The following description and facts are taken mostly from the excellent book
by Johnson and Wheatly on the History of Pawtucket,
Rhode Island.
Bucklin's Brook was a stream that came out of a cedar
swamp around the foot of John Street and flowed south through the freight yards,
through Oak Grove Cemetery curved by what is McCoy Stadium and headed toward
Prospect Street and Maryland Avenue proceeding until it emptied into the
Pawtucket River near Beverage Hill Avenue. It all now flows underground. It
formed much of the east boundary of the Bucklin land holdings. See map -
map from Spaulding House Research Library. (Click to enlarge.) The 1691 roads
to Attleborough, Taunton, and Rehoboth are in
1999: Cottage Street, Central Avenue and North and South Bend streets to
Columbus Avenue. The northern boundary of the Bucklin land of 1691 is what in
1999 is approximately East Street near the South Attleboro line.
The dividing line between Joseph Bucklin's northern land
and the heirs Benjamin is approximately 1999's Sanford Street, and the line
between the heirs of Benjamin and Joseph Sr.'s southern third is approximately a
little north of Johnson Street of Pawtucket.
William Bucklin had his house at what would be today the east side of South
Bend Street opposite the end of Johnson Street; land now occupied by the Agnes
Little School.
In 1659, William's son Joseph announced his plans to marry Deborah Allen.
With this, William deeded the northern third of his 600 acres to Joseph with the
promise to build Joseph a house within one year. The house was built at
approximately what in 1999 is the location of Royal Square at the intersection
of Central Avenue, Cottage Street and Sabin Street of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
In 1664, William deeded the central third of his 600 acres to his other son,
Benjamin. Benjamin’s heirs (see below) built their house at what in 1999
is known as the corner of Walcott Street and the junction of North and South
Bend streets.
After the granting of the two thirds of his land to his son's, Willliam's
will provided that upon his and his wife's death, William's own southern third
was to be equally divided between the two sons. However, .Benjamin was killed in the Indian war called King
Philip's War in 1676 in an action known as Nine Men's Misery. He was not yet
36 years old. He left a wife, Rachel (Wheatly) Bucklin and six children as his
heirs. William Bucklin died in 1683 and his wife in 1687. William's
third of his 600 acres was transferred totally to Joseph. Therefore, at
the death of William, both the northern third and southern third of William's
600 acres belonged to Joseph and the middle third belonged to the heirs of Barak
Bucklin. (See map above.).
Joseph Bucklin Sr., like his father before him, gave shares of his homestead
land, while he still lived, to each of his four surviving sons: Joseph Jr.,
Barak, James, and Isaac.