Sunday, October 25, 2009

William Franklin Bulman and The Methodist Episcipal Church in Deansville

Patrick Bulman, his wife, Sarah/Sally, and most of his children migrated westward to Wisconsin sometime between 1844 to 1846. I believe that at least two of his nephews and a niece did as well. One nephew, Henry, married Wealthea Ann Sampson of the Brothertown Indians (she was a great, great-granddaughter of the renowned Presbyterian minister, Samson Occom, a Mohegan, whose picture is to the right). A niece, Polly, married James Simons who was to become a headman among the Brothertown Indians in Wisconsin. Both marriages were recording in Calumet County Wisconsin in 1846. Unfortunately, Polly seems to have died by 1849. I will return to these folks in later posts.

Louisa, Jeremiah and William, children of Jeremiah and Abigail Jane Bulman remained in Kirkland where their family had moved to from Marshall a few miles to the south by 1840. Abigail had accompanied her children to Wisconsin and I assume that Jeremiah was dead at this point, as no one in Wisconsin seems to know what became of him. However, I cannot find a grave for him in Kirkland. Perhaps he died on the migration as many others had. At least one daughter of Patrick and Sarah, Elizabeth, probably migrated to Wisconsin later. She is in the 1840 Kirkland census data with a young child who I assume was her daughter Sarah Jane. She afterwards married Dexter Felton who I believe was Sarah’s biological father.

I have found no further information on Louisa to date. I do have an idea or two. However, they will have to be explored later.

Jeremiah Bulman (Junior) appears to have married Lucy A. Farnsworth around 1850. She died in 1852 and is buried in the nearby Knoxboro-Augusta Cemetery with her birth family. Her details can be found here. She may have died giving birth to or from complications with the birth of her daughter, Lucy A. Bulman, who was born in 1852. Jeremiah was listed as a lock tender on the Chenango Canal in one census (1860). I have lost track of Jeremiah after 1860. There is a Lucy Bulman (her age as 17 would be right for Jeremiah's Lucy) listed for Kirkland as a domestic in the 1870 census.

William Franklin Bulman was born in Oneida County, New York around 1830. Sometime around 1850, he married Mary Elizabeth Davis who was born in . By 1858, she had died with some of her children. (They are buried at the Deansville Cemetery in Kirkland just north of the line with Marshall that divides what is now known as Deansboro--the entrance to the cemetery is embedded below). According to the 1860 census data, she left behind a husband and three children: Mary Elizabeth, George F., Charles M., and, probably, Robert Bulman. (I should not overlook a Cordelia I. Bulman who is the same age as Lucy above and is staying with the Phineas C. Miller family in 1860 for a reason I have yet to discern.)

Mary Elizabeth is listed below with children which may be hers (dates do not all work out...but this may be because Jeremiah's first wife, Lucy died later than the date given for her...another mystery to be solved).

Bulman, Alonzo J. d. June 8, 1859 4y11m4d pg. 3
Bulman, Electa d. May 31, 1859 3ylm5d pg. 3
Bulman, Francis H. d. June 3, 1859 10mos. pg. 3
Bulman, Mary E. d. Jan. 30, 1858 23y3m0d pg. 3

After their mother’s death, the family was supported by William’s sister, Louise, who had been born in New York around 1820. The children would accompany their father to Wisconsin after the 1860 census. However, this is another story. What is important for this post is the fact that William Franklin Bulman married twice in the 1870s. Both times he was married according to the rites of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It would seem safe to assume that this was due to his preferences rather than merely those of each of his two brides.

I have asked the Marshall Historical Society in Oneida County to provide any information from the record books of the M.E. Society in Deansville and any other sources. As I write this post, they are graciously seeking to do just that. I am particularly hoping that there would be a record of the church from whence the family removed and where they may have been dismissed to if these exist. They may not.

However, for the mean time, here is what I know so far about the M.E. Society in Deansville and Oneida County more generally. The immediately following is a chapter from the Annals and Recollections of Oneida County which was published by Pomroy Jones in 1851. I cannot find the page number at the moment; but, the volume is in the digital archives.

Methodist Episcopal.- This denomination had a class in this town as early as 1803, which was supplied with preaching once in two weeks by the preachers appointed to the Westmoreland Circuit. In 1821, a society was organized preparatory to building a house for public worship, but nothing was accomplished in consequence of a disagreement as to its site. Nothing further was done as to building a house until 1837, when an effort was made to raise funds for the building of one at Deansville, which was so far successful that a respectable house for public worship was erected at that place in 1832, the site of which was presented to the society by the late Thomas Dean, Esq. In 1839, Deansville was set off as a station, and has so remained to the present time. The church now numbers about ninety members.

That the work of the M.E. was quite extensive in Oneida County can be seen from the Minutes of the Annual Conference. Both the recapitulation figures and the list of preachers station around the county are on the same page and can be seen below:







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Why is all of this important? Ah, that is for the next post.

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