Name/Title
101st Bull Picnic - Aug 1968 Bull Picnic 150th anniversary of weddingEntry/Object ID
000542Tags
Bull PicnicScope and Content
Orange County Post
Vol. 29 No. 27 Washingtonville, N. Y., 10992 Thursday, August 29, 1968
PRICE 10 CENTS
[Photo Caption]
A RE-ENACTMENT of the wedding of Sarah Wells and William Bull on Aug.
25, 1718, 250 years ago, takes place at the Bull Stone House, off the Sarah
Wells Trail, Hamptonburgh, Saturday. It was believed to be the first wedding in Orange County. The bride, wearing the original wedding dress, is Miss Alison Ann Eager of Campbell Hall and the groom is Robert Mitchell Hoppenstedt of Gardiner. Playing the magistrate is Michael Knight Brown. Held Saturday was the 101st annual Bull Picnic. OCP photo
Bull family re-enacts 1718 wedding CAMPBELL HALL
The Bulls, reputedly the oldest of the old Orange County families,
gathered at their family home near Campbell Hall Saturday to celebrate
the 1718 wedding that began it all. The family staged a re-enactment of the wedding, 250 years ago, between William Bull, newly arrived from England, and Sarah Wells. Under the eaves of Bull Stone House, built by William Bull in 1722 and held by the family since their descendants, Miss Allison Eager of Campbell Hall and Robert Hoppenstedt of Gardiner, exchanged mock vows.
Michael Brown, who now occupies the historic house, played the part
of the magistrate who officiated at the ceremony. The ceremony was held 250 years less one day after the time William and Sarah were actually married a short distance from the stone house. In the intervening years, the gleam in William's eye, aided by the law of geometric progression, has resulted in an estimated 10,000 living descendants.
Approximately 300 of those claiming direct descent from William and
Sarah were on hand for the Bull's 101st family picnic.
Amy Bull Crist, titular head of the family, acted as master of cere-
monies. Miss Eager wore the wedding gown worn by Sarah 250 years
ago and preserved by the family since. According to historians, William and Sarah were probably the first to be married in a Christian ceremony in Orange County. There was no church nearer than New York and a magistrate served
in place of a clergyman. Unable to announce the marriage bans on three successive Sundays from the pulpit of a church, as was customary, the magistrate announced them from the front door, the back door, and again from the front door of the home of Sarah's stepfather, Christopher Denn.
The couple lived in a cabin until William finished building the stone
house, sometime between 1722 and 1727. They had 12 children.
William died in 1756. Sarah died in 1796 at the age of 102.