Saturday, April 28, 2018

Surname Saturday ~ BULLEN of Medfield, Dedham, and Sherborn, Massachusetts

BULLEN house, Sherborn, MA
BULLEN / BULLIN /  BULLEY  / BULLAN

Samuel Bullen (about 1617 - 1691), my 9th great grandfather, is of unknown origins. When he arrived in Massachusetts from England he was an indentured servant to Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham.  He signed the Dedham Compact in 1639 and he took the freeman's oath in 1641, after his indenture was complete.  He also married Mary Morse in 1641 and owned a house in Dedham by 1646.

When Medfield was settled in 1651 he was one of the first thirteen original settlers.  The town was attacked during King Phillip's War, and 32 houses were burned, including Samuel Bullen's home.  The family relocated to Sherborn to be near Mary's brother, Daniel Morse.  This is when the house on Brush Hill Road was built.

Later, in 1679,  Samuel was able to petition for his losses during the war and he returned to Medfield and rebuilt his house.  He became a Medfield selectman in 1682 and was chosen to be a deacon in 1689.

Samuel Bullen has two grave markers, an original field stone and a memorial erected 100 years later by his descendants in the Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield, Massachusetts.  You can see photographs at the Find A Grave website at this link:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30823812/samuel-bullen 

His son Ephraim (1653 - 1690), my 8th great grandfather, married Grace Fairbanks, the granddaughter of Jonathan Fairbanks, his father's master during his indentured servitude.  They lived in Sherborn and four children.  I descend from their son John (1686 - 1757), my 7th great grandfather who removed to Brimfield in western Massachusetts.  This is where my lineage daughters out, with their daughter Grace (born 1727) in Brimfield, my 6th great grandmother, who married Ebenezer Healy and removed to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

For more information:

History of the Towns of Sherborn and Holliston, by Rev. Abner Morse

History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts 1650 - 1886, by William S. Tilden, 1887, page 334

Memorial of the Morses, by Rev. Abner Morse

New England Historical Genealogical Register,  Volume 83 (1929), pages 291 - 293.

Samuel Bullen and Some of His Descendants, by May Philipps Train, 1941 



My BULLEN genealogy:

Generation 1:  Samuel Bullen, born about 1617 in England, died 16 January 1691/2 in Medfield, Massachusetts; married on 10 August 1641 Medfield to Mary Morse, daughter of Samuel Morse and Elizabeth Jasper.  She was baptized on 13 August 1620 in Redgrave, Suffolk, England and died 14 February 1688 in Sherborn, Massachusetts.  Ten children.

Generation 2:  Ephraim Bullen, born 18 July 1653 in Dedham, died 1690 in Sherborn; married about 1680 to Grace Fairbanks, daughter of Jonas Fairbanks and Lydia Prescott.  She was born 15 September 1663 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and died 11 August 1689 in Sherborn.  Four children.

Generation 3:  John Bullen, born 22 February 1686 in Sherborn, died 28 January 1757 in Brimfield, Massachusetts; married 31 August 1709 in Sherborn to Sarah Underwood, daughter of Joseph Underwood and Elizabeth Unknown.  She was born 9 February 1687 in Watertown, and died 18 September 1757 in Brimfield.  One known child.

Generation 4:  Grace Bullen, born 1727 in Brimfield; married Ebenezer Healy, son of Paul Healy and Elizabeth Unknown.  He was born 21 January 1708 in Rehoboth, and died 14 February 1777 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Eight children.

Generation 5: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen
Generation 6: Comfort Healey m. Rebecca Crosby
Generation 7: Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston
Generation 8: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil
Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings
Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)


The photo above this blog post is from Wikimedia
John Phelan, "Sawin-Bullen-Bullard House, Sherborn, Massachusetts", Wikimedia, April 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sawin-Bullen-Bullard_House,_Sherborn_MA.jpg 

Click here to read a historic survey by the town of Sherborn on the Bullen House:
https://www.sherbornma.org/sites/sherbornma/files/uploads/52.pdf


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ BULLEN of Dedham, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 28, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/surname-saturday-bullen-of-dedham.html: accessed [access date]).

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