BULLIS-LAPHAM FAMILIES

The Bullis family connected with the Lapham family when Lydia Porter Lapham married Abraham Bullis and gave her maiden name to their first child, John Lapham Bullis, who was born in 1841.

According to Pioneers of Macedon (The Mail Printing House (compiled by Mary Louise Eldredge, Fairport, New York, 1912, pp. 36-37), the first Abraham Lapham was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island on July 15, 1755. “His father, Joshua Lapham, was a grandson of John Lapham, who came from England when he was a young man and settled in Providence, R.I., and here married Mary, daughter of William and Frances (Hopkins) Mann....Hannah, sister of Abraham Lapham, was the grandmother of the late Susan B. Anthony of Rochester.

“In 1791 Abraham Lapham brought his wife and children, coming then in company with Henry Wilbur and his family. Their new home was located among the Friends in Farmington. The members of that community, though disapproved for their venture and disowned by the parent society in Massachusetts, still held regular services. The meetings were held from house to house, and the home of Abraham and Esther Lapham was soon known as a place of meeting. In 1794 the colony was visited by a committee from Massachusetts and one of them was entertained in the home of Abraham Lapham. The early discipline of that society forbade its members to undertake a new enterprise, especially that of emigration, without the consent of ‘the meeting,’ which had been refused these pioneers, and they had been disowned. The report of the visiting committee was favorable, the disowned members were restored to membership and a meeting was organized in the same year, but a meeting house was not built until 1796....One member of the building committee was Ira, eldest son of Abraham Lapham.”

(Writers of John Lapham Bullis’s millitary experiences sometimes refer to his Quaker beliefs. Here in the Bullis Room, we’ve found no documentation of of that religious connection. We're looking for more information on this subject. If you can  help, please contact us.)

Through the Laphams, the Bullises were connected not only to the renowned Susan B.  Anthony but also to Increase Lapham (March 7, 1811–September 14, 1875), who emigrated from his birthplace in Palmyra, New York to Wisconsin, and is considered the “Father” of the United States Weather Service.

We’ll continue to report on the Lapham-Bullis connection in next week’s post.

IN HONOR OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE, ANCIENT AND MODERN. THE FORMS OF SLAVERY THAT PREVAILED IN ANCIENT NATIONS, PARTICULARLY IN GREECE AND ROME. THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE AND THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. Compiled From Authentic Materials by W. O. Blake, published by J. H. Miller, Ohio, 1858.

A few weeks ago, a volunteer set aside this book and suggested the rest of us look it over and consider it for a Black History Month entry on this blog. We did and were equally impressed.

Anyone who needs information about the formation and continuance of the slavery system in this country will find invaluable information between the covers of this factual, well-documented 150-year-old book. On the first of 832 pages, the author states:

It is certainly a curious fact, that as far as we can trace back the
history of the human race, we discover the existence of Slavery.

Then follows the history of Mosaic institutional slavery, Sparta's Helots, Greek and Roman slaves, and slavery in Africa, England and in the New World. Two chapters, titled "Early Opponents of African Slavery in England and America" and "Movements in England to Abolish the Slave Trade," document the abolitionist efforts of Quakers and the historian Thomas Clarkson.

The book ends with sixteen pages of statistical information compiled from the 1850 census about free and slave states and a record of the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Case of Dred Scott vs. Sandford, in their December term, 1856.

Eleven images enhance the reader's understanding and interpretation of the facts reported in these 34 chapters. You can view these images at: http://people.uvawise.edu/runaways/images/blake.html

We invite you to stop by the Bullis Room and take a look at our copy.