FREDERICK DOUGLASS

If you haven't read Frederick Douglass's book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave,  we urge you to:

A) Stop by the Bullis Room and take a look at the collection's copy published in 1847 in Boston at the Anti-slavery office; and,
B) Get a copy (through PLS or your friendly online bookseller) and sit down for a good read.

This is a book that will grab your interest from the very beginning. In fact, a letter from the abolitionist Wendell Phillips, dated April 22, 1845, is printed in the Preface. In it, Phillips declares:

"I was glad to learn, in your story, how early the most neglected of God's children waken to a sense of their rights, and of the injustice done them. Experience is a keen teacher; and long before you had mastered your A B C, or knew where the 'white sails' of the Chesapeake were bound, you began, I see, to gauge the wretchedness of the slave, not by his hunger and want, not by his lashes and toil, but by the cruel and blighting death which gathers over his soul.

"In connection with this, there is one circumstance which makes your recollections peculiarly valuable, and renders your early insight the more remarkable. You come from that part of the country where we are told slavery appears with its fairest features. Let us hear, then, what it is at its best estate—gaze on its bright side, if it has one; and then imagination may task her powers to add dark lines to the picture, as she travels southward to that (for the colored man) Valley of the Shadow of Death, where the Mississippi sweeps along.

"Again, we have known you long, and can put the most entire confidence in your truth, candor, and sincerity. Every one who has heard you speak has felt, and, I am confident, every one who reads your book will feel, persuaded that you give them a fair specimen of the whole truth. No one-sided portrait,—no wholesale complaints,—but strict justice done, whenever individual kindliness has neutralized, for a moment, the deadly system with which it was strangely allied. You have been with us, too, some years, and can fairly compare the twilight of rights, which your race enjoy at the North, with that "noon of night" under which they labor south of Mason and Dixon's line. Tell us whether, after all, the half-free colored man of Massachusetts is worse off than the pampered slave of the rice swamps!"

Again, we strongly suggest you spend some time with Frederick Douglass's book which, according to the abolitionist Phillips, is written with truth, candor and sincerity. 

POSTCARDS

If you're  one of those people who remember when you could mail a postcard for one penny, then you'll need to take a look at the display case outside the Bullis Room.

(And even if you can't remember back that far, we think you'll enjoy spending a few minutes at the same place.)

The postcards displayed there were ones sent to Nettie Bullis from friends who were vacationing in: New York state; New York City; Boston, Massachusetts; and Canada. Most of them have very short messages, the "wish you were here" kind. All of them have beautiful photography on sturdy matte paper that seems to be just a cut above most contemporary postcards.

So please add "stop by MPL and look at Bullis postcard display" on your to-do list.  They are a reminder of what we miss out on today, with text messages and selfies.

THE BULLIS FATHERS

This week we honor Nettie's father (Abraham Rogers Bullis III) and her Bullis grandfathers.

1. Philip Bullis, born circa 1630 in England. Philip was a mariner who immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts. He served in Major Savage's Company under Lieut. Gillam from 1675 to 1676 on the Connecticut River, during King Philip's War.

2. Thomas Bullis, born 1671. Thomas was granted parcels of land in Greenwich, Connecticut. He deeded this land to his sons.

3. John Bullis, born circa 1695. John married and had eight sons. Some of his sons went to Canada, some stayed on the Bullis Homestead in Dutchess County, New York, and one went to England. One of these sons was a general in the French and Indian War.

4. Charles Bullis, born 1723 in Greenwich, Connecticut. He later moved to Manchester, Vermont. Charles served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Gideon Brownson's Company, Warner Regiment, Vermont Militia. Charles and his son Henry helped organize the First Episcopal Church in Manchester.

5. Henry Bullis, born 1749 in Amenia, New York. Henry was an invalid, a condition caused by a dog bite. Henry and his wife Hannah Purdy Bullis had ten children.

6. Charles Henry Bullis, born 1786 in Manchester, Vermont. Charles, his wife Eleanor Carbone (Rogers), and their two children Abraham Rogers Bullis and Amy (aka Emma) Bullis moved to Macedon, New York in 1837.

6. Abraham Rogers Bullis, born 1815 in Greenwich, New York. Abraham attended Geneva Medical College, Geneva, New York and became one of Macedon's first medical doctors. He also maintained offices in Farmington, Ontario County. Abraham married Lydia Porter Lapham and they had seven children.

7. Abraham Rogers Bullis, III, born 1854 in Farmington, New York. His mother died when he was eight years old and he went to live with his Grandfather Bullis at the family homestead in Macedon. He attended Cornell University and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1881. He worked as a surveyor in Wayne County, New York and married Josephine Breese in 1884. They had two children, Charles Rogers Bullis (born 1891) and Jeannette Aurelia Bullis (1893), our Nettie.

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.)