Name/Title
August 1953 Bull PicnicEntry/Object ID
000507Tags
Bull PicnicScope and Content
Bull Family Holds Annual Reunion;
Hundreds Attend
Between 300 and 400 people attended the Bull Family reunion
at the Stone House in Hamptonburgh on Wednesday afternoon
August 26. Although a heat wave prevailed, thick shades of maple
trees and a gentle breeze made everyone comfortable. As
always there were many from distant points and many first
comers. Special interest attached to the presence of Miss Sarah M. Eager of Pomona, Calif., who is the last surviving grandchild of Samuel W. Eager, author of the classic, "History of Orange County." Miss Eager
was born in St. Louis, Mo., the daughter of Samuel W. Eager
Jr., who was a lawyer in that city. Northerners were not always popular in St. Louis then, and the neighbors on one side of the Eager house kept blinds
drawn and built a high fence so that they would not be looking
out on those "damned Yankees." In those days the young Ulysses S. Grant hauled fire-wood to the Court House in St. Louis, and Mr. Eager, as County Clerk, paid him. Later the latter enlisted on the side of the North
and rose to be a Captain. He was an aide to General Edwards
for a long time and afterwards to two other generals. Still later,
and when his daughter Sarah was about two months old, the
family moved to Racine, Wis., where she spent a great part of
her life. Then she went to California. Miss Eager drove herself to
the picnic in 1948, but this year she came by train. She brought
East with her a photograph of the historian's house on Union
St., Montgomery, N. Y., where her father and his brothers and
sisters were born. She did not know the exact site of the house
nor whether it was still standing. Miss Marion O. Teed, a member
of the Eager Family in Montgomery, was able to identify the
structure for her, though it has been removed from the corner of
the lot to the center, and a port-cochere and roomy porch
have been added. It is now the Renwick T. Senior house, but
the Seniors were unaware that their home had formerly been
that of the famous historian. Happy Memories
As a girl in her teens, Miss Eager had spent months in the
original Eager homestead at Neelytown, Hamptonburgh, then
owned by another Samuel W. Eager, a nephew of the historian. Miss Eager carries happy memories of this Neelytown House when the children of the
then owner and she were all young cousins together. These
children were Samuel W. Eager, father of the present Supreme
Court Justice for this district, Hon. Samuel W. Eager, and his
sisters, the judge's aunts, The house was later remodeled and
semblance to the colonial structure was lost. Other attendants who came
from a long distance were Miss Margaret Eleanor Jackson of the town of Hamptonburgh, now sojourning at San Luis Obispo, California; Miss
Emma A. Waterwall of Houston, Texas; Mr. and Mrs. Carter Gibbes of Tajique, New Mexico; Mr. and Mrs. William H. Pryor of Fayetteville, Ark., who stopped
en route to New England and Canada. Mrs. Pryor is Genevieve, youngest child of the late Rev. Daniel Bull Jackson of Minneapolis. John Milton Bull
came from Poynette, Wisconsin. Quite a few came from Michigan
and several from Ohio, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D. C., and Kentucky. We should like to name these distant comers and could say much of interest about them
but space forbids. We shall mention one descendant who came
because many years ago she had promised her grandfather to
attend a Bull Picnic. She is M. Elizabeth Frey of West Orange,
N. J., who came with her daughter Patricia. Mrs Frey, now a
widow, with all her children married except Patricia in her
teens, never felt free to come until this year.
Annual Meeting
At the annual meeting held after luncheon, two new members were elected to the Board of Managers, Miss Laura F. Craft of Chester and Henry P. Bull of
Middletown, both of whom had served before. Robert M. Jackson was re-elected. As has been the case for a number of years, Mrs. Elizabeth
Bull Greene of Stony Ford, N. Y., 91, was the oldest descendant
present. Mrs. Greene is the only person living who has attended
all the picnics to date. Beth Ellen Smiley, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. William Smiley of R. D. 4, Newburgh, born June
23, 1953, was the youngest one present. She is a great-grand-
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Thew of Hamptonburgh.
After the annual meeting a regular meeting of the Board of
Managers was held, at which officers were elected.
In the Bull Family Association, as in most other organizations, the President is often replaced in order that as many as possible may share the honor of
that office, while the Treasurer and Secretary are never changed
so long as they remain available. The Rev. Charles Beattie
Thompson of Thompson Ridge, who has been President for several terms, was, however, reelected because of his special and constructive interest in the welfare of the Association. Miss Laura F. Craft, who shuns the
limelight but spends more time at the Stone House and keeps
in closer touch with actual conditions there than any other
member of the Board, was elected Vice President. Henry
P. Bull of Middletown was elected Treasurer to succeed the
late E. Myron Bull. Mr. Jackson was reelected as Secretary.
Notice Sent
Notice of these picnics is sent to more than 2,000 names, representing several times that many individuals some of whom are
as far away as Australia. The attendance illustrates the power
of sentiment, far stronger in its field than mechanics or even
intellect, for these singly or combined would be unable to
bring simultaneously each year hundreds of people from the
Atlantic and Pacific, and points all in between, to one pin-point
on the map seemingly as unimportant as Hamptonburgh.
Reprinted from
Independent Republican
GOSHEN, NEW YORK
Thursday, September 8, 1955
The Bull Family Association held its 88th
annual picnic on August 31, again attracting a large number of descendants of Orange County pioneers William Bull and Sarah
Wells at whose 18th century stone house the family meets each
year. Oldest person present was Henry L. Kaune Sr. of Yonkers
who became 86 on the day after the picnic. (At left). Youngest
member of the gathering was bright-eyed Charles Wesley Earle,
just two months and three days of age, who came to the picnic
with his mother and dad, Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Earle of Walden.
Doing what comes naturally at a picnic is Harry Bull of Hamptonburgh, startled by the camera flash as he ate a piece of succulent chicken of which there were vast quantities on hand. Mr. Bull's many friends were happy
to see him present, since he injured his leg earlier this year
and was forced to arrive at the gathering via a wheel chair.
A general view, of the gathering appears at the right, revealing
that picnickers, regardless of where they are or who, look very
much alike when they are engaged in the graceful pursuits of
eating al fresco.
The member coming the greatest distance was Mrs. Letitia Bull
Mould Wallace of Redlands, California. A spunky, attractive
white-haired lady, she sat somewhat apprehensively throughout
most of the picnic, hoping that her effort in coming was not going to be topped by someone else. When she won the notice for the distance, she was very pleased. She was also pleased, she said, with the hospitality of
some persons unknown who, finding her dropped at the Greenwich Avenue cloverleaf by an errant bus, brought her to Goshen and friends.
Robert McLeod Jackson, secretary, estimated about 300 persons in attendance, a figure slightly lower than usual, probably because of the moderately threatening weather. Rev. Charles B. Thompson of
Thompson Ridge was re-elected president. Other officers named
again included: Hamlet S. Roe of Chester, vice president; Henry
P. Bull of Middletown, treasurer; Mr. Jackson, secretary.
Earle Dickerson was re-elected as a director, while new directors named include: Henry G.Parry Jr. of Highland Falls and Mrs. Phoebe Bull Slaughter of Chester. - Indyphoto
