Quick facts about William and Sarah

William Bull

  • A stonemason and progenitor of the Bull Family of Orange County, New York
  • Born 1689 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England to John Bull, son of Peter Bull
  • Baptized 30 July 1691 in St. Peter’s Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton
  • Immigrated to America in 1715 after learning the trade of stonemasonry in Dublin, Ireland
  • Builder of “Grey Court” 1716, near Craigville, for Daniel Cromeline, an original owner of the Wawayanda Patent
  • Builder of the Roe stone house circa 1716-18 where his descendants, the Roe Family, have resided since 1827
  • Granted 100 acres for 5 shillings, New York currency, where he built his residence called Hamptonburgh in honor of his birthplace in 1722; now known as The Bull Stone House
  • Granted 2600 acres by King George of England in 1723
  • Granted an additional 500 acres in 1724 where his son Thomas built Hill-Hold in 1769, now an Orange County museum
  • Built Knox’s Headquarters in Vails Gate, NY in 1754 —the oldest building contract known in Orange County is on display there
  • Died in 1756 leaving a will proved 19 June 1756 giving “my dear wife Sarah Bull my dwelling house and farm”
  • Buried on Bull Burying Hill, now known as the Hamptonburgh Cemetery
Some of William Bull’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren carried on his stone masonry trade by erecting many fine stone buildings in Orange County.

Sarah Wells

  • The first colonial woman to settle on the Wawayanda Patent in May 1712
  • She  was born in 1696 and some evidence points to her early childhood in Piscataway, NJ, before moving to NYC with her parents.
  • An indentured apprentice bound by public authority as a domestic handmaid to Manhattan carpenter and East River Dock Master Christopher Denne and his wife Elizabeth. Denne was an original owner, among 12, of the Wawayanda Patent in Orange County, NY
  • At the age of 16, Sarah accepted Denne's offer to make his land claim in Orange County on the Otterkill when he promised her 100 acres when her indenture ended.
  • She traveled by single-mast sloop from NYC up the Hudson River to Plum Point with 3 hired carpenters and 3 Munsee men as guides.
  • They hiked 20 miles inland to the banks of the Otterkill in what became the township of Goshen and Sarah became the first colonial settling woman in the area.
  • The Munsee men and the carpenters built Sarah a tree-branch wigwam on the creek and helped her get established before the Denne's arrived. 
  • The Munsee taught the settlers how to plant crops, protect themselves against harm, and prepare for winter.
  • In 1718, Sarah married William Bull on the 25th of August 1718.
  • They had 12 children, five sons and seven daughters, born from 1721 to1745.
  • Sarah worship in the German Lutheran Church and William was a congregant at the Church of England. 
  • Their children were baptized by the German Lutheran ministers.
  • William died in 1755/56, leaving Sarah at home with at least 5 minor children.
  • Sarah married Johannes Miller, a German Lutheran settler in Montgomery, sometime between 1756 and 1770 but in 1770 left Johannes and returned to the Stone House, essentially divorced.
  • Sarah's last church was the Bloominggrove Congregational Church.
  • She is buried  at Hamptonburgh Cemetery  just yards from the Stone House and next to her first husband William Bull.
  • Sadly, Christopher Denne never gave her the 100 acres of promised land for her efforts to help settle Orange County. 
  • In 1729, William Bull and his first son John, 8, bought 100 acres of land from Denne widow Elizabeth and the family has believed through lore that this was to get the promised land from the Denne estate.

On April 23, 1796, the day of Sarah’s funeral, a family memorial was written listing her 12 children who bore 98 grandchildren, 212 great grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren, totaling 335 descendants
Select here to read Colette Fulton's, the Village Historian for Cornwall-on-Hudson, piece about Sarah which was presented at the 145th Annual Bull Family Reunion in celebration of the Sarah Wells Tricentennial.