Walter S. & Helen Bucklin
– Brookline, Massachusetts –
Walter and Helen Bucklin were prolific collectors of Shaker material. Primarily, they acquired furniture and other items from the Enfield Shaker Community to furnish their country estate, an 1830s brick farmhouse in New London, New Hampshire.
The connection to Merrimack County begins with Charles W. Bucklin (1839-1919), who was born to a farming family in Enfield, New Hampshire. As an adult, Charles moved first to Jersey City, New Jersey, and then to New York, where he became a dealer of leather for boots and shoes. In 1875, he married Frances (Fannie) Lydia Stanley (1849-1928), also of New Hampshire. They had three children: Charles Bucklin Jr., Edith M. Bucklin, and Walter Stanley Bucklin (1880-1965), who was born in New York City on February 2, 1880.
In 1892, Charles purchased the Davis Farm in New London, New Hampshire, and in 1894, he extended the property to the shore of Lake Sunapee by purchasing the Messer Farm, a 56-acre adjacent homestead. By 1900, Charles was renting the Messer Farm to his younger brother, Milo, who purchased the property outright in 1902. Charles also divested the Davis Farm at that time, selling it to A. J. Kidder.
On June 16, 1908, Walter Stanley Bucklin married Helen Messenger Cobb (1886-1978), who was born September 15, 1885, to Melville L. Cobb and Ella M. Messenger in Melrose, Massachusetts. The couple settled in Brookline, where Charles was President of Liberty Mutual Insurance from 1914-1923 before becoming President of the National Shawmutt Bank of Boston.
In 1910, ownership of the Messer Farm reverted from Milo Bucklin to his brother Charles, and, in 1912, Charles deeded the 110 acres of farm, pasture, and woodland, in northwest New London to Walter. Between 1920-1940, Walter and Helen Bucklin increased their landholdings to 600 acres by absorbing several 19th-century homestead farms. The couple converted vacant and underutilized farms—five properties in total—into a productive country estate. To their 1830s brick farmhouse, they added an enclosed porch, breezeway, trunk room, and garage between the dwelling and barn to create a “gentleman’s farm.” In 1937, they moved the former Penacook House Tavern from Boscawen to the meadow across the road. Sadly, the tavern burned down in 1938, and it was replaced by a plank house removed from Alexandria. Helen furnished this house with furniture and other items acquired from the former Shaker community in Enfield.
Walter Bucklin had two sons. Charles M. Bucklin (1920-1995) was born to Helen and, six months earlier, Benjamin L. Bucklin (1919-1991) had been born to the Bucklins’s housekeeper, Effie Langley. In 1926, Effie’s husband died, and Benjamin joined the Bucklin household, (he is listed as a “son” on the 1930 Brookline census). The two boys grew up together, both graduating from Milton Academy and Harvard.
In 1971, Benjamin Bucklin and his wife Joan Sullivan (1928-2011) moved to New London, although five more years passed before the brick farmhouse was officially deeded to them. In 1963, Walter Bucklin made a significant donation of land to the town of New London, which became the site of the New London Historical Society. After Joan died in 2011, the property was offered for sale and its contents—household furniture, artwork, books, musical instruments, farm equipment, and personal items—were auctioned under a tent in the front yard. Bucklin family members were among those bidding for heirlooms.
Further reading on the Bucklin family and the Bucklin Shaker Collection:
Mirror to America: A History of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950