Name/Title
Newspaper Aug 1969 Bull Picnic - 101stEntry/Object ID
000544Tags
Bull PicnicScope and Content
GENERATION GAP — Henry P. Bull, and his year-old grandson, David Henry Sorell, are members of the seventh and ninth generations of descendants of Orange County pioneers William and Sarah Wells Bull. David’s mother, Mary Jane, the missing generation in this picture, was picnicking with hundreds of other Bull relatives at the 102nd family reunion at the Old Stone House, Hamptonburgh. Main Article3,300 Relatives Invited To Annual Bull Family FeteBy JAN MYLES On a plot of land in Hamptonburgh, where Indians once bargained with early American settlers for supplies, 250 persons gathered Saturday to trade picnic lunches. They were all descendants of William and Sarah Wells Bull, an Orange County pioneering couple who raised 12 children in Hamptonburgh. The family meets annually at the old stone house which William and Sarah built in the late 1700's. This year's get-together, the 101st, drew relatives from as far as Florida and Wisconsin. The eldest member of the group was Jennie Ostrum Young, of Lake Wales, Fla., who was born in nearby Goshen 91 years ago. The youngest in attendance was Julianna Brown, daughter of William Bull and Beatrice Brown of Chester, who was born July 16, 1969. Invitations for the picnic and business meeting were sent to 3,312 relatives, who, according to family treasurer Henry P. Bull, of Middletown, "are of just about every religion and nationality imaginable. We have relatives all over the world." The family is the largest family organization in the world, and all or their mates are direct descendants from the original Bull family. While their parents picnicked, some of the smallfry couldn't resist a private viewing of the old stone house. Climbing all the way to the top of the attic, they trace the steps of some of the first white men to live in Orange County. Mrs. Marjorie Bull Jackson of Middletown, who took this reporter on a tour of the home, explained that the old stone house is actually a living museum. It is open to the public for visits from 1 to 4 p.m. daily, yet is occupied fulltime by the Michael Brown family. The Browns and their seven children, all part of the Bull family, preserve the house by living in it, making it alive with the life it once knew as the home of Sarah and William Bull. A business meeting was held after the picnic and new officers were elected for the family organization which owns the stone house and the land surrounding it. Elected were: Andrew Wilson, of Scarsdale, president; Chester Roe, of Vails Gate, vice president; Eleanor McWhorter, of Highland Mills, secretary, and Henry Bull, of Middletown, re-elected treasurer. The new trustees are: John Luft Goshen; Charles Slaughter, Chester Eleanor Dickerson Hoppensteadt, Gardiner, and John Sanford III, Warwick. Bottom Caption (Bull-Wells picnic)Bull-Wells picnic
The annual picnic of the William Bull and Sarah Wells Family Association was held Saturday at the Bull Stone House, Hamptonburgh. Earl Dickerson, vice president, read the annual financial report for the 250 people there. Mr. Dickerson was elected president in place of the Rev. Charles B. Thompson, who retired. Mr. Thompson is now president emeritus. Other officers elected were Chester Roe, vice president; Robert M. Jackson, secretary; and Henry P. Bull, treasurer. It was the 83rd annual picnic of the group.--Record Photo by Manny Fuchs.