THE BULLIS HOUSE

Volunteers continue to review Bullis Room documents and process them according to subject. This task is proving to be more time consuming than originally planned. One reason for the additional processing time is the temptation to pause in the process, in order to read through these fascinating old papers.

Recently, a  documents titled "Bullis House: Home of a Notable Family"  caused this volunteer to put aside the sorting task to read Susan E. Crowley account oft the original Bullis home on Canandaigua Road in Macedon.  Here is the beginning of the story of a house that was (and still is) a true home.

Photo courtesy of Marshall Handfield

Page 1:

"Bullis House: Home of a Notable Family

     For more than four decades, from the 1940's until the 1980's, people glanced briefly or not at all at the old cobblestone house on Canandaigua Road in Macedon, its simple yet elegant lines all but hidden from view by the towering trees and tangled vines surrounding it. Only in spring and summer did those who passed hesitate to better observe the tulips, daffodils, and masses of oriental poppies which flooded the yard. There always seemed to be a widespread peace over the house and fields, a quiet testimony, as it were, to the pioneer farmer, physician, mathematical genius, botanist, and corporate leader who were among the inhabitants of the Bullis House throughout a time period of 144 years."

Page 2 & 3:

"Charles H. Bullis

     In 1837, a depression threatened the economy of Vermont and the migration of farmers in search of more fertile fields was facilitated by the Champlain and Erie Canals which provided easy transportation to the West. Charles Bullis and his family were among the pioneers who made the decision to "go West", doing so in 1838. Leaving their farm in Manchester, Vermont, they supposedly started for Ohio, interrupting their trip to visit Charles' sister in Macedon. The rolling hills and fertile land of western Wayne County apparently appealed to the Vermont farmer for he abandoned plans to go further west when he purchased a fifty-nine acre farm adjacent to the Erie Canal from Charles and Lydia Smith for $2,631.64.

     In addition to the rich fields, Charles Bullis' farm was ideally located approximately one half mile from the Erie Canal and one half mile from the Main east-west road.

     The immediate housing need for the Bullis family was solved by moving a wooden structure, most likely a shanty type building, to the site where the house was to be built. The west wall of the cobblestone house shows evidence that the wooden rear section of the house was built first and the family lived there while the stone portion was being constructed. Charles' wife Ellen and his three children Abraham, Emma, and Kelcy were kept busy gathering stones into piles for the masons. Some of those piles of stones and also bricks are still in evidence on the property and many of them were used in the 1983 restoration process."

Page 4 & 5:

"The Construction

     It took three years to construct the Bullis House, started in 1839. The architectural plan was much the same as the wooden rural homes of Vermont. It is supposed that Charles Bullis was satisfied with the type of house he had left behind and was pleased to reproduce it, this time in stone for his family.

    The two story cobblestone house is federal style, constructed of irregular, rough and moderate sized (2" to 4" diameter) cobblestones. The pattern of the horizontal mortar is v-shaped with pyramids cut off at the bottom in the raised vertical mortar.

     A unique feature of the Bullis House is the brick which was used to make the quoins, the lintel over the front door, and the trim around the windows. Masons most often used stone quoins at the corners of the buildings. Later, brick and wood pilaster were introduced as quoin materials. The unusual color of the bricks used on the Bullis House is puzzling. The particular pink shade is not found in any other building in the area. It has been suggested that the bricks may have been made on site which would help explain the generous piles left on the property.

     The cobblestone portion of the Bullis House consisted of four large rooms and four smaller rooms, while the wooden addition had four rooms. A fireplace in the dining room and one in the bedroom directly above were a simple style again reminiscent of the New England style hearths. The chimney on the north end of the house accommodated these fireplaces while the chimney on the south end of the house was purely ornament.

    All of the ornamentation found on the woodwork, mantels, and stairway was hand carved by the Bullis'. While the work was uncomplicated, it is a reminder of a time when personal pride had a part in the building of a home. The delicate fineness of the cherry wood stair railing and newels is particularly unique in its perfect and graceful lines. This style continues in the plain door surrounds and baseboards, combining to give a broad, sweeping cleanliness to the interior of the house.

     The house suggests that simplicity and economy were a part of the Bullis family's taste and lifestyle. Whether by necessity or choice this simplicity remains as a tribute to the original owners of the Bullis House."

Pages 1 through 5 of Susan Crowley's record of the Bullis House cover the early history. In the next several posts, the account covers Bullis family occupants of the house, down through the ages, and their influence on the family home.

A VIEW FROM FORT SAM HOUSTON

Bullis Room volunteers continue to focus on Nettie's uncle, John Lapham Bulls, and his military career. This week we read again an article in the PRESERVATION FORT SAME HOUSTON publication titled, "A Visit to Macedon, NY, hometown of BG John Bullis."  Here's what it said:

"While in New York for a family wedding, Capt. (Ret) Richard Whynot visited the hometown of General John Lapham Bullis, Macedon, NY and the Bullis Collection at the Macedon Pubic Library. Dick says to understand why a native of a small town in upstate New York became a hero of the Texas Frontier, we need to go back to the 1650's when the Bullis family emigrated from England to the Boston area and then some of the family to Manchester, VT. The Northwest Ordinance in 1797 opened land in western New York and the wealthy and educated bought land in this area, funding cities such as Syracuse, Rochester, and Macedon.

"In 1823, the Erie Canal opened for canal traffic and changed the economy and population of upstate New York. Though the canal was designed to bring raw materials and agricultural products to the eastern markets, upstate New Yorkers soon realized that they could do the manufacturing, and many factories sprang up in the Erie Canal towns. An example is the roll top desk used by BG Bullis, which was made by Standard Furniture Company of Herkimer, NY, located on the Erie Canal. With a ready supply of wood from the local forests, Standard Furniture Company became the largest manufacturer of wooden desks and furniture in the United States. The Hammond typewriter, invented in  1884 and used by Bullis as early as 1889, is another upstate New York product that benefitted from the canal. Other major manufacturing firms that began in the area were Kodak, Xerox and IBM.

"Charles H. Bullis, his wife Eleanor, and their two children left Vermont in November 1837, heading for Ohio and a promised land grant. They went by Erie Canal boat from Troy NY and stopped in Macedon to visit family. After several weeks in Macedon, Charles decided they would stay in the area. He bought 60 acres of land next to lock 61 on the canals. Charles raised wheat, corn and cattle and shipped the harvests to market on the canal. He built a large house with cobblestones collected from his fields. Dick believes that the expert stone masons who had built the canal between 1817 and 1823 stayed and built the Bullis home and many others.

"Abram, one of Charles' sons, became a doctor and married Lydia Porter Lapham, member of another prominent family that had emigrated from England to Rhode Island in 1635, and from there to Macedon. The Laphams built a large brick home in the center of town and called it Waverly Manor after their home estate in England. The children of Dr. Bullis, including John Lapham Bullis, attended Macedon Academy. The academy building is now the headquarters for the Macedon Historical Association.

"Several months before Dick Whynot's visit, the Bullis Estate attorney presented a number of boxes of Bullis data to the Macedon Library Bullis Room. Among these were photos of BG Bullis and his first wife Alice probably taken at the time of their marriage in 1871. The photo was taken by Kuhn Company, Main Plaza, San Antonio, TX. Alice died in 1887.

Another significant find were two letters from Josephine Withers Bullis to John Bullis’ aunt Emma. The first was written in 1890 before their marriage. The second was written in 1898, when they lived in Quarters 2, Fort Sam Houston. In it, Josephine does make clear that she does not support her husband’s deployment to Cuba during the Spanish American War. He left the paymaster job at Fort Sam Houston to fight in the war.

An interesting item in the letter is the reference to Marie de Jesus Olivarri Rodriguez as the Major’s mother-in-law, Alice’s mother. Dick Whynot says this lends credence  to his long-held belief that the Withers and Rodriguez families, both Canary Island families, were related and visited each other often.

Dick Whynot’s talk gave us a more personal and intimate understanding of the man for whom Camp Bullis was named.”

MORE ON CAPTAIN BULLIS, #2

(This is a continuation of the document first posted September 27.)

Captain Bullis, who is so successful in the management of these wards of the Government, is a native of New York, his birth having occurred in Macedon, Wayne county, on the 17^th of April, 1841. He traces his ancestry back to England, whence came members of the family at an early day in the history of this country to become pioneers of Vermont and participators in the work of development and progress in New England, as well as patriots in the war for independence. The Captain’s father, Dr. Abram R. Bullis, was born in the green Mountain State, and married Miss Lydia P. Lapham, who was born in Wayne county, New York. After his marriage he engaged in the practice of medicine in the Empire State, where he made his home until his death, which occurred in the spring of 1867. His wife passed away  in 1862, leaving a family of three sons and three daughters, but only two are now living.

         Captain Bullis is the eldest of the family. He acquired his elementary education  in the public schools, then attended an academy of his native town and also pursued his studies in the Lima Academy, but ere he had completed his course the Civil War came on and he responded to the President’s call for troops to aid in crushing out the rebellion. In august, 1862, he joined the boys in blue of Company H, One Hundred Twenty-sixth New York Infantry, and after his enlistment was made a corporal. He served in the Army of the Potomac and in the Army of the James, and participated in many hard fought engagements, valiantly defending the old flag and the cause it represented. He was captured at Harpers Ferry in September, 1862, where 11, 500 Union soldiers surrendered to Stonewall Jackson. They were paroled on the field and afterward exchanged and Captain Bullis once more rejoined his command. On the 3^rd of July, 1863, he was again captured at the battle of Gettysburg, and for three months was confined in Richmond prison, when he was again paroled and exchanged. Immediately he re-entered the field to continue with his regiment until the war was ended. He had many narrow escapes and saw much hard fighting, but his meritorious service and bravery on the field of battle won him promotion to the rank of Captain. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on the 6^th of February, 1866, - one of the brave boys in blue who had valiantly stood for the preservation of the union until its safety was assured.

VERMONT and the BULLIS FAMILY

Vermont became our fourteenth state on March 4, 1791, two years to the day after the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York.

The Bullis family's connection to that great (and beautiful) state is through Charles Bullis, who was born in 1723 in Greenwich, Connecticut and later moved to Manchester, Vermont. He served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Gideon Brownson's Company, Warner Regiment, Vermont Militia. Charles' descendants came to Macedon from Vermont in 1837 and bought the property on Canandaigua Road in 1839. Sometime after that they started the collection that fills the Bullis Room today.

The Bullises were obviously interested in their home state, because there are two books on Vermont in the collection, both worth your time to look through. They are:

The Green Mountain boys; 
a historical tale of the early settlement of Vermont,

written by Daniel B. Thompson
and published in 189? by A. L. Burt of New York.

and

Ethan Allen and the Green-Mountain heroes of '76:

with a sketch of the early history of Vermont,

written by Henry W. De Puy 

and published in 1860 by Phinney, Blakeman & Mason, New York.

We'd like to show (show off?) these books to you. Hope you'll stop by the Bullis Room the next time you're in the library.

BULLIS FAMILY HISTORY--EARLY MACEDON YEARS

(As recorded in: THE BULLIS FAMILY OF MACEDON, NEW YORK, by Elizabeth Ferrari, April, 1984)

In the mid-1600s, when political and religious turmoil were driving many Englishmen from their homeland, Phillip Bullis left England to settle in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1663 Phillip married Judith Hart, thus beginning the many generations of Bullises to become part of America. The Bullis families settled throughout New England and New York. In 1837, the Charles H. Bullis family came to Macedon, Wayne County, New York to settle.

Charles H. Bullis was born in Manchester, Vermont on January 23, 1786. On January 1. 1812, Charles married Eleanor Carbone of Greenwich, New York. He had relatives living in Greenwich and it is likely that he met Eleanor while he was visiting there. He and his wife took up residence in Manchester, Vermont until 1837.

They left Vermont on November 13, 1837. Charles Bullis, great-grandson of Charles H. Bullis, said that his great-grandfather may have received a land grant in Ohio which prompted him to make this move. It is said that when they got to New York, they took a canal boat from the town of Troy, New York. During their trip they stopped in Macedon to visit some friends. Macedon was and still is a beautiful town with a rolling landscape of drumlins and acres and acres of productible land. This land would be encouraging to any man. After visiting for some time in Macedon, Charles decided to remain there.

Charles and Eleanor had two children: Abraham R. Bullis and Amy R. Bullis. Little is known about Amy. She was born on December 21, 1824, in Manchester, Vermont and died on January 2, 1905 in Palmyra, New York. Abraham was born July 8, 1815 in Manchester, Vermont. After arriving in Macedon he attended Geneva Medical College, Geneva, New York. Upon becoming a doctor, he began practices in Farmington, Ontario County, and in Macedon. He was one of Macedon's first physicians. Abraham married Lydia Porter Lapham and had seven children: John Lapham, Mary Jane, Charles Henry, Abraham Rogers Junior, Abraham Rogers III, Lydia Porter and Jeanette Eleanor. He also had a second wife, Olive Aldrich Bullis. No children were born of this marriage.

Abraham R. Bullis was the only one of Doctor Bullis' children to remain in Macedon. He was born on September 4, 1854 in Farmington, New York. At the age of eight, his mother died and he went to live with his grandfather at the old family homestead in Macedon. In later years, after attending Macedon Academy from 1868-1869, he taught for a few years in various district schools, including Macedon Union School. He left teaching to enter Cornell University. In 1881 he graduated with a degree in Mathematics and the following year received a degree in Civil Engineering. He was a very smart man and was offered many positions from various governments and colleges. Abe would not take the jobs, because it would take him away from Macedon. He worked as a surveyor in much of Wayne County and held many other important positions in the Macedon area.

In 1884 he married Josephine Breese, daughter of J. D. Breese, of Macedon. Abraham's only son, Charlie, was born October 13, 1891, in Macedon, and his only daughter, Jeanette (Nettie) Aurelia Bullis, was born on March 23, 1893.

(Nettie Bullis will be featured next week in our Bullis Family History entry.)