WILLIAM PORTER

Again, we’re quoting Pioneers of Macedon, from pages 32 and 33, as we continue to read about William Porter.

“He married Lydia Claghorn of Williamsburg, Mass., who was born in 1780, and came to the township in 1796 with her aunt, Mrs. David Warner, who was formerly Mrs. David White.... In the winter of 1796 they went to Massachusetts with horses and sleigh and Lydia returned with them to their home... In just one year from that time Lydia Claghorn became Mrs. William Porter.  The were married and went at once to live in the house which he had built, and she used often to speak of the town as being full of young men who had come on to take up farms.“

The Pioneers of Macedon continues with this account: “In early times money was not to be had, and in winter William Porter would pile in as many bags of wheat as his horses could draw for a load and drive with it to Albany and sell it for cash, and returning, he would bring back groceries for Joseph Colt and George Beckwith, which would about pay expenses. He built the tavern house and moved into it in 1811. He died in March of 1819 and his wife continued the business until 1835, and after that date the building was used for a dwelling house. The first town meeting of Macedon was held in this house February 11, 1823. Mrs. Porter remained on the farm until 1844. Her death occurred in 1867 at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Salome Lapham of Macedon....”

Why are we focusing the Porter family?  Because this branch of the family is connected to the Laphams who in turn are related to the Bullises, and in our search for our Bullis timeline, we are looking at their extended families.

Also, we find it interesting that the independence, resourcefulness, and work ethic displayed by Mr. Porter are traits that consistently showed up in each generation of the Bullis family.

LAPHAM-PORTER FAMILIES

In 1837, when the Charles H. Bullis family arrived in Macedon, the Laphams had called this area home for almost 50 years. Thus when Charles and Eleanor Bullis’s son Abraham married Lydia Porter Lapham, he married into a well-established family. Perhaps two established families, for Lydia’s middle name (Porter) indicates that she was a member of another long-term Macedon family.

According to Pioneers of Macedon (p. 32, 33), “William Porter came from Cunningham (Massachuettts) in 1793. It is supposed that he came on horseback. He located on what has since been known as the ‘Porter farm,’ which extended from the four corners to Delano’s Lane. He married Lydia Claghorn of Williamsburg, Mass., who was born in 1780, and came to the township in 1796 with her aunt, Mrs. David Warner, who was formerly Mrs. David White.”

We’ve been unable to determine if the Lydia Porter Lapham was a descendant of William Porter and Lydia Claghorn Porter. However, one of their daughter’s (Salome) married John Lapham and it is possible that Lydia Porter was their child. (We’ll continue to research that.)

Whether William Porter was actually connected to the Bullises, his life in Macedon makes for a great story. And we’ll share some of it with you next week.

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.

FAMILY NAMES

This week in the Bullis Room we concentrated on surnames other than Bullis. While going through Bullis documents, we frequently come across the name Lapham, but we also occasionally find the names Porter, Aldrich, Rogers, Carbone, Hart, Rodriguez, Withers, and Breese. Their family history contributes towards the story of the Bullis family that we volunteers are working to put together.

In the next few weeks, we will post what we know of these nine families. Do you have any information that would add to our research? If so, please contact us.

(PS: Most of these names are middle names of Bullis family members. How individuals get their middle names fascinates us and is another project to add to our list.)

(PPS: Yes, we're still working on John Lapham Bullis's timeline. This research will add to that.)

CHARLIE'S MEDIEVAL CASTLE

This week we reviewed some notes of an interview we did a year and a half ago with a second cousin of Nettie and Charlie Bullis. We happened upon this quote tucked in some remembrances of the Bullises: "Charlie once made a Medieval castle out of matchsticks glued together. It was big! Probably enough to cover a card table."

How did he do that?  Why did he do it?  What happened to it?

To answer the first question, we have no idea how he accomplished this feat. Building a castle out of matchsticks requires great creativity and skill (which Charlie had in abundance) and lots of "stick-with-it-ness" (which Charlie apparently did not have, judging by records of his countless unfinished projects).

Why did he build the castle?  Again, we do not know, but in that pre-Guinness-book time, setting a world record could not have been a motivation.  Perhaps he came across a reference to the project in his reading and became fascinated with the idea. Or, maybe he somehow came into possession of a humungous amount of matchsticks and decided to use them creatively.

What happened to this work of art? Here, our imaginations run wild. (Being made of matchsticks...hmmm...no, let's not go there.) But if you know, please let us hear from you.

BULLIS FAMILY IN MACEDON

This week we thought of the Bullis family's arrival in Macedon around this time of year in 1837, and we  read again an account of their settlement here.  Although this document is unsigned and undated, a reference in the fifth paragraph leads us to believe that Nettie Bullis was the author. This account answers some of our questions about the Bullis family history and, as often happens, raises many others. However, we thought you'd be interested in this account and therefore selected it as this week's posting.


"The Bullis farm is located about 1/2 miles north of Route 31 at 1727 Canandaigua Road in the town of Macedon, New York.

"Charles H. Bullis and Eleanor Rogers Bullis (my great, great grandparents) with two children, Abraham R. and Amy, left Manchester, Vermont Nov. 13, 1837, to settle in a new country. They took a canalboat at Troy, but decided to stop at Macedon to visit a sister of Eleanor's, Amy Woodruff. Their intention was to settle at Marietta, Ohio, but they took the advice of Charles' brothers, three had settled at Hamburg, NY, and remained in Macedon.

"On April 1, 1839 they bought 59 and a fraction acres for $2,631.64 from George G. and Lydia Smith. The only change in the size of the farm is about 10 acres taken from the north end for the Canal and Railroad.

"They started to build the cobblestone house in 1839 from stones picked up on the farm. They lived in a small wooden structure that was moved up from the back of the farm; a building apparently used while Clinton's Ditch was being dug. There were a few houses and a dock by the "Ditch" a short distance over the line to the west on an adjoining farm. The story and a half frame part of our house was built at that time and the small structure was attached at the back and became "the woodshed." The cobblestone house was struck by lightning while being built and lightning rods were put up and are still attached to the house.  The corners of the house are of interest being made of Brick instead of stone.

"Two barns were built at the time, one south of the house, the original to which an addition was made later is still standing; its large hand-hewn timbers are noteworthy; the other which was built back of the house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground on Sept 22, 1968.

"The final porch was built by my father Abram R. Bullis, with the help of my mother, brother & myself (a family project) in the Fall of 1910 and replaced the original small front stoop with its well worn side benches and floor. Soon thereafter the leaking wood shingle roof on the cobblestone part was replaced with a metal roof, this too, was a family project.

"The large Canadian Balsam tree in the front yard was struck by lightning on  ___________ and about 35 feet broke from the top during a heavy storm on _____________

"The apple orchard north of the house, long since gone, contained many of the old time favorites such as Winesap, Jonathan, Face-pippen, Seekno further, Tallman Sweet, Baldwin & Greening."


(If you have information to add to or enhance the above, please let us hear from you.)

REMEMBERING AGAIN THOSE WHO SERVED

This week, we again remember and sincerely thank all the men and women who have served and are serving in our Armed Forces.

And we suggest that you look at our November 12, 2009 post, which lists some Bullis family members who served their country through military service beginning in 1675.  The most well-known of those members is John Lapham Bullis, who proved himself militarily in the Civil and Spanish American wars as well as on the American frontier.