloted his own ships, and thus had the title of
Captain, the ship was a means to the end of being a merchant.
Providence of Captain Bucklin's period had a flourishing maritime trade, a
merchant aristocracy, a few industries, a body of skilled artisans, a newspaper,
a stagecoach line, and several public buildings. Fortunes of many of the
merchants and ship owners had been built on the export of lumber, fish and rum,
and the importation of tea and sugar and molasses, and slaves. Whaling was
the basis of a thriving candle factory. Tea, sugar, sugar, molasses and rum were
examples of items which the English tried to tax and the Providence merchants
preferred to import without paying the tax. Joseph was one of those
merchants.
Joseph Bucklin 4th started using ships to gather and trade merchandise at
least by 1760, when he rented a sloop from Esek Hopkins. Joseph’s account book
and other papers in the manuscript department holdings of the Rhode Island
Historical Society suggest that he was at least moderately successful in using
one ship at a time to increase his capital. These sailing ventures
expanded to include a blockmaker's shop and sales of materials for the repair or
outfitting of ships.
 In November of the same year of 1760, Esek Hopkins was paying
Joseph Bucklin for planking for the keel of the brigantine Providence and for wages
for skilled labor (black Prince Bucklin) in connection with the repairs.
(The signature at the top of this page is taken from his bill to Hopkins for the
lumber and labor.
The brigantine Providence has a history
that involves Joseph Bucklin,
It was commissioned in 1757 by Stephen Hopkins, then governor of Rhode Island,
as a privateer to seize goods of France. Esek Hopkins was the captain of the
privateer ship. After the Seven Years War, the brigantine Providence continued
in use. In 1768 it was partly owned by Joseph Bucklin the 4th, together with
Nicholas Cooke and Benjamin Cushing. In 1768 he served as his own master
of the brigantine Providence when it was confiscated for being involved in
smuggling. Joseph sued to recover the ship and the rum seized as contraband.
He won the case, and costs were assessed against the customs collector.
Thus, Captain Bucklin himself had been accused of smuggling of rum, and was
probably well acquainted with the famous four merchant Brown brothers of
Providence, including John Brown, the leader of the Gaspee attack.
Click here to go to various accounts of
the Gaspee Affair
Bucklins were prominent in the Providence/Pawtucket area. The fact that in 1761 Joseph Bucklin petitioned the legislature to get the streets of
Providence paved, and was appointed, together with John Brown, as one of
the directors of the Providence Street Paving Lottery suggests he was a
prosperous merchant by that time.
Joseph Bucklin 4th participated in advisory capacities in public committees
involved n the Revolutionary War. He was involved with work in the
fortification of Fort Independence, guarding the port of Providence.
Joseph 4th was a member of the Rhode Island's legislatures "Committee of
Correspondence" that was organized to coordinate the resistance of the colonies
to England. Joseph 4th was also one of the committee formed by Providence
to see to the enforcement of the ideas of the First Continental Congress.
These were important committees, on which were the important men of the day.
 The Bucklins of 1772 owned a large portion of the land across the Sekonk
River from Providence. (Click on the thumbnail map to get an idea of the
large size of the Bucklin holdings compared to the town of Providence.) Indeed if one crossed the river going from
Providence going to Boston, it was impossible not to be on Bucklin family land.
The Bucklins were always involved in civic affairs of the Pawtucket area
adjacent to Providence. Hence, Joseph Bucklin was of
a "proper" family entitled to respect.
Yet, one does not see accounts of social interactions between the Brown
family and Bucklin family. A clue may lie in the fact that Joseph Bucklin
4th had one of the earliest and best lots on the west side of the Providence
River, when the compact part of Providence was expanded west of the Market
Square and across the river. This new portion of Providence, with its new
street of "Westminster Street" was not clearly under the social rule of
the Brown brothers and those associated with them.
Here are more facts about Joseph BUCKLIN, 4th, Capt.
JOSEPH1 BUCKLIN, 4TH, CAPT. was born 20 Feb 1719/20 in Coventry,
Kent, RI1,2, and died 27 Dec 1790 in Providence, RI3,4.
CAPT. JOSEPH BUCKLIN, 4TH, was the fourth in an unbroken line in Rhode
Island of Joseph Bucklins, starting with the son of William Bucklin, the 1630
colonist from England that moved to Rhode Island in 1645.
Joseph Bucklin is shown on the 1759 list of those who had property at risk of
fire in the compact part of Providence. There had been a serious fire the year
before and many buildings were destroyed. The 1759 assessments for fire
protection were based on the value of the property in the area considered to be
at most risk of fire because of the "compact" nature of that part of
Providence..
Joseph Bucklin was assessed 20 pounds, which placed him in the upper 25% of
persons according to amounts assessed for buildings in the town. The assessors
did not include in his assessment anything for the next door building of
Bucklin and Donnison which the assessors described as "House &c 4.th[sic] order
with a Wharf Lot" . That building was assessed to Donnison. Joseph
was assessed for the house and buildings described as being the third lot from
the river, beginning at the bridge, on the West side of the river, on the North
side of Westminster Street. [Chase Papers, box 1, f. 21] (the Bucklin and
Donnison joint building was the second from the bridge) Joseph and
Donnison also had a building of some sort southerly, near Fields point, but it
was not assessed, which suggests it was not in the "compact:" part of the town.
This was the area preferred for the easy unloading of ships, which suggests a
warehouse as the building of Joseph there.
- Compare the assessment of substantial merchant Obadiah Brown, assessed 40
pounds, who at the who operated in town a rum distillery, and a
spermaceti candle works factory. Compare the assessment of Ambrose Page,
assessed 30 pounds, who at the time had two houses, and four warehouses.
[Chace Papers, box 1, f. 6] Joseph's house stood next to that of Sam
Butler, whose property was described by the assessor as "A tolerable good
house and wharf well furnished."
- When the assessors went next to Joseph's property, they described five
structures that they assessed as "[1]A House better than the former
---[2]Wharf, [3]Store ;& [4]Block makers Shop -- all good and compleat -- and
[5]Stable." This comparison by the assessors with their other
assessments indicates Joseph's properties were in good condition. [A
"block maker" is a specialist in making the wooden "blocks" , a pulley or set
of pulleys set in a casing, used in lifting objects by mechanical
advantage. A number of "blocks" were used on board sailing ships.)
- The nature of Joseph being both a ship captain and also a merchant is
illustrated by his designation as "mariner" but still being taxed for " a
house, store, block making shop & wharf, all good and complete, and a stable"
at the "N. Sd. Market" [Chace Papers, box 1, f. 18]. [See also Kinsley
Cooper's remarkable 1771 inventory of the houses of Providence.], plus a
second wharf and house on the waterfront at South Main street.
The census of Rhode Island in 1774 shows Joseph 4th heading a household in
Providence consisting of three males above the age 16 (himself, his son Joseph
5th, and one other male), two females above the age 16 (his wife and daughter
Nancy), one female under the age 16 (his daughter Sally), and three blacks.
The additional white male and three blacks is consistent with Joseph doing a
good merchandise and/or ship repair business in the town of Providence.
"Be it remembered that Capt. Joseph Bucklin departed this life December 27,
1790, on Monday at four minutes after 2 o'clock P.M. after a lingering disease,
appearance quietly and easy in mind, and was buried the day following in the
common burying ground North End of Providence. Aged 70 years, 10 months and one
day."
This was an entry in Joseph's family bible, an entry made by
the only member of his family who survived him.
Because of Joseph clear prominence as a merchant, consistently being
referred to with the title "Capt." in news articles because of his merchant ship
adventures, there is one published item about Joseph Bucklin 4th that does not
make sense to us. That is the 1861 statement of Bartlett, in his history
of the destruction of the Gaspee. As Secretary of State of Rhode
Island, Bartlett had access to the official documents, and added his own
observations in a privately printed edition of 125 copies of the documents.
In a footnote at p. 20 with no source given, Bartlett describes who Joseph
Bucklin was. Bartlett does not in any way refer to Bucklin's occupation as
merchant captain and merchant. Bartlett said of Joseph's occupation:
"Joseph Bucklin . . . .kept a prominent restaurant, or place of resort, in
South Main Street, where gentlemen resorted for their suppers"; and Bartlett
went on to say the Bucklin "restaurant" was near Sabin's tavern. From thence
have come all later statements that it was Joseph Bucklin 4th that was the
shooter, and that he was an innkeeper.
From the evidence presented, we do not think Joseph Bucklin 4th was a
restaurant owner. Bartlett was not born in time to be either a participant or
witness to 18th century events. A young Bartlett's only advantage as a
fact gatherer was that he had some social conversations with an elderly Bowen before Bowen died in 1840.
Joseph Bucklin 4th in 1772 would not have been known as an restaurant owner or
innkeeper. He was known as "Capt." and for his substantial merchant
and shipping interests. There is absolutely no doubt that Capt.
Bucklin made his substantial money from the ship/merchant business, and
participated in town events on that basis.
Joseph Bucklin 4th does not show up on the tax lists for 1770 as having
any tavern property but rather as having wharfs and shops. The only known
property of Joseph that was on South Main Street was a building and wharf owned
by the mercantile partnership of Bucklin and Donnison. The building was not near
Sabins' tavern, but rather near Fields point. Fields point was the area
preferred for the easy unloading of ships, which suggests a warehouse as the
building. It is possible that after Joseph's first wife died in 1776, and
before Joseph remarried, Joseph as a businessman of means found it convenient to
open a place where he and other unmarried men could have a supper, and that post
1776 item formed the basis for a story that Bartlett turned into a fact of for
1772. Alternative, and just as speculatively, the fact that Joseph's first
wife was a Sabin (although she was not from the tavern keeping Sabin
families) caused confusion when Bartlett was talking to the "old-timers" and
gathered his information. Alternatively, and more likely to us, Bartlett
simply was wrong, in his undocumented assertion that Joseph Bucklin 4th was an
innkeeper.
Click here for More Facts About
CAPT. JOSEPH BUCKLIN 4th
Click here for Facts about the property of Capt.
Bucklin 4th
Click here for facts about the Captain's
son -- Joseph Bucklin 5th
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