Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the
Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their
children and their descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the
following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. alluding to their great
principle The Unity of the Empire.
In Vermont lies the story of why some Bucklin descendents (the children of
Susanna Bucklin) have U.E. after their names. Read details about
the English spy that Susanna married.
Or read
the full story of Susanna's ordeal
and weep for Susanna in Rutland.
Many Bucklins are buried in the area of Rutland, Vermont.
Colonial and post-Revolutionary life was hard for women, many giving birth every
year and most of the children dying.
"Died...at Danby, on the 6th inst. a child of Rufus Bucklin,
Esq., aged 9 months. This is the tenth child Mr. Bucklin has followed to the
grave. He has three children living." "Rutland Herald, 8
April 1826, Vitals.
Your Sweetest Stop: The New England Maple Museum
located on Route 7 in Pittsford, VT.
The "sweetest story ever told"
is what you'll find with a visit to the New England Maple Museum. This lesson in
history, technology, economics, culture, and nature is one not to be missed in a
trip to Vermont.
Bucklin Hill
is located in West Guilford, a few miles east of Halifax,
VT, in the Green River valley of
southeastern Vermont. Halifax is an
entirely rural township comprised of wooded, steep valleys. It is the second
oldest town in Vermont, chartered by King George the
Second before the birth of the American republic. The original setting of the Bucklin
Farm was majestic. Sitting on a hilltop plateau by itself, the original
farmhouse location (
photo, top left) commanded a view down the Green River Valley, one of the
last undeveloped river valley in Vermont). The farm was a hard scrabble
subsistence dairy, timber, and vegetable operation throughout the nineteenth
century.
To get to the location of the Bucklin farm and also the
original Bucklin family cemetery on the land, you go to the location known
locally as the Carpenter Cemetery. ( The Carpenter Cemetery is actually on
the Bucklin Farm Hill property. Carpenter was a prominent man, a somewhat
earlier settler than Bucklin, the adjoining landowner to Bucklin, and the
Bucklin and Carpenter families were buried in the same location.). Start from
Battleboro, VT, and go South on US Highway 91 until you get to Exit 1. Exit
the US Highway, and head to Guilford, VT. In Guilford, turn right on Guilford
Center Road and go about three miles to the Guilford Historical Society and
what used to be a more thriving town, although still known as Guilford
Center.
In Guilford Center you take the Carpenter Hill Road, a dirt road which
will take you to Carpenter Hill, where the Carpenter Cemetery is located.
When you come to a fork in the road, bear left. Continue to bear left.
Eventually you get to the cemetery. It is on the left-hand side of the road,
up-hill from the road, at a point where the road starts to descend the hill.
The
Bucklin Hill home was built on the top of the hill (see photo left).
The structure was added to substantially before the photo on the left
was taken. The home is now owned by Stuart and Barbara
Hunt. In the late 1900's Stuart Hunt was a Vermont state senator. [That’s the
reason why the Carpenter Hill Road when it comes out on the "Hinesberg
(paved) Road" is called the Senator Hunt Road.] The Hunts orally have
reported that Lurinda Bucklin, who died March 26, 1874, was the last person
to live in the Bucklin Hill home, and that she was the wife of John Bucklin,
who died June 10, 1865.
Across the road from the Carpenter (/Bucklin) Cemetery a Baptist church
was started. However, when construction was abandoned at an early stage of
construction and the Baptist church then was built about a mile away in what
became West Guilford. The reason for the shift in location probably was the
difficulty of reaching the top of the Bucklin Hill in the wintertime. In like
manner the difficulty of going up the hill in the winter probably was the
reason why the original Bucklin hilltop location for the house was abandoned,
and the house taken by ox sled down to its present location near the foot of
the hill where the land is somewhat flat and contained (and still does) the
major roadway for the farms of the area.
The Rev. Benjamin Bucklin (1754-1838) and wife, Patience Horton, lived in
Guilford, VT, where Bucklin Hill Farm is located. Rev. Bucklin started the
Guilford Baptist Church in about 1778. Benjamin was the son of Esquire
(Squire) Bucklin (1731-1818) of Foster, Rhode Island and wife, Hopestill
Ballou. The towns of Guilford, VT, had a number of Bucklins, Ballous and
Carpenters. The Reverend Benjamin Bucklen changed the spelling of his name to
Bucklen and some of his descendents changed the spelling to Buckland. Rev.
Benjamin Bucklin died at the age of 84 years.
