Name/Title
Newspaper December 6, 1996 Bull girls passing (photo from 1978)Entry/Object ID
000360Tags
Molly Bull, Amy Bull Crist, Corinne Brown, Helen VandervortScope and Content
TIMES HEARLD RECORD Friday, December 6, 1996 Pg49
obituaries
The four "Bull girls" pose with Rep. Benjamin A.
Gilman at the 50th wedding anniversary for both
Helen Vandervort and Corinne Brown in August
1978 at "Brick Castle" in Stoney Ford. The sisters, from left, Molly Bull Bazemore, Corinne Brown, Amy Bull Crist, and Helen Vandervort.
[Right Clipping]
'Bull girl's' passing marks end of an era
By PAULINE GREENBERG, Staff Writer
STONEY FORD — Molly Bull Bazemore hasn't lived
at the family homestead, "Brick Castle," for more than
60 years. She moved to Georgia decades ago with her
husband. Yet, when she passed away on Nov. 22, at
the age of 89, Orange County mourned.
Bazemore was the last surviving Bull sister and her
passing ends an important era in Orange County his-
tory. Another generation of the famous Bull family has
passed on the torch to its children.
The four sisters, Amy Bull Crist, Corinne Brown,
Helen Vandervort and Molly Bull Bazemore, were direct
descendants of William Bull and Sarah Wells, some of
the earliest settlers in Orange County.
William Bull's birth in 1689 is listed among the earliest
records in the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in
Wolverhampton in England. Bull, trained as a stonecutter by
his father, came to America in 1716, settling in Grey-
court — later known as Chester — where he worked as
a mason for David Cromline, one of the early patentees
of the Wawayanda Patent.
In 1718, William married Sarah Wells, a pioneer
woman of the area whose high ideals and remarkable
fortitude have been well-recorded in local history books.
Sarah and William had 12 children, all of whom married and all of whom settled on land very near their parents; and remarkably, where a great many of their heirs still reside.
The four Bull sisters — many generations apart from
their family founders — were all born and married in
the historic "Brick House" homestead.
Their family history is much more than the many historic buildings they've preserved throughout the county.
Locally the Bulls are known for their philanthropic
work, and Bazemore's sister, Amy, was Orange County's
own grande dame. Bazemore was born July, 6 1907, on the homestead.
She was the daughter of the late Mary Manning and
Bartow Bull. Mary Ann Cohen, Bazemore's niece and daughter of
Corinne Brown, said the Bull family lives on in the many
children, nieces and nephews the four sisters leave
behind. "My brothers and I want to continue the family values
they taught us," she said. This isn't the end to the Bull family legacy, she added. If you've ever seen the family's historic August reunion,
now in its 128th year, you'd understand. The family
boasts more than 20,000 members worldwide.
Bazemore has donated her body to the Augusta Medical School. Donations in her memory can be made to
Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse of Greater
Augusta, P.O. Box 3884, Augusta, Ga. 30904. A memorial
service will be held in Augusta at a later date.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Amy Bull, Corrine Brown, Helen Vandervort, Molly Bull