Still looking for information on my Bullock ancestors...

Question

I've been posting this same question for years, and still no real leads. It's that time to post it again, so here goes:

My 3rd Great grandfather was Lewis Franklin Bullock (1814-1852). He married Betsey Reed (1821-1852) in 1837. They had 5 children, William, Melissa, Rutson, Albert and Charles.

We know that Lewis was a minister in the Christian Church and settled in Illinois.

We know from historical documents that Lewis & Betsey both died of typhoid in New York in 1852.

We know from court papers that their three oldest children remained in Illinois and were raised by various Bullock relatives.

We know that William & Melissa Cain, neighbors of Betsey's uncle and aunt, Solomon & Sally Wright, adopted Albert, but he kept his Bullock name.

We know that Ira & Marjorie Sheppard, friends of the Bullocks through their church, adopted Charles, and he took on the Sheppard name... but he also remained in touch with his Bullock siblings throughout his life.

Betsey's lineage is a brick wall. We do not know who her people were or where they came from. The marriage date we have for her and Lewis is not documented, nor is the date/location we have noted as Lewis's ordination date and where he was ordained as a minister.

We do not know how Solomon & Sally Wright are her uncle and aunt. Solomon Wright has been researched extensively, and there's no apparent connection. Sally (Sykes) Wright is fairly well documented, too, and we find no connections to any family named Reed (or Read, or any other variation).

We have no burial information for Lewis & Betsey. They died in New Albion, New York, while visiting the Wrights. Lewis's father, Jesse Bullock, is said to be buried in Leon, but there's no proof. I would think that Lewis was buried with or near his father, since he died so close to Jesse's burial site.

The fourth child, Albert, can be traced up to the 1860 Census, when he would have been about 11-years old, and then he vanishes. Family lore states that he died when the entire Cain family pulled up roots in NY and moved to Minnesota (by 1865, all of the Cains are in MN and Albert is nowhere to be found).

There's more, but these are some of the burning questions I have. Is there anyone at all out there in the WikiTree world connected to this branch of the Bullock family that might be able to help with these mysteries? If so, please get in touch and let's share notes.

Thanks for letting me post this. Sorry it's so long.

Answer 1

I wonder, have you seen this?  Similar time line and last name, perhaps a relative with perhaps some information on the family?  https://www.jstor.org/stable/43042928

You might try looking for typhoid burials in the area where they died, sometimes when a number were sick they were buried in mass graves without names, we have a few here for the 1918 flu mass graves with no records, so many were dying that they just gathered the bodies and placed them together.

Not sure what you have  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57611410/william-franklin-bullock

There is a book called History of Custer County, Nebraska, a narrative of the past which talks about a son of Franklin Bullock from Springfield, Illinois who was 1 year old when his parents died within a month of each . . . from 1889.

To be verified but this seems to suggest that they were  married in Leon, NY  https://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/trees/205896/I334741/betsy-reed/individual

Just for interest sake, you do know that Betsy is short for Elizabeth, however search by any birthdate  in the area she was married in for Reed's (usually married where Bride's family is)  I have known some people to go by a nickname their entire lives with childrens births recorded in their nick name and the marriage and death registrations with their nick name, only to trace their family to find their original name was entirely different ie.  Blanche was actually Elizabeth

Comments

Hi LYNN, and thanks for your reply.

Regarding the typhoid burials idea, I don't think the Bullocks I'm looking for were anonymously buried. Lewis & Betsey stayed with her "uncle and aunt," Solomon & Sally (Sykes) Wright that winter. About 2-months before Lewis passed, Solomon's oldest son, Jacob, died of typhoid at age 21. He was still living at home. His grave, and many others of his family, are located in Tug Hill Cemetery in Cattaraugus County, NY. I'm pretty sure that Bullock relatives living in the area, as well as the Wrights, would have seen fit to properly bury Lewis & Betsey. Lewis was also a minister in the Christian Church, and friends like Elder Oliver Barr would have made sure he had a proper burial.

The William Franklin Bullock listing from Find-a-Grave is Lewis & Betsey's oldest son. He was one of the three children left behind in Illinois who were raised by relatives. Illinois court papers show that Lewis's brother, Rutson R. Bullock petitioned for custody of the three children after Lewis & Betsey died. It's these court papers that gave us the exact death dates.

The History of Custer County reference is Charles Ezra Bullock-Sheppard, who was the youngest son of Lewis & Betsey, and who was adopted by Ira & Marjorie Sheppard after his parents died. He took on the Sheppard name, but remained in contact with his Bullock siblings and family all through his life. This "biography" is riddled with incorrect information, though, mostly pertaining to Charles's wife, Mary Ellen (Warner) Sheppard.

The WorldConnect record is the same Betsey Reed I've been researching... my 3rd great grandmother. This is the marriage date we have on file, but there is no formal record anywhere (no paper trail).

And yes, we (my genealogy cousins and I) are aware that Betsey was often short for Elizabeth. We've searched on I think all the variations of both first and last names we could come up, and still have found nothing. The puzzling thing about her is the many references to Solomon & Sally Wright being her uncle and aunt. The Wrights and the Sykes families have been heavily researched, and there's no one at all names Reed (or any variation thereof) connected to them. We simply do not know how the Wrights are connected to her.

I really appreciate the time you took to send me the references. I'm sorry you were basically spinning your wheels, though. I keep hoping someone with the same tenacity as you will send me a clue that leads to new and previously unknown information about this branch of the Bullock family. It's very frustrating.

I hope your own genealogical research is going well, and that you and your loved ones are all safe during this horrible pandemic. All my best, SCOTT YOUNG.

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I wonder what the history of the typhoid epidemic was like in that area?  Sometimes it wasn't too bad and people had funerals and we have done with covid and sometimes no one wanted to go near the dead body and only certain people would gather the dead and take them to the mass graves.  

Where I am the 1918 flu was o.k. for awhile and then there were just too many dead and only certain people would pick up the bodies for mass burial plots so others wouldn't get sick as well.

World Connect got the marriage date from somewhere, I wonder if whomever posted the marriage date or someone at World Connect would know the source?

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Just for interest sakes:  In this Register 1835 there is a listing for Solomon C. Wright in New Fane, Niagara NY and a Rev. John Reed?  https://books.google.ca/books?id=9hcXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=Solomon+Wright,+New+Albion,+NY&source=bl&ots=dG3xs4PMfw&sig=ACfU3U3-yneDiGBWkhgPJ-6wQYqQ81ojIw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiWlL7Uien1AhWBFjQIHRlxBp4Q6AF6BAgKEAM#v=snippet&q=solomon%20wright%20&f=false

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Hi again, LYNN. Different Solomon Wright. I'd like to continue this banter we have going, but not take up so much space here online. Drop me an email? My address is:
scott.young@thediazbrothers.net
I'd be happy to share the details of all these mysteries. Maybe brainstorming with you might spark an idea of a new place to look, or a new direction to follow. Wouldn't that be great!? Hopefully, I'll hear from you. And again, thank you for all the time and thought you've put into this, so far. I do appreciate it. :) SCOTT.