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A walk through "Sarah's field"

6/29/2020

In 1712, 16-year-old Sarah Wells agreed to leave the comforts of a Manhattan townhouse in order to make a land claim in Orange County, NY, for her master Christopher Denne. She agreed to do it solely because Denne promised her a bounty of 100 acres of land for the incredible and scary effort. However, Denne never gave her the 100 acres. He died in 1725. In 1729, her then husband William Bull and their first born son John Bull, 8 years old, bought 100 acres of land from Elizabeth Denne, Christopher's widow. It is believed that this west acreage in the video is part of that land.

3 Comments

Julie Cole

6/29/2020 01:10:57 pm

Feel free to leave a comment on any of the blog posts!

Glenn Ritter

6/30/2020 11:33:17 am

Do we know how they came upon the land where the 1722 house is built on?

Julie Boyd Cole

7/1/2020 08:37:34 am

Hi there Glenn,
Yes, we know that William Bull purchased 100 acres in 1718, the year that he and Sarah were married. The house was built on that 100 acres. He and his business partner Richard Jerrard, eventually owned 2600 acres of land in Orange County, and most of it was continuous. He gave 100s of acres to his 5 sons. The deeds of sale are listed in the records and in the Blue Book, his will shows who got what. It's pretty cool!

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A walk through "Sarah's field"

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Julie boyd Cole

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