In understanding the information about William Bucklin (b. ca 1606) it is necessary to know about both Josias Plaistow and also Jonathan Bosworth.  Although we have examined many records, see generally the excellent summaries and leads to the existing documents found in: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.  This book is listed in our Society Library Catalog, as are others cited in brackets in these web pages.

JOSIAS PLAISTOW AND WILLIAM BUCKLIN

The records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony then have several mentions of Plaistow.   They start with an entry of 1 March 1630/1: "Mr. Plaistow" was one of six men to be sent back to England on the Lyon, or as soon thereafter as possible "as persons unmeet to inhabit here" [MBCR 1:82]

27 September 1631: "It is ordered, that Josias Plaistow shall (for stealing 4 baskets of corn from the Indians) return them 8 baskets again, be fined £5, & hereafter to be called by the name of Josias, & not Mr., as formerly he used to be, & that William Buckland & Tho: Andrewe shall be whipped for being accessory to the same offense" [MBCR 1:92]. Winthrop reports this case, adding the details that the corn had been stolen from Chickatabot and his men (who were present at court) and that Buckland and Andrews were Plaistow's servants [WJ 1:74]. 

5 June 1632: "There is a commission granted to Mr. Pinchon & Mr. Mavericke, Senior, to make inquiry, & to take depositions of the creditors of Josias Plaistow & their witnesses, that it may appear what debts are owing by him, & so his estate to be preserved here till the next Court" [MBCR 1:96].  The commissioners on Plaistow's estate were from Dorchester and Roxbury, it would seem that Plaistow was active somewhere on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay; this is consistent with the involvement of Chickatabot, and Indian of that area.

This court record of June 1632 indicates a settlement of an estate of a debtor, not as of a deceased person, and yet the debtor is not a party to the proceedings.  Thus, Plaistow had departed from Massachusetts Bay, sometime after the September 1631 court record and before the June 1632 court record, leaving behind some estate, and also some debts.  Ordinarily, ships did not depart/arrive New England to/from England in the winter, so it is most likely that Plaistow departed with the resumption of the ship schedules in the spring of 1632.   

What about his servants Andrews and Bucklin?

As for the THOMAS ANDREWS mentioned in this 27 September 1631 order of the Court of Assistants of Massachusetts Bay that "Tho. Andrewe and Will Buckland " be whipped as an accessory to Josias Plaistow in the theft of corn from the Indians [MBCR 1:92] — does not show up in any records after that according to all researchers.  Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1620, at entry for Thomas Andrews comes to the conclusion that it can reasonably could be supposed that he went back to England as a servant to Plaistow. 

The same reasonable supposition can be made about William Buckland.  That is, from the time of the court orders about Plaistow until 1634 there is no record of anyone named Buckland or its soundex equivalents (e.g., Bucklin).  After 1634, and the mention of "our" William Buckland/Bucklin, there is no mention of any other William Buckland/Bucklin except for "our" William Bucklin [We exclude a later William Buckland who is clearly not either the Will Bucklin of the Plaistowe court order or "our" William Bucklin of the 1635 record.]   We can reasonably think that he went back to England with Plaistow in the spring of 1632.

Mary Bosworth Clarke, [Bosworth Genealogy.[ 45 and 51] records the arrival on the ship Elizabeth Dorcus, in 1634 of "Edward Bosworth, who with his wife Mary....had with them their sons...a daughter Mary, and her husband William Buckland... 

This statement by Clarke may not be accurate as to William Buckland. It certainly is not accurate as to "their sons".  Edward and Mary had only three sons.  But son Jonathan was in Cambridge by 1633, perhaps sent to prepare the way or send back a report whether the rest of the family should come.  [See Anderson, Great Migration 1620 entry for Jonathan Bosworth.]

Shortly thereafter, in 1635, Hingham MA records show "Wm. Buckland had land granted to him as follows: 4 acres ...Wearyall Hill; a house lot of 5 acres near present ...West Hingham; 2 acres at Great Plain; 2 acres at Layford... Meadow; and 3/4 acres of salt meadow at Cohasset. He also owned 1 lot at Broad Cove" Thereafter, in the Colony's court records of  July 1635  William Buckland appears along with the sons of Edward Bosworth as one of "Edward Bosworth & his family" whose transportation had been paid by Henry Sewall [Massachusetts Bay Colony Records 1:152 .  In our view the most reasonable supposition is that the William of the 1630 record of Winthrop and the William of the ship arrival of 1634  is the same William.  While this identification remains  in our view as "most likely", it is not certain. 

The gravestone for William's son Joseph Buckland provides an age at death from which a calculated birth date of 26 June 1633 may be derived.  To  have the William Buckland of the 1631 record be the same as the 1634 husband of Mary Bosworth, we have to believe that William Buckland returned to England in 1632 (this is likely, the servants of Plaistow would have returned to England with him in 1632), fathered his son Joseph,  and then sailed for New England again in or before 1634. 

It is possible that the 1630 William was a different person than the husband of Mary Bosworth.  We think not.  The name William Buckland/Bucklin was not a common name.  There is a  short time frame in which  Will Buckland/Bucklin shows up in the same area of the south shore of the Massachusetts Bay.

Continue on to notes about Jonathan Bosworth, brother in law of William Bucklin