Name/Title
Homer Bull at 102 years oldEntry/Object ID
003331Tags
Homer BullScope and Content
Homer Bull: 102 years in Monroe
“He’s a tough old man,” one family member concluded. “The Bulls just get warmed up at 90.”
By Rebecca Winslow
MONROE — The oldest member of one of the oldest families in Orange County celebrated his 102nd birthday Sunday at the home of his niece on Stage Road in Monroe.
Homer Bull — or Uncle Homer as he was known to everyone at the party — was born at home in 1884 on a lane named after the family called Bull Mine Road.
Born and raised in Monroe, he spent his early years as a dairy farmer on land off Cromwell Hill Road. Later, he became a carpenter, joining the business of his older brothers.
“Farmers tend to stay put,” family members offered as an explanation of a lifetime of over 100 years in Monroe. Bull only recently began living at the Orange County Infirmary.
“A lot of them stuck around (Orange County),” niece Marion Strebel added about the Bull clan.
Many of his nieces and nephews, as well as his grandchild and great niece, still live in Monroe.
Bull is the eighth generation of the Sarah Wells, William Bull family. Grandmother Wells, as history has it, was the first white woman in Orange County. She sailed up the Hudson on a slopp from Staten Island in 1720. Landing in New Windsor, she made her home in New Hamptonburgh between Goshen and Washingtonville along what is known today as Sarah Wells Trail. Bull descendants still live in the homestead.
Bull, who built many of the homes in Monroe — including homes in Round Lake Park and the home he lived in on Cromwell Hill Road until he was 100 — may have gotten his building blood from his distant grandfather, William Bull.
William Bull, an Englishman, was a stone mason who built, among other things, Knox Headquarters in New Windsor.
Bull was never a politician and never got involved in local government as many old timers in Monroe did. Instead he stayed busy with his work and raising his son, Robert, who is now a successful psychiatrist in Canada. He also took care of his wife until she died then lived by himself for a time. According to a niece at the party he was a great cake and pie baker.
“He was baking until he was 95,” she said.
When Bull turned 100 he received a letter from President Reagan. For the last two years he has gotten a blue ribbon, awarded for being the oldest family member at the Bull family picnic.
The picnic was attended by another well-known family member, Amy Bull Crist, who is well-known as the former Orange County District Superintendent of Schools. The picnic is an annual summer reunion held at the Bull homestead on Sarah Wells Trail. The event has been a tradition for 110 years and is attended by about 150 people each year.
“Sarah Wells had 12 children and some of her children had 12 children, so you can see why there are a lot of Bull descendants around,” said Mrs. Strebel.
Uncle Homer sat contentedly on a white, wooden lawnchair under the shade of a large Maple tree at the party. A few birthday presents were placed on a card table, covered with a happy birthday paper table cloth. Sixteen friends and family attended the backyard get-together.
Relatives had lots of theories about the secret of Uncle Homer’s longevity.
“If you are busy you live longer,” said one.
“If you get up at four and milk the cows and do other chores and then walk three miles to school to start your day, you become iron,” said another.
“The Bulls are a hearty stock,” said yet another. “Most live into their 90s. Sarah Wells was 102 or 104 back in the 1700s and she had 12 children.”
“He’s a tough, old man,” one family member concluded. “The Bulls just get warmed up at 90.”
Photo Caption:
WHAT'S THE SECRET OF LONG LIFE? Apparently if you have both the spirit and surname Bull, you have a good chance of passing 100 years of age. Here, Homer Bull of Monroe sits quietly during a party celebrating his 102nd birthday. Born in 1884, Monroe is the only place he's ever called home. He has lived through a lot of the town's history since it was incorporated under the Monroe name in 1808, 76 years before his birth. (Photo by Rebecca Winslow)