Name/Title
March 1914 & September 1914 Bull articlesEntry/Object ID
000435Tags
Bull FamilyScope and Content
Historical and Genealogical. Notes and Queries Relating to Orange County’s Old Families.
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1914.
From the following copy of a description of the road as established by the Commissioners in 1723, it is easily to be seen why it was necessary to have definite bounds. As they laid out the road in 1723, Main Street passed in the rear of the present residences of Henry Bacon, Russell Murray and the Misses Heard. During the year 1791 the road, or Main Street, was changed and straightened from in front of Judge Sweezy’s house to the ditch in front of William Robbins’s house by the Wickham family, Judge Wickham and his son, General William Wickham. The father of Isaac Finch, Abraham, was the first settler to die in Goshen. His will was proved the same year that Sarah Wells came to Orange County. He was buried near the fountain in the Church Park. The Holleys and Alsops came here before Sarah Wells. Eager, in his History of Orange County, tries to give Sarah Wells the credit, if it was any credit, being the first settler. He also tries to prove Christopher Denn as a hard hearted man in sending her as he did, when she did not go back as far as the older settlers. There were several families farther inland, leaving her between them and the river. Ruttenber, in his History of Orange County, says Sarah Wells was not the first female to come in this neighborhood. If Eager had searched the records he would not have made such a blunder. Records should stand before the statement of some very old person who receives his knowledge from tradition, and which should be taken for what it is worth when written records show to contrary. He also states that there were but four home lots when there were 32 home lots.
The following was recorded at the request of the commissioners of the precinct of Goshen in Orange County the 15th day of July Anno Dom 1723: Orange County on Precinct of Goshen:
GENEALOGY BANK Sat, Sep 26, 1914 | Evening Post (Charleston, SC) | Pg 7
At the last annual meeting of the descendants of William and Sarah
Wells Bull, in the Campbell Hall grove, Orange County, N. Y., who meet
yearly for a great picnic, Secretary Whitfield H. Bull read a letter of greeting
from Mr. William Edgar Bull, of Charleston, S. C. Also a committee was
appointed to secure permission to erect a marker on the site of the first log
cabin occupied by Sarah Wells. Mrs. Margaret C. Jackson told the historical
story of the aid given to William Bull by Daniel Cromline, and the friendship that still exists between descendants of the two families-a friendship
began nearly 200 years ago. Another interesting feature of the program was
the reading by Mrs. Ebenezer Bull of a poem written by a Jersey City cousin
on the Bull picnic. This picnic was the 47th annual reunion of the descendants of William and Sarah Wells Bull, 138 ladies and gentlemen being present some from the far West, from distant cities and from many homes in Orange county, N. Y., with cordial welcomes and greetings. The day was perfect, a day of gorgeous beauty and coolness, lights and shadows and balmy air. After the arrival of the noon train from Middletown and Goshen, hampers and baskets were unpacked and the tables loaded with the delightful things the descendants of Sarah Wells are noted for preparing so skillfully. The fest ended, the president of the association,
Judge Duryea, of Pine Bush, called the meeting to order, and reports of the
officers were given. The result of the election of new officers follows: Judge
William Bull, of Stoney Ford, president; Willard H. Bull, of Monroe, vice
president; William B. Cocks, of Cornwell, secretary; Miss Mary Wheeler, of
Warwick, treasurer. Adjoining the grove the younger generation enjoyed
a ball game on the diamond surrounded by the woods and meadows and the picturesque village of Campbell Hall. When the enlivening day was over, as
twilight descended, many visited the "Stone House" and feasted again on
the lawn at the historic homestead. It is a matter of regret to Mr. William
Edgar Bull, of this city, that he was unable to attend this reunion of the
Bull family, the memory of the one at which he was present being most happy.