{"id":23471,"date":"2017-06-28T11:16:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=23471"},"modified":"2021-04-22T13:34:47","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T17:34:47","slug":"the-many-john-bullocks-in-my-family-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/the-many-john-bullocks-in-my-family-tree.html","title":{"rendered":"The Many John Bullock\u2019s in My Family Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am descended from Mayflower Pilgrim John Billington<\/a> (1579-1630) through his son and daughter-in-law Francis and Christian (Penn) Billington<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Francis and his wife Christian had a daughter named Elizabeth Billington<\/a> (1635-1710) who married Richard Bullock<\/a> (1622-1667), and they in turn had a son named John.<\/p>\n

After looking at their family tree, I noticed there were a lot of \u201cJohn Bullock\u2019s\u201d in that family \u2013 four in a direct line, to be exact. So, I decided to search for these men in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> to see what I could discover about this line.<\/p>\n

This family of Bullock\u2019s lived in Bristol County, Massachusetts, many of them in the town of Rehoboth, so I used the keyword \u201cRehoboth\u201d to narrow my search down to the John Bullocks in the latter part of this line.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first result in this search was an obituary for a John Bullock who was born in Rehoboth and died in Bristol, Rhode Island. After comparing the listed birth and death information to my tree, I was able to match this obituary to the fourth (and last for several generations) John Bullock<\/span> (1769-1876) in the line. This John Bullock was the 4th-great-grandson of Francis Billington.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank, Salem Register (Salem, Massachusetts), 6 January 1876, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most fascinating part about John Bullock\u2019s obituary was his age at death \u2013 an astounding 106 years old! Not a lot of people live to that advanced age.<\/p>\n

Google puts the average lifespan for a person born between 1750 and 1800 at only 36 years old, meaning John Bullock\u2019s long life was extraordinary, even by today\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: grave of John Bullock (1769-1867), North Burial Ground, Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island. Source: Find A Grave
https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/cgi-bin\/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=71181889<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next, I refined my search by removing the keyword \u201cRehoboth\u201d and restricting my search to just newspapers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

This search turned up an 1869 Sun<\/em> article announcing the 100th birthday of this same John Bullock. This article gave me a few more interesting details about John in his old age, such as the fact that he:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026never drank a glass of alcoholic liquor in his life, and never had any need of or used spectacles. The old gentleman can see to pick up a pin or a needle from the floor as well as any young person.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank, Sun (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), 19 August 1869, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what about the rest of the John Bullock\u2019s? This time I searched again for \u201cJohn Bullock\u201d in only Massachusetts and Rhode Island newspapers and restricted the years to 1750-1800.<\/p>\n

This search returned a notice from the Providence Gazette<\/em> about the estate of John Bullock (1714-1788).<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank, Providence Gazette (Providence, Rhode Island), 3 January 1789, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Discover interesting details about your own family trees \u2013 over generations \u2013 by searching in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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