Benjamin Buckland (1640 - 1676)

Born 27 Feb 1640 in Hingham, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Rachel (Wheatley) Loring — married 1660 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

Descendants

Died 26 Mar 1676 at age 36 in Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island

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Biography

He is the son of William Buckland and Mary Bosworth. Benjamin was baptised in Hingham on 2 Jul 1640.^[1] He passed away in 1676.

The Nine Men’s Misery monument marks the place where on March 26, 1676, nine Rhode Island soldiers, including Benjamin Bucklin, were killed by Native Americans in King Phillip’s War.

King Philip (a Wampanoag Chief whose name was Metacomet), initially succeeded in the battles with the colonists. One of the most disastrous military battles for the colonists was called Pierce’s Fight, in which most of the colonial soldiers of Pierce’s command were killed.

A group of nine of the soldiers escaped the original Indian ambush, but were separately later captured, tortured, and killed. Benjamin Bucklin was one of the nine who were killed. The nine bodies were found a day later by a military burial mission working on burying the remains of those killed the day before. The remains were buried on the spot on which they were found, a rise of land in a swampy area. Because of the gruesome nature of the torture indicated by the state of the bodies found by the burial mission, the site became known locally as the Nine Men’s Misery.

Benjamin’s remains were identified, at the Nine Men’s Misery location, by (a) his large size; and (b) having what was described as a “set of double teeth all round.”^[2]

Benjamin is buried in Nine Men's Misery Cemetery,^[3]

His inventory was taken on 17 June 1676 and recorded at Plymouth. His widow Rachel made oath on the truth of the inventory on 2 April 1677.^[4]

His widow Rachel was granted administration and it was ordered to distribute a third to her and she was to have use of the land until the six children came of age.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts (The Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1893): Vol II, p.96]
2. ↑ The Joseph Budklin Society
3. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #31830164
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-V38P : 13 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 435 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
5. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97D-V3LK : 13 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 436 of 616; State Archives, Boston.