Name/Title
Sept 1917 & Aug 1918 - Bull PicnicsEntry/Object ID
000439Tags
Bull PicnicScope and Content
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1917. BULL FAMILY PICNIC. Annual Gathering of Descendants of Sarah Wells and William Bull. The fifty-fifth annual picnic of the Bull family was held at Campbell Hall on last Wednesday in August. The weather was delightful and 175 members of the family and visitors gathered in the grove and partook of the bountiful noon day picnic dinner. The president, Hamlet S. Roe presided at the business meeting and made a cordial address of welcome. He was re-elected president, as was Mary F. Mitchell, of New York, treasurer, Mrs. Martha Hallock, of Washingtonville, as first vice-president is a new elected officer, as is Mrs. Mary M. Myers, of Jersey City, as secretary. Several addresses were given, speakers, Norman Bull, of Poughkeepsie, read a list of the young men who have enlisted in the service. The president spoke with deep feeling of William Bennett, who made an address at the picnic last year, and whose death, in his young manhood, has been so mourned. The committee to mark the site of Sarah Wells's log cabin reported the inscription for the tablet had not been decided upon by the committee. The day of reunion, many went to the Stone House to spend the evening, where the next picnic will be held and the anniversary of the marriage of Sarah Wells and William Bull, 200 years ago, will be celebrated. The Bull family being a committee to suggest plans for the entertainment. It is hoped each one will take an interest in this and send suggestions during the year.
________________________________________
BULL FAMILY IN SESSION Annual Picnic Held on Wednesday OVER 300 PRESENT Action on Memorial Is Postponed [Handwritten: Times-Press 8/30 1917] The following accounts of the Bull family picnic were received by the Times-Press today: Notwithstanding the threatening clouds and rain at close intervals, over 300 gathered at the Thomas Bull stone house, on Wednesday, near Hamptonburgh, now owned by Robert Jackson, home, for the 51st annual Bull family picnic. With the cheerful fireplaces and stoves and large, well filled tables, so bountifully, the meeting of old friends and pleasant faces went on apace, and the program, which continued so cheerfully, very for the rest of the day. Carpets were spread upon the damp but spacious lawn at the close of dinner, so that the overflow of guests relieved. At frequent intervals throughout the afternoon solos and instrumental music were enjoyed. The principal topic for discussion was the proposed memorial for those in the late war. Whether it should be a booklet, a tablet, a history of the family, a scholarship, a granite shaft, the upkeep of the graveyard, or a town or Sarah Wells Hall, in the village of Hamptonburgh, was more or less discussed. A few of the younger members of the family, and some of the older, who seemed to be quite enthusiastic that the town hall suggestion should become an accomplished fact at the earliest possible moment. Various reasons were offered, but one of the young speakers very frankly remarked, "The town needs a town hall cause "Hamptonburgh" needs a town hall." The matter was finally disposed of by the president, Hamlet S. Roe, electing a committee of five members to receive further suggestions and give their whole and their careful consideration and report their findings at the next annual gathering. The members of said Memorial committee are: Chairman; Ebenezer Bull, of Blooming Grove; George R. Bull, of Campbell Hall, and Miss Lillian Bull, of Middletown, associate members. Many of the very best suggestions offered during the day, and long after the family gatherings had become so large and such important matters were to be brought up for their joint consideration, the executive committee should be carefully selected with that they shall best attention, not only because they possess but they should be willing to give the duties their best attention. Some others felt that the members of the family were equally applicable to all of the offices to be filled. That the presiding officer followed some of the rudirudiments of parliamentary tactics, the prerogative of between an amendment and discussion between an amendment and a motion should be somecounter and when made as an amendment is out of order and cannot be entertained, that a proper (Continued on page ten.)
________________________________________
Bull Family in Session (Continued from page one) amendment should be disposed of before a consideration of the original motion, etc., and that all officers should at least be familiar with the difference between personalities and proper procedure. As usual the last song was "God be with you till we meet again," but the company was not much dispersed until after 6 o'clock, so pleasant was most successful reunion enjoyed. At the Thomas Bull House. Campbell Hall, August 30.—The 51st Bull picnic held Wednesday. Unusual interest attached to the meeting this year owing to the fact that a memorial to the Bull descendants who served in the war was under consideration. In the family eighty-three members of the family are now known to have served in some capacity including one colonel, several majors and captains and nine women. Visitors, despite rain in the morning gathered at the "Hill Hold," or "Hill Hold," the house of Mrs. Margaret Crawford Jackson, in the town of Hamptonburgh. The picnic was held there this year as it is the 150th anniversary of its building. Tables were set on the lawn, on the porches and in the house, which was taxed almost beyond its capacity, but everyone had a good time, notwithstanding. Mr. Jackson spoke for about five minutes on the history of the family and briefly outlining the history of the house which stands on ground granted by George I, of England, to William Bull in 1724. He gave the tract to his son, Thomas, who built the house in 1767, and his descendants continued to live there until his death in 1801. It has been held by his descendants almost continuously to the present day. Mr. Jackson has only recently discovered that Thomas was somewhat hindered in his plans, as took the news very cheerfully perhaps because his brother William's Commission as Captain in the Revolutionary War hung in the hall as an antidote, having been loaned for the occasion by Mrs. Elizabeth Bull Greene. Greetings to those present from Mrs. Marianna Booth Woolsey, of Florence, Ariz.; Mrs. Minnie Bull Jenkins, of Racine, Wis.; Mrs. J. J. Jackson, of New York; N. C. and William Edgar Bull, of Charleston, S. C., were read. In addition, many letters had been received expressing interest in the memorial, over 60 had sent in votes for the proposed town hall, 30 for the granite shaft, and eight for the engraved list which were the only forms that had been submitted in a circular letter which had been sent out. A description of these various forms as well as of certain additional proposals made since the circular had been sent, including a history of the family with pictures of those on the Honor Roll, Cathedral Chimes for the church and a scholarship. Miss Lillian Bull spoke enthusiastically on this latter subject as did Mr. Jackson for the town hall and Mr. Young for the history. A motion was ultimately carried that the matter of the memorial be left in the hands of a committee composed of Charles M. Bull, of Poughkeepsie, chairman; Miss Lillian Bull, of Chester; Ebenezer Bull, of the "Stone House;" Robert Jackson, of "Hill Hold;" Ernest Bull, of Monroe. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Robert McLeod Jackson; vice-president, Helen Slaughter; secretary, Margaret C. Cook; treasurer, Mary A. Wheeler; executive committee, William Bull, Nathan H. Bull, Helen Bull, Pierson Booth, John Thew, William Bull.