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William Buckman |
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[DOANE.ged]
In the Year of Our Lord 1682 To Ye Aged and Beloved, Mr. John Higginson: There be now at sea a ship called Welcome, which has on board 100 or more of the heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penn, who is the chief scamp, at the head of them. The General Court has accordingly given sacred order to Master Malachi Hustcott, of the brig Porpoise, to waylat the said Welcome slyly as near the Cape of Cod as may be, and make captive the said Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with the heathen worship of these people. Much spoil can be made of selling the whole lot to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rum and sugan, and we shall not only do the Lord great good by punishing the wicked, but we shall make great good for His Minister and people. Yours in the bowels of Christ, Cotton Mather William Buckman, a carpenter from Billingshurst, in Sussex, England, a "Welcome" passenger, brought with him his wife, daughters, Mary and Sarah, and son, William. A daughter, Ruth, was born to them after their arrival. He took up a tract of land along the Bristol Road, above Churchville, which extended nearly to Richborough, Pennsylvania. His second wife was Elizabeth Wilson, by whom he had four children and at his death, in 1716, his widow married Thomas Story, of Falls, Pennsylvania. His children intermarried with the families of Cooper, Bock, Blaker, Penquite and Heston and left numerous descendents. (There is the same William Buckman, who later settled in Newtown, PA. There has been much confusion with this as the children are different. This second family accounts for this.) William Penn started a new settlement in Newton, Pennsylvania and shortly after this William Buckman sold his farm and stock to Shaw. Then Buckman bought a tract in Newtown township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on the Neshaminy of Robert Webb. He married his second wife, Elizabeth Wilson and they lived at this location until his death. His will is dated April 9, 1716. William and Elizabeth lived on the Bristol Road above Churchville to Richborough, Pennsylvania. William lies buried in the old grave yard at Newtown in Newtown township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The grave yard is overgrown with briars and trees and a few dilapidated tombstones remain. William Buck, the immigrant was born, probably, at or near Billinghurst, Sussex, England, about the year 1650, the son, probably the eldest, of Edward and Joan Bagham Buckman. Though no record of his birth or baptism has been found, he is associated with the other children of his parents in the baggage memoranda already quoted, and he inherited the land rights of his brothers, Edward and Thomas when they died without issue. Thre can be no doubt of his position in this family. Along with his family as passengers on the "Welcome" were his two brothers, Edward and Thomas, his sister Ruther and their widowed mother, Joan Buckman. There is a possibility that his eldest child, Thomas started the voyage with the others but died of the smallpox enroute. The Middletown Monthly Meeting minutes on the 8th month, 2nd day of 1690 (August 2, 1690), the names of contributors to the meeting house fund and among them we find Willm (sic) Buckman with a 5s 1d contribution. He was appointed on of several to lay out a road from Newtown to the ferry on the second Wednesday in December 1693, reappointed 10 June 1696, on which day the work was reported done. Similarly, on 5 October 1697, he was appointed to lay out a road from Wrightstown to Neshamineh Meeting House, and he was a juror in 1684, on the grand jury in 1688, 1689, 1691, and 1698, and a witness on 14 April 1698.
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